LJUBLJANA, Feb 24 (Hina) - The rights of ethnic and religious minorities in south-east European countries are still violated despite the intensive presence of the international community and the most problematic issue is the return of
refugees. This was stated at an international conference on human and minority rights, which is being held in Bled, Slovenia, as part of the Stability Pact's Working table on democracy and human rights. The Working table on democracy and human rights has been chaired by Slovenia since the beginning of this year. Slovene representatives at the conference stressed they would dedicate their mandates particularly to the refugee return and to putting local administration into operation. That this is not an easy task has been proved by data saying one million people in Bosnia-Herzegovina still have refugee status almost six years after the adoption of the Dayton accords. "This right (to retu
LJUBLJANA, Feb 24 (Hina) - The rights of ethnic and religious
minorities in south-east European countries are still violated
despite the intensive presence of the international community and
the most problematic issue is the return of refugees.
This was stated at an international conference on human and
minority rights, which is being held in Bled, Slovenia, as part of
the Stability Pact's Working table on democracy and human rights.
The Working table on democracy and human rights has been chaired by
Slovenia since the beginning of this year. Slovene representatives
at the conference stressed they would dedicate their mandates
particularly to the refugee return and to putting local
administration into operation.
That this is not an easy task has been proved by data saying one
million people in Bosnia-Herzegovina still have refugee status
almost six years after the adoption of the Dayton accords.
"This right (to return) in Republika Srpska is realised at a very
slow pace and with general subversion by local authorities," said
Jasmina Ivosevic, a representative of the Helsinki Committee in the
Bosnian Serb entity. The return of minority peoples to the Bosnian
Serb entity started only last year after strong pressures by
international factors, i.e. a law on property relations, which was
imposed by High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that minority ethnic groups
are denied the right to work and have social insurance and are
subjected to permanent discrimination once they return to their
homes. Only Serbs are employed in public services, the others face
problems when they try to obtain personal and property documents,
Ivosevic said.
Daria Duilovic, an advisor with the Office of the High
Representative, agreed with Ivosevic, illustrating the grave
refugee situation in the country with the policy of 'apartheid' in
schools, especially in the Serb entity, where students are forced
to attend classes with Serb curricula and in the Serbian language
regardless of their ethnic and religious background. On the other
hand, she added, the international community this year saw to it
that Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat children attend classes with
different programmes but in the same schools and banned 'ethnically
clean' schools so that students with different religious and ethnic
background could socialise and get to know each other, she said.
Attending the three-day Bled conference are more than 100 experts
on humanitarian law, church dignitaries, and representatives of
governmental and non-governmental institutions. The conference
ends on Sunday.
(hina) rml