Practicing the freedom we preach

Canada should not sit on the sidelines

Magally Zelaya, Staff

Opinions and decision formed on a basis of fear are not reflective of the strength and leadership that Canada prides itself on. While Canada fails to recognize Kosovo’s independence, it marks itself around the world as a country too afraid to make a stand for freedom because of its own unfounded fears.

As a democratic country that values human rights at home and abroad, Canada should join its allies and recognize the independence from Serbia that Kosovo declared on Feb. 17, 2008.

Though it is true that Canada is in a “delicate” situation given its own secession issues in Quebec, as Jean Chretien said last week, fears of setting a precedent are for the most part unfounded. The Clarity Act of 2000 — the Canadian Supreme Court’s legislation that outlines protocol in case a referendum unequivocally shows that a province wishes to separate — protects (albeit in theory) against unilateral separation of any province.

Any parallels drawn past the fact that Quebec and Kosovo are (were) provinces with a marked interest in nationalism are a stretch. While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects Quebecers and the rest of Canada equally in terms of fundamental freedoms and the rights to “remain in” Canada or “take up residence in any province,” this has not the case in Kosovo.

Kosovo, a small country at the southern tip of Serbia, has a population estimated to be between 1.9 and 2.4 million — 90 per cent being ethnic Albanians and the rest Serbian. Having been stripped of its provincial autonomy in 1989 by Slobodan Milosovic, who held de facto control of Serbia, the early ’90s saw numerous demonstrations and attempts at equal treatment and independence.

Following the breakdown of peaceful measures in 1999, roughly 800,000 ethnic Albanian civilians were persecuted and forcefully deported from their homes “in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province,” according to official documents from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

In further contrast, while Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms also guarantees the “right to life, liberty and security of the person” to all its citizens, the same cannot be said for the ethnic Albanian citizens living in Serbia in 1999.

In order to facilitate the mass deportation of ethnic Albanians, the Serbian government and armed forces “created an atmosphere of fear and oppression through the use of force, threats of force and acts of violence,” according to UN documents. As such, killings occurred in a “widespread or systematic manner” with about 700 victims individually identified. In addition to the ethnic cleansing, towns were shelled, homes burned, Albanian cultural and religious institutions destroyed, and female ethnic Albanians sexually assaulted.

In 1999, Canada did not stand for such gross violations of human rights and took part in the 11-week NATO campaign, where air strikes against Serbian targets eventually caused Milosovic to pull out of Kosovo.

Having fought and won for Kosovo less than a decade ago, it is surprising that Canada would not continue to support the people it once felt justified in using force on behalf of.

More telling of the singularity of the situation in Kosovo is the fact that Serbia did not have governmental control of the province since the end of the NATO operation. In reality, Kosovo has been a de facto state since the United Nations took over administration of the province in the summer of ’99. It was not a far leap for Kosovo to declare independence; in fact, it had been globally expected since independence talks broke down in 2007.

With legitimate negotiations proving unsuccessful, including Serbia’s president Boris Thacic telling the UN Security Council in January that his country would never recognize Kosovo’s independence and would “preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty by all democratic means, legal arguments and diplomacy,” Kosovo was left with few options.

Kosovo’s unilateral secession is far from surprising; it is yet another piece in the disintegration of the former Yugoslav puzzle and a consequence of the region’s less than peaceful history. Now independent, Kosovo can continue to look towards becoming part of the European Union, with a potentially prosperous future that under Serbian rule would have been unlikely.

Fear should not colour Canada’s decision to continue in supporting human rights and freedoms. More specifically, Serbian attacks on the American embassy and warnings from the Russian envoy to NATO that Russia might have to use “brute military force” to maintain order should not be heeded.

The situation in Kosovo is unique. Actions resulting from the atrocity of ethnic cleansing should not be used as any kind of precedent in Canada and the Conservative government should be able to recognize the wide disparity of the situations. Canada would be wise to put its courage and leadership to the test and recognize Kosovo’s independence. While it doesn’t, Canada will continue to sit fearfully on the sidelines while other Western countries stand up for freedom.