Council of Europe Report Omits the Macedonians in Greece
October 21, 2002
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After the announcement of the minority report in the Council of Europe (COE) in which the Macedonian minority in Greece is not mentioned, the political party of the Macedonians in Greece, "Rainbow," will specifically request that the COE open the issue of the discrimination against the Macedonians in Greece.
As "Vecher" writes, the human rights issues relating to the Macedonian minority in Greece are missing from the report that Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Jil Roble, delivered to the Committee of Ministers and to the Parliamentary Assembly of the COE.
During the meeting in Athens with representatives of the Macedonian party in Greece these problems were brought up and that is why "Rainbow" is surprised that Roble did not find a place in the report to even mention the Macedonians.
This does not mean that "Rainbow" condemns the report, because in general it is positive. But the undertaking of many concrete measures by the international institutions for exceeding the problems that refer to protection of human rights is necessary, stated "Rainbow".
"Rainbow" recommends that Greece ratify the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities and sign the European Charter on minority languages.
According to "Rainbow," the Council of Europe should go one step further from its general recommendations and focus on more concrete solutions, above all to deal with Greece's refusal to acknowledge its Macedonian minority, their discrimination and the abysmal treatment of Macedonian political refugees.
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