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PRESS RELEASE
On the awareness raising round table for the respect of rights of minorities and communities in the circuit of Korça
Korça, 26 October 2004
The Albanian Helsinki Committee organized on 26 October 2004, in the premises of the "Grand" Hotel in Korça, a round table discussion about the respect for the rights of the Macedonian, Roma, Arumunian/Vllah
minorities and the Egyptian community in the district.
Participating in the meeting, besides representatives of these minorities from the district and other regions of the country, were also representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Committee on Minorities, local government
bodies (municipalities and communes), the educational directory, school directors from the commune of Liqenas, representatives from the police, the courts and NPO-s active at the local level.
By way of its local experts, the Albanian Helsinki Committee brought to this round table discussion the best of values of ethnic, cultural and religious coexistence, as an important factor of the social integration of
minorities and communities in the region of Korça. Also addressed in the discussion were the issues of minority and community rights in the Korça circuit. On the basis of continuous observations on the situations of minorities, the AHC presented its conclusions and recommendations with regard to respect for the rights of the Macedonian, Roma, and Arumunian/Vllah minorities as well as of the
Egyptian community in this district.
Participants in the meeting had the opportunity to discuss on the issues previously raised with the AHC or with local authorities, as well as to present their concerns with regard to the respect for the rights of minorities that they represented. For the AHC, this activity sought to make an evaluation on the implementation of recommendations that the AHC had made two years ago, when it closely
observed the situation of minorities in the circuit of Korça.
Representatives of the Arumunian/Vllah linguistic minority raised the issue of the lack of programs reflecting their culture, history and traditions in the Korça public television, while they praised the good experience of local private
stations in the district in increasing access of this minority to the local broadcast media. The AHC recommended that the local broadcast media should create greater space for the recognition and dissemination of the traditions, culture and history of this minority.
With regard to problems in the area of education, representatives of the Macedonian minority raised the problem of the lack of texts in the Albanian language for pupils of schools in the commune of Liqenas, while the primary and secondary
9-year education system has begun to be implemented. Furthermore, they requested the republication of Macedonian language textbooks for pupils of these levels.
Representatives of the Arumunian/Vllah linguistic minority pointed out that children of this community were not provided the possibility to learn in the Arumunian language. With regard to this issue, the representative of the Korça Directory
of Education notified that there has been no official request from the minority to open courses to teach the language to minority children. Furthermore, the representative also raised concern about the lack of official statistics on the exact number of children belonging to this linguistic minority, which makes it difficult to take concrete measures in this regard.
The high level of illiteracy of children of the Egyptian community and the Roma minority as well as the phenomenon of school abandonment by these children were concerns raised by representatives of these communities in the round table
discussion.
With regard to this issue, the AHC recommended to the relevant state authorities to undertake faster measures to improve the situation in this respect. The AHC requests from the Ministry of Education and Science to implement the strategy that
was approved a long time ago for improving living conditions for the Roma minority. Similar measures are indispensable also for the Egyptian community.
Participants in the round table discussion presented a model of a positive initiative for constructing a building for the pre-school education of Roma children, as a cooperation effort of local government bodies and NPO-s representing the Roma minority. While the initiative was lauded, it was also emphasized that it had not been finalized due to the lack of a minor amount of funds, necessary to pay
the tax for the construction permit for the building.
Representatives of the Macedonian minority supported the recommendation made by the AHC suggesting the to the Macedonian community and the local authorities to undertake the necessary procedures to have the names of villages written in both
languages on road signs.
Representatives of the Macedonian and Roma minorities shared some instances of not very appropriate communication on the part of police forces, considering them discriminating toward representatives of these
minorities. The AHC, not being closely familiar with these cases and without wanting to prejudice any of the parties, recommended to the representatives of these minorities to pursue legal paths for filing criminal denunciations against these cases with the prosecutor's office, as well as with organizations protecting human rights.
In support of the concern raised by representatives of the Macedonian minority, the AHC recommended to the pertinent state authorities at the local level to encourage greater participation of the Macedonian minority in political, economic, and social activities.
Participants emphasized the lack of accurate official statistics with regard to the number of these minorities and communities in the Circuit of Korça. Participants noted that accurate official statistics would then serve define policies and
fulfil obligations of the Albanian state for better respect for the rights of minorities and communities in this district.
At the closing of the round table discussion, the AHC recommended to local and central authorities to devote more attention to the Roma minority and the Egyptian community. There should be persistence in fighting against discriminating
prejudice toward individuals belonging to these communities.
This awareness raising round table discussion of the AHC fulfilled its objectives and received positive evaluations from all participants.
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