Fwd: GHM: Statement at the OSCE on Unrecognized Minorities
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Subject: Fwd: GHM: Statement at the OSCE on Unrecognized Minorities
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Subbject: Fwd: GHM: Statement at the OSCE on Unrecognized Minorities
GHM: STATEMENT AT THE OSCE ON (PARTLY OR FULLY) UNRECOGNIZED
MINORITIES IN ALBANIA, BULGARIA, FRANCE, GREECE, MACEDONIA, SLOVENIA
AND TURKEY
24 October 2000
The existence of a minority is "a matter of fact, not a matter of law"
said the International Court of Justice in the interwar period. "I
know a minority when I see one" said recently the OSCE HCNM Max van
der Stoel. It is unfortunate that some states continue to claim that
minorities exist only when laws say so, and refuse to recognize
national minorities when "they see them." Respect for the identity of
any minority is the prerequisite for a country to be considered that
it respects minority rights. We recommend that the HCNM engages in a
study of the issue and help the countries mentioned below to adjust
their constitution, legislation and/or practice so as to formally
recognize the minorities whose existence the international community
anyway acknowledges, irrespective of these countries' positions.
As ECRI stated, France's "republican model" rejects the concept of
minority groups among French citizens. But "ECRI considers that, de
facto, such groups exist and that � the rights of individuals
connected with the identity of these groups of the population of
France are limited" (p. 12). France replied that "the legal concept of
'minority' does not exist in French law" (p. 26) as it is incompatible
with "the principles of the indivisibility of the nation" (p. 25) and
the related arguments were inspired by strong assimilationism.
Scholars and minority rights activists have shown that constitutional
amendments are necessary but also possible for the development of a
multicultural concept of the Republic: after all, the French
constitution is being amended frequently, including this year on other
matters.
A similar "republican model" based on the "indivisibility of the
nation" exists in Turkey, except that that country is obliged to
recognize the Treaty of Lausanne non-Muslim minorities. So, Turkey
reject the concept of ethno-national minorities like the Kurds, and
moreover considers the non-Muslim communities as religious minorities,
even though they aspire to be ethnonational: for example, Turkey's
Greeks cannot call themselves Greeks ("Ynanli") but only
Greek-Orthodox ("Rum").
Its neighbor Greece, with an ideological construct of a "100%
homogeneity" to quote the Athens Journalists' Union President among
many others, is the other OSCE country besides Turkey that refuses to
acknowledge the presence of ethno-national minorities, like
Macedonians and Turks, while recognizing only one religious minority,
the Muslims, as imposed by the Treaty of Lausanne. The latter are
denied the right to call themselves and their associations Turks and
Turkish (but allowed to call themselves and their groups Pomak or
Roma). Restrictions of the freedom of association and expression of
Macedonians and Turks have been criticized by ECRI.
Somewhat similar is Slovenia's position. In its 2000 recommendations
for that country UN CERD "notes that different minority groups are
provided by law differentiated protection measures in different areas
of daily life, such as political representation, access to media,
education and culture. The Committee notes that minority groups, such
as Croats, Serbs, Bosnian and Roma, do not enjoy the same level of
protection from the State party as the Italian and Hungarian
minorities. In this connection, the Committee recommends that the
State party, in accordance with article 2 of the ICERD, ensure that
persons or groups of persons belonging to other minority groups are
not discriminated against." The reason is that besides Italians and
Hungarians, the other and more numerous groups are not recognized as
minorities. It is ironic, but also indicative of its direction, that
the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe has decided to fund an
institute on minorities as a joint Greek-Slovenian venture.
Macedonia also has a legalistic approach: it formally recognizes some
minorities - including in an interpretative declaration to the FCNM -
and provides them, at least on paper, with a large array of rights.
But other minorities, whether they are the mostly recently established
Bosniaks or the historical ethno-national "rivals" Bulgarians, though
probably more numerous than the recognized Aromanians, are denied
recognition. In recent past, Bulgarian parties were denied
registration.
Across the border, Bulgaria "reciprocates" by recognizing a large
array of "minority groups" -that it does not like to call minorities
though- but denying to include Macedonians among them, and as was
stated here, restricting their freedoms of association and of
assembly. ECRI acknowledges the presence of an "ethnic Macedonian
identity," notes that complaints for violations of the right to
assembly won admissibility at the ECHR, and "hopes that Bulgarian
authorities will take steps to ensure that all groups in Bulgaria
effectively enjoy the right to peaceful assembly."
Finally, Albania recognizes a Greek and a Macedonian minority, but
only in the Southern regions. Those who identify as Macedonians and
Greeks outside these minority regions are denied the minority rights
granted in the south, including minority classes at state schools. The
recent Himara election tensions were related to an effort of the Greek
minority to have its existence recognized, which was successful
insofar as even the OSCE ODIHR reported that "in Himara, � there is a
Greek-speaking minority;" it also reported Since the Albanian
delegation, in response to a previous statement in this meeting,
argued that "GHM has mixed its facts as Himara is not a minority
area," we would appreciate if they tell this meeting whether also OSCE
ODIHR had its facts mixed. Moreover, the Albanian delegation insisted
last week that "there were no irregularities in the elections." But
the OSCE ODIHR mission stated: "in Himara, the situation was marked by
some serious irregularities ranging from intimidation of commissions
members, to one case of violence in which a ballot box was destroyed,
to verified evidence of fraud in at least three other voting centres.
The authorities should investigate fully the irregularities in
accordance with the rule of law." Reportedly, a similar recommendation
came from the Council of Europe a few days ago. We hope that, after
all that, the Albanian authorities will first investigate all these
serious irregularities, and then, in cooperation with the mainly Greek
minority "Human Rights Union Party" - a government partner - will seek
ways to grant to Greeks in Himara, as well as to Greeks and
Macedonians outside the "minority zones" the same rights given within
the latter areas.
Just as we also urge the authorities of Bulgaria, France, Greece,
Macedonia, Slovenia, and Turkey - besides those of Albania - to
respect the identity of their minorities and grant the latter all the
rights they ask for, provided they conform to the related
international norms. EU, Council of Europe, OSCE and UN institutions
are there to provide all necessary counselling and mediation. In the
long term, this is the only way to avoid such issues become explosive,
as we have recently seen in so many countries, including some in this
list.
--------------------------------
GHM Board: Panayote Dimitras, Dionysis Gousetis, Dimitrina Petrova,
Alan Phillips, Gregory Vallianatos.
International Advisory Committee: Savvas Agouridis, Teuta Arifi, Ivo
Banac, Vladimir Bilandzic, Marcel Courthiade, Loring Danforth, Fernand
de Varennes, Eran Fraenkel, Victor-Yves Ghebali, Henri Giordan,
Krassimir Kanev, Will Kymlicka, Remzi Lani, Theodore S. Orlin,
Dimitrina Petrova, Alan Phillips, Aaron Rhodes, Patrick Thornberry,
Stefan Troebst, Boris Tsilevich, Tibor Varady.
Affiliation to International Organizations: Consortium of Minority
Resources (COMIR), European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), International
Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), International Helsinki
Federation for Human Rights (IHF), Minority Rights Group International
(MRGI).
--
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