MHRMC - Press Release
Invitation for the Third Macedonian World Human Rights Conference
Prilep, Republic of Macedonia - September 20-21, 2003
August 28, 2003
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For more information please see the Conference Invitation
and Registration Form
In order to coordinate the activities of all Macedonian human rights organizations and activists, the Macedonian Human Rights Movement
of Canada and the United Macedonians Organization of Canada, as defenders of the human rights of ethnic Macedonians living in Macedonia,
the wider Balkan peninsula and throughout the world, initiated the First Macedonian World Human Rights Conference which was held 25-26
August 2001 in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia. The second Conference was held 31 August 2002, in Kolarovo, Pirin part of Macedonia
(Republic of Bulgaria). The goal of the first two conferences was to bring together the Macedonian human rights organizations and their
activists from the Balkans so that they can learn about each other’s human rights conditions and chart a course of joint action towards
securing the implementation of all international human rights standards in their given countries.
The purpose of this year’s conference is to inform the relevant international players, in order to find an integral solution to the
Macedonian question, which, at the beginning of the last century (1912-1913) was the cause of a Balkan war. Besides aiming to
internationalize the Macedonian question, this year’s Conference will be a success if it can answer the following question:
“When countries like Greece and Bulgaria simply do not recognize the existence of ethnic minorities within their borders, how is a
minority supposed and expected to struggle to attain its minority rights?”
We also ask this question to the members of the international organizations, especially the international governmental organizations,
who have instruments at their disposal that can enforce the implementation of the human and ethnic rights of oppressed minorities.
Conference Goals:
1. Presentation of the current level of respect for Macedonian human and national rights in Macedonia, the wider Balkan Peninsula where
ethnic Macedonians live, as well as the Macedonian Diaspora;
2. Development of greater acquaintance with the international human rights agreements (dealing with ethnic, linguistic, cultural,
religious and other rights) and the mechanisms that ensure their implementation;
3. Internationalization of the problems that Macedonians face, through the involvement at the Conference of international governmental
organizations (UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, European Union, European Parliament) and non-governmental organizations (Helsinki committees,
European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages, European Federation for National Minorities), government representatives of the Balkan states
and representatives of influential countries (foreign diplomatic representatives in Athens, Salonika, Sofia, Skopje, Bitola, Tirana,
Belgrade and Pristina);
4. Compilation of all presentations and papers at the Conference in printed form, in the English language, as a way of continued
internationalization of the Macedonian question on the world scene.
For more information please see the Conference Invitation
and Registration Form
Dragi Stojkovski
Macedonian Human Rights Movement International
Address: 157 Adelaide St. West, Suite 434, Toronto, Canada M5H 4E7
Tel: 416-850-7125 Fax: 416-850-7127
E-mail: info@mhrmi.org
Website: www.mhrmi.org
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