Balkan Royaumont Seminar on Minority and Religious Rights
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 21:54:10 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Balkan Royaumont Seminar on Minority and Religious Rights
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>
Balkan Royaumont Seminar on Minority and Religious Rights
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>From the moderator: Sorry for forwarding this message after the
seminar has already taken place... Hope the brief report of the
seminar will follow soon.
Boris
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INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION
MONTENEGRIN HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR
Balkan Human Rights Groups in Montenegro to Discuss Minority and
Religious Rights
(Vienna/Budva/Athens, 17 September 1999) Representatives of Helsinki
Committees and other human rights groups from the Balkans and Central
Europe are gathering in Herceg Novi, Montenegro on 24-26 September
1999 for a "Seminar on Minority Rights and Freedom of Religion in
Balkan Countries."
The meeting is organized by the Montenegrin Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights and the International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights (IHF), in cooperation with Greek Helsinki Monitor. The meeting
is part of a 2-year regional project "A Multi-national Program of NGO
Human Rights Cooperation in the Framework of the Royaumont Process",
which is supported by the European Union.
Human rights defenders from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland,
Romania, Republika Srpska, Serbia and Slovakia will be attending the
meeting.
National project coordinators will present reports on freedom of
religion and minority rights, including questions of citizenship,
language, education and other dimension, and explain how existing
legislation and practices correspond to European standards. A special
focus will be the situation of the Roma.
The freedom of religion as a human right will be discussed in terms of
the use of religion for political purposes, conflicts between
"traditional" and "new" religions, and national policies and practices
regarding legal registration.
The seminar will also include discussion about the role of civil
society groups and churches in conflict prevention, minority
protection, and in monitoring and contributing to the Stability Pact.
For more information:
Nina Wessel, IHF Secretariat +43 1 408882224
Slobodan Franovic, Montenegrin Helsinki Committee +381 69 053191
Panayote Dimitras, Greek Helsinki Monitor +30 1 620 0120
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Friday 24 September
10.00 Welcoming Statements;
Slobodan Franovic, Chair, Montenegrin Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights
Panayote Dimitras, Spokesperson, Greek Helsinki Monitor
Session 1: Legal Protection and Tolerance
Moderator: Sonja Biserko
10.15 Presentation of IHF activities with regards to Freedom of
Religion and Protection of Minorities
10.30 Presentations by IHF National Co-ordinators on existing
protective national legislation and its application in Central and
South Eastern Europe
11.30-12.00 Coffee
12.00-13.30 Plenary Discussion
13.30-15.00 Lunch
Session 2: Freedom of Religion
Moderator: Jan ter Laak
15.00-18.30 - The use of religion for political purposes
- Traditional churches versus new religions
- Registration issues, Freedom of Assembly
Saturday 25 September
Session 2 (continued):
9.30-12.00 Freedom of Religion
Session 3: Mechanisms for protection of minority rights in Europe
12.15-13.15 Presentation by Alan Phillips, Director, Minority Rights
Group; Vice President of the Advisory Commission of the CoE on the
Framework Convention on National Minorities
Zdenka Machnyikova, Representative, OSCE High Commissioner on National
Minorities
Boris Tsilevich, Member of Parliament of Latvia, and the CoE
Parliamentary Assembly
13.15-14.30 Lunch
Session 4: Minority Rights
Moderator: Boris Tsilevich
14.30-17.00 - Citizenship
- Language/ Educational issues
- Right to organisation
Sunday 26 September
Session 5:
9.30-12.30 Roma -The neglected minority of Europe
Moderator: Josephine Verspaget
Tatjana Peric: Roma rights in Central and Eastern Europe
- Education/Employment
12.30-13.30 Lunch
Session 6:
13.30-15.00 How to improve regional co-operation on civil society
level: The role of NGOs and churches in conflict prevention and
minority protection in the framework of the Stability Pact.
- Plenary discussion
- Recommendations and Conclusion
Co-financed by the European Community
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