Kosovo fails in UNESCO membership bid

Kosovo failed to win membership of the UN cultural body UNESCO on Monday, marking a political triumph for Serbia but a setback for Kosovo in its bid for full international recognition.

The former Serbian province came three votes short of the two-thirds majority required, with 92 member states voting in favour and 50 against at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris.

UNESCO membership would have unlocked millions in funds for culture and education in impoverished Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 is home to 1.8 million people, predominantly ethnic Albanian Muslims.

But Serbia, which considers Kosovo the cradle of its identity and refuses to recognise its sovereignty, was strongly opposed to the bid and tried earlier on Monday to delay the vote.

After the rejection, Kosovo's Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci remained defiant.

"Kosovo's path is unstoppable and we will apply to become a member of other organisations, including UNESCO, again," he wrote on Facebook.

UNESCO membership would have put the government in Pristina in charge of managing all of Kosovo's heritage, including four Serbian Orthodox Christian sites that are on UNESCO's list of world heritage in danger.

Belgrade had argued that such monuments would be at serious risk if Kosovo took over, citing attacks and looting since the two sides fought a war in 1998 and 1999.
"This is a just and moral victory gained in almost impossible conditions," said Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.

The Serbian Orthodox Church also welcomed the decision, and Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Kosovo should never have been allowed to make its bid to join UNESCO, calling it "an attempt to humiliate and crush Serbia".

- Struggle for recognition -

UNESCO's executive board recommended last month that the agency accept Kosovo as a member, despite it not being a UN member state.

Kosovo is a member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and is recognised as an independent state by more than 100 countries, including the United States and most European Union nations.

But Russia and China join Serbia in opposing Kosovo's bid for statehood.

Addressing UNESCO on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Kosovo's attempt to become a member was a "violation" of the UN Security Council resolution adopted in 1999 to end the conflict, which made no mention of the possibility that Kosovo could become independent.

Both sides of the debate in Kosovo and Serbia launched fervent social media campaigns ahead of the vote. Kosovo insisted that it would preserve and protect all heritage sites, regardless of religious affiliation.

"Anyone celebrating today is celebrating an ill-intentioned agenda of exclusion and discouragement which does not contribute to cooperation, stability and peace," Bekim Collaku, Kosovo's Minister for European Integration, told AFP.

Among those most vocal in campaigning against Kosovo's UNESCO membership was Father Sava Janjic, a Serb Orthodox monk at the UNESCO-listed Decani monastery in Kosovo.

He struck a conciliatory note after the vote, writing on Twitter: "For anyone who asks me who has won, I answer clearly -- a chance for a fair dialogue and confidence-building has won and not political pressures."

It is not the first time that UNESCO has been deeply divided over a membership issue.

In 2011, its members voted to accept Palestine in a decision roundly criticised by the United States and Israel, which have since suspended their financial contributions to the organisation and have therefore lost their voting rights at UNESCO General Conferences.

Source: AFP