CSCE (logo)

High Commissioner

on National Minorities

His Excellency

Mr. Stevo Crvenkovski

Minister for Foreign Affairs

of the FYROM

The Hague

1 November 1993

Reference no: 1299/93/L

Your Excellency,

May I first of all express my appreciation to you and the members of the Government I met during my visit on 11-14 October for the help provided to me in finding answers to various questions I have raised. Even though it is my specific task to concentrate on questions regarding inter-ethnic relations, I did not fail to register the deep concern expressed by President Gligorov and various Ministers about the deteriorating economic situation of the country, and their fear that, if this trend will not be reversed, destabilizing effects might manifest themselves. I have not failed to bring this to the attention of the representatives of the CSCE states to whom I reported in Vienna on 21 October. I also have registered the growing impatience felt by your Government because so far no consensus could be reached within the CSCE concerning the admission of your country.

As I indicated to you during our conversation on 13 October, I should like to present some recommendations concerning inter-ethnic relations in your country to your Government for consideration. I hope you will consider them in the way I intended them to be: as an effort to contribute to the thought process in your Government regarding the ways and methods to be followed in order to cope with the complicated questions which a multi-ethnic country has to face. Before doing so, please permit me to say that I do share the regrets which have been expressed about the fact that so far no decisive progress has been made in the Parliamentary discussions concerning the law on local selfgovernment notwithstanding the fact that clarity about the role and competences of local government units is clearly needed.

My first recommendation concerns the census which is being planned. I was pleased to note the repeated assurances I received during my visit that your Government has definitely committed itself to April l994 as the month during which this important event will take place. I wholeheartedly support the proposal of Ambassador G.Ahrens of the International Conference on the former Yugoslavia that the council of Europe shall monitor the preparations of the census through an international Group of Experts which the participation of the United Nations, the European Community and ICFY, and that the Council of Europe will be asked to supervise the execution of the census itself. Equally, I support his other proposals on this subject. I do feel however, that the timely preparation of the census requires that a draft law on this subject will be submitted to Parliament without delay.

My second recommendation concerns the question of the pedagogical faculty in the Albanian language at the University of Skopje. In my opinion there is an urgent need to settle this question soon. I have been assured that your Government is aware of the need to promote greater access of Albanians to secondary schools and I do hope that their number will increase considerably during the years to come. But it is equally important that an adequate number of Albanian teachers will receive a proper training at the required level. As the various aspects of this problem have apparently already been studied for a considerable time, I do hope that your Government will give priority to the solution of this urgent problem.

I considered it a privilege to be invited to address the Council for Inter-Ethnic Relations which has been created in accordance with Article 78 of your Constitution. This organ in which the various population groups f your country are represented could play a vital role in promoting dialogue and remove possible misunderstandings provided its potential is used to the full. In this respect I consider it especially important that the council, apart from advising on legislation relevant for the various population groups, would also have the competence both to analyze ways to promote inter-ethnic harmony and, when necessary, to initiate an investigation of events which have led to inter-ethnic tensions. Article 78, paragraph 5, of the Constitution, which states that "the Council considers issues related to inter-ethnic relations in the Republic and submits ideas and suggestions for their resolution", clearly permits such an interpretation of its role. I also fully agree with the suggestion of Ambassador G. Ahrens of the ICFY that the efforts to ensure, through a progressive process already underway, that the staffing of the military and the police at all levels adequately reflect the recognized nationalities, will be the subject of annual progress reports reviewed by the Council for Inter-Ethnic Relations. A similar procedure could also be followed for all Government departments. In order to be able to cope with these tasks the Council, apart from meeting regularly in plenary sessions, would also have to do a considerable part of its work in various commissions. In addition, it is essential that the Council will be provided with an adequate staff.

In drafting these recommendations, I have tried to concentrate on those which relate to the most urgent questions in the sphere of inter-ethnic relations. New developments might require the formulation of additional ones. I am fully aware that I am addressing these recommendations to a Government which has to cope with many other urgent and important problems. Still, I take the liberty to request your special attention for the questions I have raised. I am doing this because I do feel that their satisfactory solution would greatly contribute to the inter-ethnic harmony which is of such vital importance for the future of your country.

I look forward with great interest to your comments on the proposals I have submitted to your Government.

Yours sincerely,

(s i g n a t u r e)

Max van der Stoel, CSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities