Romnews: Czech Republic ratifies the minority convention (and a comment)
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 98 17:50:26 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Romnews: Czech Republic ratifies the minority convention (and a comment)
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Roma National Congress <[email protected]>
Romnews: Czech Republic ratifies the minority convention (and a
comment)
Czech Republic ratifies protection of minorities convention.
Strasbourg / FRANCE [RNC] Agency 29 January 1998.
The Czech Republic has ratified a convention outlining protection for
ethnic minorities. On Thursday, Prague's delegate at the Council of Europe,
Jiri Malenowsky, presented the bill of ratification to the Council in
Strasbourg. The government did not disclose which minorities would be
covered by the convention. A spokesperson for the Czech delegation said
that all minorities would be protected equally, precluding the need to name
any specifically. Ethnic minorities living in the Czech Republic include
Sinti and Roma, Poles, Hungarians, Ukrainians and Germans. The convention
guarantees support for these minorities' languages and culture in schools
and public life. It should become possible to use minority languages in the
media, in government offices and on street- and road-signs. Discrimination
and forced assimilation of minorities are forbidden. Within the next year,
the Council will check to see if articles of the convention are being
adhered to. Ratification by Prague means that the convention is valid in 16
of the Council's 40 member-countries. Austria, Switzerland, Russia and the
Ukraine are among those countries which have signed, but not yet ratified
the convention. Given that this convention has been a source of contention
among the Council's member-states, a general definition of the term
"minority" has not been adopted. Each state can decide for itself which
groups it chooses to recognise as a minority.
---------------------
Moderator adds: Sorry to say, the info above contains a small inaccuracy -
Ukraine also just ratified the Framework Convention (on 26 January 1998),
and so did the UK (on 15 January 1998). BTW, the current CHART OF SIGNATURES
AND RATIFICATIONS of the Framework Convention is available at the http://www
.coe.fr/tablconv/157t.htm. Thus, the total number of the state parties has
reached 18. Anyway, it is obvious why namely the Czech ratification is of
great importance for Roma minority (we had several postings to the MINELRES
list on the issue some time ago).
Boris
P.S. Headlines of other recent Romnews postings are the following:
----------------------
Commemoration of murdered Sinti and Roma - Central Council wants accords.
Bonn / GERMANY [RNC] Agency 30 January 1998
On Friday the Bundesrat, the chamber representing the German federal
states, or lander, commemorated those Sinti and Roma murdered under the
Nazi regime...
-------------------
Commemoration of Roma and Sinti victims of the Holocaust.
Berlin / GERMANY [RNC] Agency 28 January 1998
Representatives from Roma organisations have held commemorative ceremonies
for their communities' Holocaust victims. Wreaths were laid for the first
time at Germany's Central Memorial, the Neue Wache on Unter den Linden...
-----------------
Roma candidate for mayor.
Vila Verde / PORTUGAL [RNC] Agency 27 January 1998
Roma candidate for mayor in town from which family was driven in 1996.
Portugal's private television station enters Roma in the running for
mayorship...
-------------
Court rules against Le Pen's remarks on the Holocaust in Munich.
Nanterre / FRANCE [RNC] Agency 26 January 1998
On Friday a French court found Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme
right, guilty of dismissive remarks made about the Holocaust during a speech
given in Munich...
-----------------
Sinti and Roma accuse the CDU of Racism
Schleswig-Holstein / GERMANY [RNC] Agency 23 Jaunary 1998
The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma has accused the CDU state
parliamentary party of racism. The parliamentary party has designated Sinti
and Roma as "not nation typical" and thus defamed them....
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