The United Nations Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is an interim civilian administration of the Serbian province of Kosovo (officially Kosovo and Metohia), under the authority of the United Nations. The current head of UNMIK is the Danish diplomat Soren Jessen-Petersen. The mission was established on June 10, 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244.
According to resolution 1244, UNMIK is to:
- perform basic civilian administrative functions;
- promote the establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo;
- facilitate a political process to determine Kosovo's future status;
- coordinate humanitarian and disaster relief of all international agencies;
- support the reconstruction of key infrastructure;
- maintain civil law and order;
- promote human rights; and
- assure the safe and unimpeded return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Kosovo.
It is generally considered that, after five years of work (As of 2004), UNMIK failed in most of these tasks:
- Basic civilian administrative functions is performed by local organs which are increasingly getting outside of UNMIK's control;
- Establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo is not promoted; rather, all key political factors maintain that full independence of Kosovo as their immediate goal;
- A political process to determine Kosovo's future status is not facilitated;
- Key infrastructure is not reconstructedl; specifically, electric distribution is still very problematic;
- Civil law and order is not maintained;
- Human rights are not being promoted;
- There are 250,000 refugees from Kosovo which still can't return to their homes
UNMIK is divided into four sections which it calls "pillars". These are:
A NATO-led force provides an international security presence in support of UNMIK's work.
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