10-14 April 1997

Introduction

Consistent with the continuing effort to monitor the state of human rights and inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia, the IHF sent a fact-finding mission to the country to investigate the situation surrounding demonstrations by ethnic Macedonians against proposed Albanian-language higher education programs; the actual or planned development of parallel institutions by Albanians that have raised fears of separatism; allegations of intimidation, harassment and other mistreatment of members of Albanian political parties; the consequences of deteriorating conditions in Albania for human rights issues in Macedonia; and other issues described below.

The members of the IHF delegation included Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF; Panayote Elias Dimitras, Spokesperson for Greek Helsinki Monitor; Christina Rougheri, Media Monitor of Greek Helsinki Monitor; and Meto Jovanovski, President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia.

The mission members had meetings and interviews with, inter alia, the following persons and groups:

President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov; Atanas Avramovski, Undersecretary, and Zeljika Demnieva, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Education and Physical Culture; Vlado Popovski, Minister of Justice; Christopher Hill, Ambassador of the United States to Macedonia; Msgr. Antun Tsirimotik, Director of Macedonian Caritas; Professor Dr. Xhevat Gega and Mr. Murat Isaku, Albanian Union of Intellectuals; Prof. Dr. Xheladin Murati, MP, Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) and Vice President of the Assembly; Prof. Dr. Fadil Sulejmani, President, and Prof. Dr. Miljiam Fejzi, President of the Senate of Tetovo University; Arben Xhaferi, President, Albanian Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDPA); Menduh Taci, Vice President of PDPA; Alajdin Demiri, Mayor of Tetovo, Georgi Naumov, Marian Georgev, and Boris Trajkovski, VMRO-DPMNE; and Ambassador Christian Faber-Rod, Head, and Julian Peel Yates and Tatjana Seyppel, OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje. Mission members also met with Alexander Damovski, the editor in chief of DNEVNIK.

The delegation also met collectively with the members of the presidency of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia.

1. The Questions Surrounding Higher Education and the Rights of Minorities

The IHF and its constituent national Helsinki committees have in general recognized the importance of policies by the Macedonian state which would allow and indeed encourage higher education being provided in Albanian and other "minority" languages in the Republic of Macedonia. The IHF also recognizes that education in minority languages is more developed in Macedonia than in any other country in the region.

However, we are deeply disturbed by a proposed new law on higher education which would exclude education in those languages even at private universities, a proposal that is unsound from a human rights perspective, and gives the impression of an effort to manipulate the development of intellectual institutions for political purposes and for the culturally-hegemonistic purpose of breaking the link between language and nationality. The proposal is legitimated by a communist-era interpretation of Article 48 of the Constitution which, while not guaranteeing higher education in minority languages, does not prohibit such education.

The Albanians of Macedonia now have the possibility to receive Albanian-language instruction in the Pedagogical Academy. This program is what gave rise to a series of violent demonstrations in Skopie. But it should be kept in mind that Macedonia’s Albanians had the possibility in the 1980s to attend an Albanian Language University in Pristina and a Pedagogical Academy in Skopje. The current lack of such possibilities (which also applies to every other minority population in the Balkans) is perceived by Albanians as an unacceptable deterioration of their status, and thus makes the demand for higher education institutions in their language even more legitimate.

Under these circumstances, the proposed law, ostensibly aimed at "integration" and "stability," would likely have the opposite effect, and send the message that the Republic of Macedonia exists as the national state of the Macedonian people rather than as a "civic state" of all the people living there. We are convinced that improving the human rights and inter-ethnic situation in Macedonia depends upon positive steps by the government to resolve the issue of higher education, as well as more effort on the part of elements of the Albanian community to affirm a commitment to working within a unified, multi-ethnic social and political system.

The moderate political and intellectual leaders of the Albanian community are against any program to preserve or create a system of ethnic, linguistic or cultural apartheid in Macedonia. The moderate leaders of the ethnic Macedonian community who have denounced the chauvinistic, racist slogans of those demonstrating against providing courses in Albanian at the Pedagogical Faculty have shown moral and civic courage in doing so.

Even the leaders of the VMRO party, which despite its reputation as the party of Macedonian nationalism claims itself to be a "center-right" party in the style of Christian Democrats in, e.g. Germany and Austria, assert that the party would not oppose the existence of private universities offering instruction in the Albanian language as long as they function within the framework of the law.

But the positions of moderates in both ethnic communities will be seriously undermined by the proposed law prohibiting higher education in minority languages at private universities. Indeed, the political coalition upon which the current stability of Macedonia depends will likely be destroyed by the passage of such a law: the PDP would leave the government under those circumstances.

The IHF does not endorse any illegal acts committed by representatives of Tetovo University or any other institution in Macedonia. The IHF is a human rights organization, not one with any competence to judge the quality of a university. At the same time, it should be noted that members of the IHF delegation included former university professors and administrators who were surprised that the two leading officials at Tetovo University had no documentation on hand concerning the names and qualifications of faculty, the programs and courses offered, and the composition and intellectual quality of the student body. Indeed, contrary to what a published statement describing the visit said, we were not given detailed answers to all our questions. We are still waiting for written information.

Furthermore, we made it clear that the proposed plan to "force the Macedonian authorities" to employ graduates of Tetovo University despite the institution lacking proper accreditation would likely lead to a destructive political confrontation, but whether or not this would serve to help educate ethnic Albanian children in their own mother tongue is problematic. We said the plan would likely not work, and only create a large number of educated young people who would not be legally employable, and who would be potential victims of political manipulation.

While officials of Tetovo University deny the creation of a "parallel institution," and indicate that the institution is bilingual in principle and practice, the same officials speak of educating students who will practice in professions (law, medicine, etc.) as members of the specifically Albanian community. The continuation of the institution in the face of obstacles was termed a "holy way," and a map depicting "Greater Albania" appears on the wall of the Dean’s office.

The IHF recommends that the Macedonian authorities adhere to the principles and the specific recommendations made by the Council of Europe’s Legislative Reform Programme for Higher Education. We call attention in particular to the Council of Europe’s opinion on the matter of the language provision in the proposed law on higher education: “The experts of the delegation refrained from judging as a matter of law whether language could be an element in granting or denying recognition to a private university operating on the territory of the country. It is suggested, however, that language of instruction should not be a criterion for recognition.”

2. Political Rights; the Abuse of State Authority

The IHF is deeply concerned by allegations of illegal police detention, mistreatment including the denial of food and sleep and physical abuse and torture leading to forced "confessions" by members of the PDPA. For example, the IHF received partial written and signed statements from a member of the security force of the PDPA to the effect that he was kidnapped for 28 hours beginning on 1 April 1997, during which time he was denied sleep, food and water, denied access to a lawyer, and clubbed on the bottoms of his feet. Security personnel threatened to throw him out a high window. He was interrogated about alleged paramilitary formations and claims he was forced to “sign a confession.” PDPA officials also claimed that their automobile had been illegally seized; the IHF delegation observed the impounded vehicle at a police station and were informed it was being held because the identification number on its motor did not match its registration, indicating a possible case of smuggling or other violation of the law. PDPA officials further alleged that a municipal official in Tetovo had been held in an isolation cell after being detained in the same way.

Macedonia implemented a new Law on Penal Procedure on 11 April 1997. According to this new law, detained citizens immediately after their detention must be informed about the reasons for their detention and of their rights; they may not be forced to make a statement; they have the right to call a lawyer immediately upon their detention; they must be brought before a court within 24 hours, and unlawfully detained citizens have a right to compensation.

Members of the PDPA allege that abuses against their members, in the days before April 11, violated even the old penal code, and that those violations had been brought to the attention of the Prime Minister. Members of the OSCE Mission told our delegation that it appears that state security authorities had taken numerous citizens into custody for "informal talks" immediately before the new rules came into effect. The PDPA believes that the abuses were precipitated by the crisis in Albania, insofar as that country was no longer in a position to deter abuses against ethnic Albanians in Macedonia.

The PDPA claims it is under constant police surveillance. They claim to be "satanized" by the government; that the party's program is not one of creating parallel institutions, but rather one of advocating for regional development and equality and the "European ideas" of "decentralization." They consider the detentions they allege to be "provocations" to act illegally by which the government. The PDPA claims it is "ready for a dialogue". At the same time, the perception of the party among moderate political forces is much different: its rhetoric is clearly a strong force behind the negative dynamic in inter-ethnic relations.

3. The Problems Surrounding the Language in the Constitution

While affiliates of the IHF and other human rights groups both within Macedonia and from abroad have noted the obstacles to inter-ethnic harmony posed by the Preamble to the Constitution, the delegation was told by the Minister of Justice that he would support dropping altogether the related text, which would presumably improve the sense of citizenship among minorities, and lessen the basis for nationalistic chauvinism among ethnic Macedonians.

The President of the Republic admitted this was a possible solution to ethnic tensions. But both moderate ethnic Albanians and the PDPA indicated such a change would not be a significant improvement. And the VMRO representatives claimed that were the Preamble to be removed, the Albanians of Macedonia would become a "constituent nation" and the Republic would, de-facto, become bi-lingual.

Article VII, which proclaims Macedonian as the "official language" of the Republic, is sometimes enforced to such an absurd degree that ethnic Albanian MPs who wish their business cards to include Albanian language titles cannot have them printed free of charge in the Parliament.

4. Freedom of Information

All civil and state organizations, Macedonian and international, which advocate for freedom of expression and for civil society and pluralism should applaud the success of a new independent newspaper in Macedonia, viz. Dnevnik.

At the same time, the IHF has received distressing reports about difficulties the new publication faces in its efforts to grow and provide better services to its readers.

Moreover, the absence of a comprehensive media law makes the functioning of many independent media, including most minority media, precarious and at the mercy of the state; and the dominant position of the formerly state-owned and now privatized Nova Makedonija Press makes the printing and distribution of most other newspapers vulnerable.

5. Deficiencies in the Citizenship Laws

The IHF wishes to draw attention to the main conclusions regarding Macedonia’s citizenship laws that are presented in “A Threat to Stability,” the 1996 Report by the IHF’s US affiliate Human Rights Watch/Helsinki. Research by that organization indicated that “a large percentage of those denied Macedonian citizenship were members of an ethnic minority, usually Muslims. Many of them have long-standing ties to the country and were not able to obtain citizenship in another republic of the former Yugoslavia.” The IHF recommends that the Law on Citizenship thus be amended consistent with the recommendations and concerns of the OSCE High Commission on National Minorities and the former UN Special Rapporteur.

6. Religious Rights and the Draft Law on Religions

The IHF is disturbed by the draft law on religions which seems to favor “traditional” over “new” religions, while also imposing very strict control on the functioning of all churches that impedes on freedom of religion.

Also, Macedonia continues not to recognize the Serbian orthodox church (because the latter does not recognize the Macedonian church) and thus prohibits Serbian clergymen to hold services among the Serbian minorities in Macedonia, a situation that is perceived by ethnic Serbs as not merely religious but also ethnic discrimination.

7. Border Issues

The IHF condemns the Greek authorities’ continuing discrimination against former Greek citizens of Macedonian ethnic origin. They are the only ones among political refugees who fled Greece during the civil war (1944-1949) who have not been allowed to recover their citizenship, or even allowed short visits to Greece including for participation in family ceremonies (weddings, funerals, etc.). We acknowledge that in recent months there have been efforts to allow such visits for some of those people. But, we are also aware that a very long list prohibits entry into Greece of many of these people as well as second-generation ethnic Macedonian citizens of third countries (especially Australia and Canada) who have been active in Macedonian associations in their countries.