UN Commission On Human Rights 55th Session

1 March 1999

Mr/ Madam Chairperson,

Minority Rights Group does not wish to repeat the suggestions we made earlier regarding the World Conference on Racism. Rather we would like to present the findings of our recent `Report on Minorities in Southeast Europe: Inclusion and Exclusion`.

This Report reviews the situation of minority groups in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Greece, Macedonia and Slovenia.

A common feature to the Balkan countries, is that their societies are impregnated with the legacy of the Ottoman system of protection of religious minorities, which, in the contemporary context, often entrenches positions of trust or distrust of those not in power. The countries also have lived with the borders drawn during and following the two world wars, and the break-up of Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990s has led to the formation of some states with one ethnicity or group being dominant. All the new states in the region have defined or tried to define themselves on an ethnic basis rather than on the basis of a civic sense of belonging, which is always detrimental to minorities with a strong identity.

Because of these historical factors, some minorities have been perceived, and sometimes rightfully so, as a threat to the integrity of the states. They have therefore been excluded from participation in the life of the country. This is particularly the case of Albanians, both in Kosovo and in Macedonia.

The war in Kosovo and the difficult negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict were predicted a decade ago - and since then a full fledged war has taken place in Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia leading to massacres, numerous deaths and the massive displacement of populations.

Mr/Madam Chairperson,

The Albanian question is not a new one. Albanian nationalism led to the riots of 1981 and the ensuing clampdown on their nationalist activities which was then supported by all members of the federation for fear of a break-up of the country. This, however, gave rise to a Serbian nationalist reaction and enabled Slobodan Milosevic to reach power on that basis. In 1988[?] he stripped autonomy status from the province of Kosovo. This led to peaceful demonstrations by Kosovo Albanians during the whole decade of the 1990s. Repression and discrimination against Kosovo Albanians carried on and as long as the Albanians were following their peaceful leader and his strategy in demanding autonomy, the international community could afford not to pay attention to the human rights violations. Little attention was paid by this Commission to the information provided by the Kosovo Albanians on the situation in their region. Only when armed resistance began, and what seemed a repetition of the conflict in Bosnia started, did the international community show some signs of concern, and the will to encourage an equitable solution to the conflict and try to prevent another bloodbath.

Because of the implications of this situation for the Albanian community in Macedonia, and for Macedonians as well, it is urgent that an equitable solution be found, which might need to be a middle way between extreme positions that, if taken to their end, may create the conditions for a spill- over of the conflict into Macedonia

Mr/Madam Chairperson, Our research has for a long time shown that Albanians were subjected to systematic discrimination in the political and economic life in Kosovo, a region where they live in a majority. Basic respect for human and minority rights, in addition to a full fledged autonomy status, may be a step in the right direction.

Recommendation: states should avoid ethnically based characteristics as criteria for citizenship.