BELGRADE, Nov 8 (Hina) - Yugoslav authorities are avoiding to discuss the issues of the minorities and is postponing passing a law on them, it was said during a two-day conference of the International Helsinki Federation in Belgrade
on Thursday. The issue of minorities in Serbia continues to be marginalised, which calls for the engagement of the Council of Europe for a final solution, the chairwoman of the Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Sonja Biserko, said in her introduction. She maintains censuses in Serbia and Yugoslavia have been postponed to leave room for granting citizenship to refugees, in view of increasing the number of Serbs, which "has directly influenced the status of the minorities, particularly in (the northern province of) Vojvodina." "The experience of some minorities, like the Croats, Muslims and Albanians, in recent years has been bitter, not only physical harassment, but the denial
BELGRADE, Nov 8 (Hina) - Yugoslav authorities are avoiding to
discuss the issues of the minorities and is postponing passing a law
on them, it was said during a two-day conference of the
International Helsinki Federation in Belgrade on Thursday.
The issue of minorities in Serbia continues to be marginalised,
which calls for the engagement of the Council of Europe for a final
solution, the chairwoman of the Serbian Helsinki Committee for
Human Rights, Sonja Biserko, said in her introduction.
She maintains censuses in Serbia and Yugoslavia have been postponed
to leave room for granting citizenship to refugees, in view of
increasing the number of Serbs, which "has directly influenced the
status of the minorities, particularly in (the northern province
of) Vojvodina."
"The experience of some minorities, like the Croats, Muslims and
Albanians, in recent years has been bitter, not only physical
harassment, but the denial of their identity, the belittling of
their cultural institutions," said Biserko.
She reminded that without the southern province of Kosovo,
minorities make up 20 percent of Serbia's population, "which makes
it a multiethnic country." She dismissed the official argument that
Serbia is a citizens' state. "We all know it is a state based on one
ethnic community," Biserko said.
According to Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Zarko Korac, the
treatment of minorities is an indicator of a state's degree of
democracy. Since 1991, "even earlier", Serbia has been promoting a
policy which has endangered every minority, as well as one minority
political option - the anti-war commitment, he said, criticising
the Belgrade authorities for speaking about reforms and
development, while skirting the issue of minorities and their
rights.
The conference has pooled more than 100 participants.
(hina) ha