OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities visits South-Eastern Europe

The High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) Knut Vollebaek visited Belgrade, Bujanovac and Skopje from 19 to 23 March 2012.

On 20 March, Vollebaek met Serbian President Boris Tadić, Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Marković, Education Minister Žarko Obradović and Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanović, among others, in Belgrade.

Vollebaek discussed a number of topics related to the rights of national minorities in Serbia. In particular, he focused on contentious issues that could negatively affect relations between Serbia and Romania, and explored how his involvement could support efforts to seek constructive solutions.

On 21 March, Vollebaek returned to the first multilingual and multi-ethnic university department in Bujanovac, south Serbia, which opened late last year. This branch of the Faculty of Economics in Subotica, in the multi-ethnic region of Vojvodina in northern Serbia, teaches economics and marketing in both Serbian and Albanian languages. He met Dean Nenad Vunjak and spoke to the students after hearing their opinions over lunch. The High Commissioner also welcomed the positive effects of the department on the economic development of the region of south Serbia.

“The establishment of this department has been a great success and is already encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit among the students,” said Vollebaek. “I urge the Serbian Government and the local authorities to make all efforts to ensure that quality, multilingual education continues to be provided to the youth of south Serbia in the years to come.”

While in Bujanovac, Vollebaek also met representatives of the Albanian leadership and recommended that they find street names that are in accordance with the town’s multi-ethnic character.

In the afternoon, Vollebaek travelled to Skopje, his second visit in as many months, to assess the situation in light of recent inter-ethnic incidents in the country. Vollebaek met local officials in the Čair municipality, including the local mayor and members of the local Committee on Inter-Community Relations. He spoke to parents and secondary school pupils as well as civil society representatives to hear their views on the situation. He also met with the Parliamentary Committee on Inter-Community Relations.

He expressed concern over repeated incidents involving inter-ethnic tensions in the country, and emphasized that they underscored the urgent need for the authorities to work towards bridging the ethnic divide in society through long-term measures, a recommendation that the High Commissioner has made for many years.