A/HRC/13/40/Add.3 and Political Rights and the Protocols thereto; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe. 41. In 2004, the Government of Serbia and Montenegro explained its inability to report on the discharge of its own responsibilities with regard to the human rights situation in Kosovo, and suggested that, owing to the fact that civil authority is exercised in Kosovo by UNMIK, the Human Rights Committee may invite UNMIK to submit to it a supplementary report on the human rights situation in Kosovo.16 The Human Rights Committee noted in 2004 that, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), Kosovo currently remained a part of Serbia and Montenegro as a successor State to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, albeit under interim international administration, and that the protection and promotion of human rights was one of the main responsibilities of the international civil presence. It also noted the existence of provisional institutions of self-government in Kosovo that were bound by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by virtue of UNMIK regulation no. 2001/9 and considered that the Covenant continued to remain applicable in Kosovo. The Human Rights Committee encouraged UNMIK, in cooperation with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, to provide, without prejudice to the legal status of Kosovo, a report on the situation of human rights in Kosovo since June 1999. Subsequently, the State party also requested the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child to seek information related to the implementation of the respective treaties in Kosovo from UNMIK.17 The Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considered the reports of UNMIK in July 2006 and November 2008, respectively.18 42. With regard to the protection of human rights at the regional level, it has been pointed out that, even though the standards contained in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms must be observed by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, the people in Kosovo cannot claim its violation before the European Court of Human Rights.19 In addition, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms according to its article 59 is only open to the signature of the members of the Council of Europe. On 9 December 2008, the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) reached initial operational capacity, taking over parts of the UNMIK role in policing, police monitoring and providing international judges and prosecutors. EULEX works under the general framework of United Nations Security Resolution 1244 (1999), has a unified chain of command to Brussels and reports to the United Nations Security Council. C. Domestic legal framework on freedom of religion or belief 43. The Security Council in its resolution 1244 (1999) authorized the Secretary-General “to establish an international civil presence in Kosovo in order to provide an interim administration for Kosovo under which the people of Kosovo can enjoy substantial autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and which will provide transitional 16 17 18 19 Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee concerning Serbia and Montenegro (CCPR/CO/81/SEMO), para. 3. E/C.12/1/Add.108, para. 9; CRC/C/SRB/CO/1, para. 6; CEDAW/C/SCG/CO/1, para. 7. CCPR/C/UNK/CO/1 and E/C.12/UNK/1. See A/HRC/7/28/Add.3, paras. 89 and 136-141. 13