Your Majesties,
Distinguished Secretary-General,
The Honorable Mr. Persson,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

At the outset allow me to thank the Prime Minister of Sweden, who was kind enough to invite us to this International Forum, held on a theme of manifold value.

Genocide and its aftermath are not unknown to my people or the region we live in. In the very beginning of the past century Albanians became victims of multifaceted genocide within the Balkan area.

My coaetans have known the horrors of the WW II. Later generations have experienced acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide in different countries of the world, as in Cambodia and Rwanda. During the last decade of the XX century, history repeated itself in the very heart of Europe, when Bosnia and Kosova became vivid evidence of extreme national-chauvinism, raised into an ideology, which fed and instigated ethnical hatred to the point of shocking ethnic cleansing.

The world is still confronted with a series of threats, which, if not deterred in due time, risk bringing about a re-emergence of genocidal violence. Phenomena like racism, ethnical and religious hatred, totalitarism and massive and extreme violation of human rights serve as its potential source. Within this context, I judge that international terrorism continues to be the greatest threat to present-day civilization. Terrorists with their unprecedented acts against innocent citizens, as in the case of September 11, demonstrated in only a short span of time, that they are capable of committing, such acts of violence with repercussions equivalent to prolonged campaigns of genocide.

Distinguished participants,

When crimes or acts of genocide happen, we rightfully wish and try with all our means and measures to prevent them. Thus was the case with Bosnia in 1995, Kosova in 1999 and Iraq in 2003. Every saved life assumes great worth; more so when the freedom of people grows and along with it security. But, have we fulfilled our duty? Have we done enough and as we really should? Are there other ways, which could have saved more lives? Could we have prevented crime and genocide? The answer is yes! The regime of Milosevic, Saddam and other dictators could and ought to have been reined a lot earlier.

Analyzing the Balkans case, I believe that there are a series of means and ways, which can bring about positive effects in preventing genocide. It has been proven that development of democracies, strengthening of institutions of rule-of-law, and cultivation of open-society values, block the way to grave social and interethnic crises or other forms that instigate extreme violence and genocide. The need to strengthen democratic societies calls for further economic and social reforms. The economic development, which offers equal opportunities to all and everyone, mitigates poverty and narrows down the social gap. It enables integration of and harmony among different societal groups and between countries, while also contributing to averting the kind of despair that leads to inhuman behavior and actions.
Preventive diplomacy with its due actions to avoid conflicts or their spread undisputedly assumes special importance. However, those who practice genocide should not be allowed to exploit the diplomatic approach, so as to buy time and disguise their crimes; diplomatic means should lead to an increase of international pressure on them and consequently to their isolation. UN, the Security Council and Euro-Atlantic structures, by coordinating their activities, must gain a more effective role in this direction. Monitoring and warning mechanisms should occupy a special place.

However, experience has shown that diplomacy too has its own limits. Unfortunately, there are still political leaders, persons or groups that refuse dialogue and choose violence as a means to settle problems. Consequently, use of force against them becomes justifiable, as it prevents the use of destructive violence. The positive experiences in Bosnia, Kosova, Afghanistan and Iraq provide telling examples of how to bring peace and denied freedom to peoples and countries. It is worth mentioning here that the presence of NATO forces in Macedonia avoided the escalation of ethnic conflict and contributed to promotion of coexistence.

Nowadays, states are sovereign, but sovereignty and laissez-faire policy of a certain country cannot be employed as an alibi in the face of massive crimes, collective violation of human rights and unprecedented genocide. We witnessed ghastly crimes in Bosnia; and we were late in our response; we remained silent at warnings that Bosnia was being repeated in Kosova, but we intervened only when ¾ of the Kosova citizens were forcefully deported to Albania and beyond in the region. The intervention in Bosnia was more delayed than the one in Kosova; hence its consequences and human losses were several times greater.

Dangers of re-emergence of genocide in the future, point out to the ever-growing importance of establishing justice, i.e. bringing to trial crimes and criminals who have practiced genocide in the past. Courts about Grave Crimes in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia are two positive examples of this. The fact that Milosevic is standing trial at the Hague Tribunal or that dictators like Saddam will have to face justice, sends a powerful message that dictators and tyrants will not run away with impunity; this in itself is a real contribution to peace and security in the respective regions. Albanians, Bosnians and other freedom-loving citizens in the region would be happy to see all War criminals facing justice, especially such notorious names like Karadjic and Mladic. To do justice is to pacify troubled souls and to give hope that the past will not come back.

In our opinion it is just as important that in those cases in which people have been subject to extreme violence and massive deportations from their lands, the victims or their descendants should be restituted their lost property, at least now, many decades later. Peace sustained with justice is the only true peace.

Democracy, development and justice are closely linked with our greatest challenge: that of creating a new mentality based on the culture of dialogue and coexistence, of the acceptance of the other. Younger generations need to be educated and raised away from racial, ethnic, and religious hatred. Society, especially the schools and the media, can and should play an active role in the promotion of ideas, that bring people closer, instead of ideas that divide people on religious or national ground.

History has shown that it is exactly in those countries, where special attention is given to racial or religious superiority, from the early school years, that non-human feelings are stronger, fiercer and also harder to uproot. These cases call for a well-organized “brain cleanup”. Failing to do so, the danger of the re-emergence and renewal of such feelings continues to remain potential.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The deliberations we are holding today and those of the days to come will create a more complete picture of the dangers and responsibilities related to the prevention of genocide. Albania and the Albanians, who have been subject to ethnic violence in the form of genocide, are determined to do all they can so that the bitter past will never be repeated in our region. We strongly believe in the consolidation of understanding and all-round cooperation among the Balkan nations. EU and Euro-Atlantic integration of the region will bring about a Balkans that leaves behind its ethnic conflicts to genuinely become the southeastern part of a United Europe.