Pristina NGO demands Pacolli’s dismissal over racist, sexist remarks

NEWS 24.12.201810:55
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A Pristina-based NGO is demanding the dismissal of Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Behgjet Pacolli for what its says were sexist and racist remarks about Serbia’s lobbying against Kosovo’s membership in Interpol, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) said.

The Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) said that Pacolli claimed in his report to the Kosovo parliament foreign policy committee that Serbia had engaged a number of “well-dressed women” who went to the Interpol meeting in Dubai and “hugged” member state representatives as part of the lobbying. 

Kosovo was not admitted as a member of Interpol at the latest session of that international body with the Pristina authorities blaming official Belgrade for blocking its efforts.

The CDHRF statement quoted Pacolli as saying that “they had about 10 well-dressed women and each of them went up to the table of a black man and said: excuse me, how are you, hugged them and left an envelope”.  

The CDHRF said Pacolli’s statement was offensive and racist, adding that his vocabulary made him “inappropriate for the post of foreign minister or any representing of Kosovo”.