PREVENTION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, INCLUDING EARLY WARNING AND URGENT PROCEDURES (continued)
Israel (continued)
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS, COMMENTS AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION (continued)
PREVENTION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, INCLUDING EARLY WARNING AND URGENT PROCEDURES (agenda item 4) (continued)
1. At the invitation of the Chairman, the members of the Israeli delegation resumed their places at the Committee table.
2. Mr. WOLFRUM welcomed Israel's wish to enter into a dialogue with the Committee and make use of its services, as was shown by its dispatch of a high-level delegation, one of whose members had taken the trouble to come from Jerusalem. He said that the Committee must do everything to encourage the pursuit of the peace process and, to that end, it must request that all the agreements concluded between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority should be applied in full, but that it must, above all, condemn terrorism unreservedly, whatever its source, not only because in Israel it only sought to sabotage the efforts to establish peace, but also because, in any event, it could never be justified. The Committee should also condemn the collective reprisals taken against the Palestinian population, in particular the freezing of Palestinian assets, since that was an illegal measure taken unilaterally by a State and was in no way comparable to the coercive action (or "sanctions") which States Members of the United Nations might decide upon collectively under international law. Finally, it should offer to help Israel by all the means at its disposal to re-establish a climate favourable to peace and to bring an end to the escalation of tension.
3. Mrs. SADIQ ALI fully supported the remarks of Mr. van Boven and the views of several other members of the Committee who had taken the floor during the debate. She hoped that Israel would take account of the opinions expressed in the course of the fruitful dialogue that had been established.
4. Mr. SABEL (Israel) recalled that, prior to the major change of direction represented by the Israeli-Palestinian agreements, the West Bank and Gaza had not been subject to Israeli law, but had been administered by the military authorities in accordance with the rules of international law. Since then, the Palestinians, acting in full autonomy, had made, interpreted and applied their own laws, even if some of those laws were unfavourable, or even discriminatory, to Israel, such as the order declaring it to be a punishable offence for a Palestinian to sell his land to a Jew.
5. Since Israel had fulfilled its obligations under the agreements concluded with the Palestinians, the exceptional treatment represented by the early warning and urgent procedures did not apply. When the Committee examined Israel's periodic report in accordance with its normal procedure, it would be able to judge whether Israel had presented an honest picture of the situation, including the shadowy areas and the problems which, like any other country, it had. It would also see that Israel had made enormous progress along the path to democracy, as was clear from the report of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, even though in other respects it was highly critical. In presenting its periodic report, Israel would make no attempt to cast a veil over the problems of migrant workers or the real gap that existed between the Israeli and Arab communities. An account would also be given of the considerable legislative changes made and the continuing attempts to combat discrimination in employment and to respect human dignity and liberties.
6. Mr. LAMDAN (Israel) said that the members of the Committee, in taking a position in favour of the peace process and the application of the Oslo Accords, were preaching to the converted, since what Israel wanted was peace. The difficulties arose from the fact that peace required the Accords to be applied by each of the two sides and that meant, in particular, that the Palestinian Authority should make a serious attempt to eradicate terrorism in accordance with its undertakings. Moreover, it could only harm the cause of peace if an essentially political situation that had arisen from the conflict of two national identities unfortunately attached to the same piece of land were to be seen in terms of racism or religious intolerance. Bomb attacks in Jerusalem were not racist in character but were purely and simply political provocations intended to achieve the worst possible consequences. In fact, the Committee was not a political body and should confine its action to the non-political sphere. It would achieve nothing except sensationalism by resorting to urgent procedures, at a time when the sponsors of the peace process were seeking to relaunch that process. On the other hand, in its consideration of Israel's periodic report, the Committee could promote the peace process by encouraging the two parties to the dispute to respect the Oslo Accords and to fulfil the obligations that they had willingly entered into under those Accords.
7. The CHAIRMAN stated that it was in no way the intention of the Committee to examine the situation in Israel as a whole. Nevertheless, any attempt to carry out a proper examination of the application of the Convention in that country must take account of the national context. Misunderstandings often arose as to the competence of the Committee, since a large number of States interpreted racial discrimination in a narrower sense than the meaning given in the Convention itself. It was nevertheless a fact that the Committee must act in accordance with the Convention in examining its application by the States parties.
8. Mr. SHAHI endorsed the arguments put forward by Mr. van Boven in support of resort to the urgent procedure, which was justified in view of the explosive nature of the situation in Israel. He too pointed out that the Committee's action must be based on the actual text of the Convention.
9. He also condemned the unjustifiable collective reprisals taken against the Palestinian population and the extremely harsh measures taken by Israel against the Palestinian Authority, such as the delay in the reimbursement of taxes, duties and dues which it collected and which it was obliged to pay over to it. He did not believe that the Committee had shown itself to be partial, but that it had, on the contrary, acted in the interest of both parties. In the same spirit, the Committee should urge the Palestinian Authority to take effective steps to prevent acts of violence and terrorism and should exhort Israel to end collective sanctions, pay over the taxes, abandon plans to build at Har Homa - the main cause of the deterioration in relations between the parties concerned - and stop the confiscation of land.
10. Mr. ABOUL-NASR welcomed the efforts made by the Israeli delegation to avoid needless conflicts with the Committee. It had, in particular, avoided the use of the term "Judea and Samaria", preferring instead "the West Bank and Gaza", and had also admitted quite frankly that there existed obstacles to the application of the Convention. He assured the Israeli delegation that it was by no means the intention of the Committee to play the game of the extremists on both sides, nor to encourage them to sabotage the peace process, but quite the contrary in fact. However, if the Committee really wished to help Israel to take the measures necessary to apply the Convention, then neither could it remain silent: it must express its opinions, just as some highly respected NGOs such as Amnesty International or Middle East Watch had done.
11. He pointed out that Israel had taken the liberty of selectively applying certain rules of international law, in particular those contained in the Geneva Conventions. While denying any attempt to interfere, he nevertheless doubted whether it could be claimed that the establishment of settlements, the confiscation of land or the refusal to let some refugees return to their country were in conformity with internationally recognized rules. It was his hope that the Israeli delegation could soon provide concrete proof that the humiliations of all kinds daily inflicted on the Palestinians were a thing of the past. He added that, as long as a Palestinian did not have the right to return to his country, while a Russian Jew automatically obtained Israeli nationality on arrival, it would be difficult to assert that Israel was totally exempt from racism. Nevertheless, the exchanges of views that had just taken place led one to believe that Israel was on the right course.
12. Mr. GARVALOV welcomed the constructive dialogue that had been established between the Committee and Israel and noted with satisfaction that the circulation of information between the Israeli authorities and the Committee had improved. He believed that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians was now a political problem which therefore necessarily required political solutions, although it had probably originally been a racial problem bringing two peoples on the same land into conflict. He shared the views expressed by Mr. van Boven regarding early warning and urgent procedures. In addition, he believed that the Committee should, above all, seek to encourage the two parties to respect the Oslo Accords and carry out the bilateral undertakings contained in those Accords.
13. Mr. SABEL (Israel) repeated that the problems arising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were of a political nature and pointed out that Gaza had ceased to be under Israeli administration since the conclusion of the Oslo Accords. He stated that the Israeli Government would give careful consideration to the views of the Committee and would take full account of them in its next report.
14. Mr. LAMDAN (Israel) said, in response to a question from a member of the Committee, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been a political conflict from the very beginning, since it had its origin in the period that had followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the nineteenth century, and in the advance of the nationalist movements that had then appeared in Europe and in the Middle East, including those among the Jews and the Arabs.
15. Mr. van BOVEN also expressed satisfaction at the quality of the dialogue that had been established between the Committee and the Israeli delegation, despite the points of disagreement that still existed between them, in particular regarding the question of whether the Committee could take early-warning and urgent procedures in respect of Israel and the question of the area of application of the Convention. He pointed out that there were specific criteria laid down on this matter and that the Committee applied them scrupulously. He emphasized that the Committee was not treating Israel any differently in that respect, since procedures of that nature had already been applied in the case of a number of countries. With regard to the definition of racial discrimination, he stated that the Committee had always based its actions on article 1, paragraph 1 of the Convention.
16. He admitted that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was of a political nature, but maintained that it also had racial dimensions, recalling in this respect that Mr. Lamdan himself had stated, in a letter sent to the Chairman of the Committee, that it was a national conflict between two peoples. He believed that the questions raised by this conflict came within the scope of the Convention in view of the existence of clear ethnic and national differences between Israelis and Palestinians. He considered that the provisions of article 4 of the Convention could guide the search for solutions. Through the dialogue with Israel, the Committee, which was careful to refrain from any interference in the internal affairs of the country, was seeking to improve the state of relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians with all the means, however modest, at its disposal.
17. The CHAIRMAN thanked the Israeli delegation.
18. The Israeli delegation withdrew.
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS, COMMENTS AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 9 OF THE CONVENTION (agenda item 5) (continued)
Initial, second and third periodic reports of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (CERD/C/270/Add.2; HRI/CORE/1/Add.83)
19. At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr. Maleski, Mr. Petreski, Mr. Todorovski, Mr. Verusevski, Mr. Celevski, Mr. Mostrov, Mr. Dimitrov, Mrs. Gorgieva and Mrs. Stefanovska (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) took places at the Committee table.
20. Mr. MALESKI (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) recalled that his country had acceded by succession on 20 September 1993 to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, but that Yugoslavia, of which it had originally been part, had become a party to that instrument as long ago as 2 October 1996. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had initiated a process to develop democracy, the rule of law and a market economy, and it was within that context that it had adopted a number of basic legislative texts that had brought its domestic law into line with international norms.
21. He said that there was a long tradition in his country of respect for the rights of national minorities, which had been very widely recognized and protected by the collectivist system previously in force in the former Yugoslavia. He pointed out, however, that under that regime the country had merely confined itself to ratifying international human rights instruments, but without giving individuals the right to bring claims before international bodies responsible for monitoring the effective application of the instruments in question. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, however, was now seeking to establish a system that protected the rights of the individual and guaranteed within that framework the rights of national minorities. Thus, it had ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and intended to make the declaration envisaged in article 14 of the Convention with a view to enabling individuals, should the need arise, to address communications to the Committee.
22. In view of the limited resources at its disposal, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia could do no more than pursue steadfastly a progressive policy with a view to developing respect for fundamental human rights, including those of the members of the national communities, but it was aware that it would be difficult to reconcile the integration of all its citizens and the development of their individual liberties with respect for their distinctive identities. The declaration on the promotion of inter-ethnic relations in a spirit of tolerance, dialogue, mutual respect and confidence, adopted by the Assembly on 18 March 1997, was intended to establish a fair balance between those two conflicting imperatives. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia attached particular importance to the concept of human rights: it hoped, by raising the status of the individual, to avoid the development of excessive feelings of ethnic affiliation which were likely to have harmful political consequences, in particular by encouraging intolerance. He also pointed out that ethnic extremism was a marginal phenomenon in the country, whose inhabitants, on account of their history, were well aware of the importance of human rights and, in particular, of the rights of minorities for the stability of civil society. In practice, the national minorities living in the country enjoyed triple protection - political, international and legal - which guaranteed them the right to express, promote and freely develop their identity and their particular ethnic characteristics.
23. He emphasized that the report under consideration only dealt with questions directly concerning racial discrimination. In the first part of that report, the emphasis had been placed on the positive results obtained as a result of the measures to increase the participation of the members of minorities in various areas of activity: the civil service, the legal profession, education, culture and information. It was worth pointing out that apartheid and any other form of racial segregation were prohibited and proscribed by the law.
23 bis. He said that the Judicial Council of the Republic, which consisted in part of persons from the national minorities, had no judicial functions, but participated in the appointment of judges and disciplinary decisions concerning members of the judiciary. He added that the draft code of civil procedure, some of whose provisions had been included in the report, sought inter alia to give any party engaged in legal proceedings the right to express himself in his own language. However, the draft code had not yet been adopted by Parliament. He explained, for purposes of clarification, that the term "nationality", as employed in the Constitution of the Republic, was the equivalent of the term "minority" which was generally used in the international instruments.
24. Shortly after the report under consideration had been drawn up, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had adopted a law establishing a mediator, thereby supplementing the arrangements for protecting the freedoms and rights of citizens as set out in the report and, in fact, that mediator had already begun his activities. The country had ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, thereby acceding to the European system for the protection of rights and freedoms, as well as to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
25. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia gave as a matter of course very high priority to the defence and promotion of human rights in the activities of its democratic institutions and in the action of the State by ensuring that due account was taken of the particular characteristics of its citizens. It was seeking to act in that field by encouraging transparency at the national and international levels and promoting cooperation with the relevant international organizations.
26. Mr. RECHETOV (Country Rapporteur) noted with satisfaction the presence of a high-level delegation, which led to expectations of a fruitful dialogue.
27. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, which had become an independent and sovereign State following the collapse of Yugoslavia, was going through a difficult economic situation which was partly the result of the sanctions applied to Serbia. It appeared that some of the problems between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the neighbouring countries had been settled - although that was not to express an opinion on questions of the territorial integrity of the State. The country contained many ethnic groups and national minorities which, most often, had their own cultural identity and, for example, frowned upon mixed marriages.
28. It should be noted that in Yugoslavia the rights of the group were given priority, while in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the emphasis was placed on the rights of the individual, although undoubtedly a balance needed to be struck between the two.
29. Referring to the report, he noted that according to the new Constitution the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was "the State of the Macedonian people" and no longer, as in the past, "the State of the Macedonian people and the Albanian and Turk minorities". He hoped that clarification would be provided on that point. He welcomed the fact that the country had adopted new legal instruments that protected human rights and that several laws - such as the Act on Internal Affairs, the Act on Enforcement of Sanctions, the Act on Political Parties, the Act on Secondary Education, the Act on Social Organizations and Citizens' Associations and the Criminal Code - took account of the Convention by prohibiting any action intended to encourage hatred and intolerance and all forms of discrimination. He urged the Government to include in the next report an account of the practical effects of those instruments, indicating cases in which individuals had been able to assert the rights protected by these instruments before the courts. In addition, he would like to have additional information on article 118 of the Constitution, which stipulated that international agreements ratified by the country formed part of the domestic legal system and could not be changed by law, thereby making many Conventions directly applicable within the country.
30. While noting that the Government was aware of the fact that the principle of non-discrimination was not sufficient in itself to protect the identity and distinctive nature of the minorities, he expressed the hope that the Government would continue to take concrete measures in those fields and that it would inform the Committee of them. In view of the demographic composition of the country and the size of its various ethnic groups, the measures taken to ensure that those groups were properly represented in the State administration had produced good results. Progress still remained to be achieved in other sectors, particularly in the army, the proportion of Albanians among senior officers being lower than among junior officers. However, it was a cause for congratulation that 14 per cent of the first generation of officer cadets at the Military Academy were members of minorities. Likewise, national minorities had increased their representation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the members of those minorities occupied for the most part senior posts in the Ministry of Education. Finally, the national minorities were well represented among the judges of the various tribunals.
31. As far as education was concerned, it was at the primary level that the situation was most satisfactory for the members of national minorities. He regretted, however, that the members of some national minorities had a lower level of attendance at secondary school on account of the shortage of available means of transport and of the fact that, within certain minorities, girls were not encouraged to pursue secondary education. In higher education and more particularly at the University of Skopje, several subjects were taught in the Albanian and Turkish languages. Formerly, many members of the Albanian minority had preferred to study in Kosovo, but that had now become more difficult. In 1995 a free Albanian university had been established in Tetovo, which had given rise to controversy and even to conflicts, and he wondered what measures the Government was intending to take in order to solve that problem. While recognizing that the language question was sometimes exploited by extremists who claimed before international bodies the right to use their own language in education even though they did not use that language in their own homes, he was also aware that education lay at the heart of the concerns of the national authorities and believed that it would be a good idea to increase the opportunities for education in languages other than Macedonian.
32. With regard to the implementation of article 5, the report provided considerable information on the legal provisions in force, but hardly any information on the effective enjoyment by the members of the minorities of their civil, political and cultural rights and of their right to freedom of conscience and religion. The members of the Albanian, Turkish and Serb minorities frequently complained of the difficulties that they had encountered in practising their religion. He expressed the wish therefore that the Government would include in its next report fuller information on those points as well as on the economic and social situation of the minorities.
33. On the whole, the report contained extremely useful information that showed that the Government, despite difficult circumstances, was taking measures to apply international human rights standards. It should be encouraged to pursue its efforts with a view to increasing the representation of the minorities in national life and to ensure the fuller exercise of their rights: Mr. Gligorov himself had declared in November 1994, when assuming his responsibilities as President of the Republic, that the question of the rights of the minorities, which had demonstrated their political maturity, could only be settled within the Republic and by means of direct participation by the minorities in public affairs.
34. Mr. VALENCIA RODRÍGUEZ asked, with regard to the table on page 17 of the report indicating the breakdown of the population by ethnic affiliation, why the number of inhabitants of the municipality of Debar had not been fully listed.
35. He wished to know whether there were cases of the application of article 14 of the Act on Political Parties (para. 3) or of articles 137 and 417 of the Criminal Code and would like to have additional information on the subject. With regard to the prohibition mentioned in article 22 of the Act on Public Information (para. 8), he wondered whether its application was compatible with the inviolability of private correspondence, which was presumably guaranteed by other texts. He inquired whether there had been cases, among those alluded to in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the report, in which the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination had been invoked. The measures which had actually been taken in application of article 1, paragraph 4 of the Convention in order to increase the representation of the minorities in the State administration (paras. 14-22), in particular, in the most sensitive ministries (defence, internal affairs, foreign affairs and education), could serve as a model for other countries. As far as education was concerned, it would be interesting to know what measures had been taken to overcome the difficulties mentioned in paragraph 20. The measures intended to increase the number of students belonging to national minorities in secondary schools were to be commended and should be strengthened (paras. 89 and 90).
36. He wondered whether, with regard to article 3, there were cases in which article 403 of the Criminal Code had been applied and whether, with regard to article 5, the Constitution guaranteed the right of appeal not only against first-instance decisions, but also against decisions on appeal and whether such decisions were binding (para. 27). He added that the measures of local self-government that had been introduced (paras. 48 and 49) were positive and deserved to be further developed.
37. With regard to article 6, he asked whether the right of each citizen to request urgent intervention could be invoked before the courts and whether it was for the latter to decide on its application.
38. Turning to consideration of article 7, he welcomed the fact that human rights questions were now included in the curricula of primary and secondary education (paras. 99 and 100). It was true that it was not always essential to have legal rules to guarantee the circulation of information on efforts to combat racism, since administrative measures were often sufficient, and it was also true that the existence of different ethnic communities, far from being a handicap, was a source of great richness for a country.
39. Mr. DIACONU said that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was a young country that had escaped by a miracle from the war in the former Yugoslavia. It was clear that the primacy given to the rights of the group, as far as human rights were concerned, had given rise to political claims and to conflicts that had led some countries in the region to give priority to the rights of the individual in the bilateral conventions that they had recently concluded.
40. The report gave a very full picture of the application of the provisions of article 4 in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where the offences of disseminating propaganda promoting racial discrimination, spreading hatred and infringing the freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution were punishable by law in a way that could only be described as exemplary. Similarly, the demographic data seemed to indicate positive trends in education since the number of schools and pupils was increasing. The Government was anxious to increase the number of representatives of the various minorities in the administration, public services and education, although the number of such representatives did not yet reflect the numerical size of the groups concerned within the population as a whole and there was therefore still room for improvement. With regard to local self-government (para. 49), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was well ahead of its neighbours.
41. However, a few remarks still needed to be made. In education the number of Albanian secondary schools and pupils did not appear to match the size of the Albanian population in the country (p. 32). Furthermore, the number of inhabitants of unknown origin (about 70,000) and of persons without citizenship (about 20,000) seemed much too high given the size of the population as a whole (p. 17 of the report). The authorities should ensure that that deficiency was remedied during the next census, when explanations should also be provided for the failure to count all the inhabitants of the municipality of Debar.
42. It was his opinion that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, through its legislation and the various measures it had adopted, was a testing ground of constructive measures and a model to be followed in a region that was not short of bad examples.
43. Mr. WOLFRUM stated that he would confine himself to adding a few comments to the statements made by the preceding speakers. He welcomed the fact that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarded itself as having been a party to the Convention for some time. Nevertheless, he would like to know the reasons for excluding part of the municipality of Debar from the population census, as revealed in notes a/ and c/ to the table indicating the breakdown of the total population that appeared on page 17 of the report. Furthermore, the Serbs had not initially been included among the major nationalities listed in the preamble to the Constitution and he wondered whether that omission had now been corrected. He also inquired about the role of the Judicial Council of the Republic, consisting of seven members, two of whom belonged to national minorities.
44. He wished to have exact figures on education provided in the language of the various minorities, as mentioned in paragraph 85 of the report. He regretted that no mention had been made of the question of establishing an Albanian university or of the difficulties encountered in implementing that project, which had been approved by three municipalities, including Debar.
45. He also regretted the lack of information concerning the situation of Roma in the country: did the children of that minority receive education in the Roma language; what position did Roma occupy in the administration and in the economic and social life of the country, and what measures were being taken to improve their situation?
46. Mr. de GOUTTES also drew attention to the special importance of welcoming a new State Party to the Convention and examining its initial report, the more so as the report submitted was very full, a large and high-level delegation had come to present it and the report had been usefully supplemented by an oral account.
47. The report of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia contained a great deal of useful and detailed information on the often original measures taken in application of article 4 of the Convention, including the Act on Telecommunications, which prohibited the dissemination of incitement to hatred or intolerance (para. 8), the Act on Enforcement of Sanctions, which must be applied impartially and without discrimination (para. 9), the Act on Tribunals, which stipulated that no discrimination was permissible in the appointment of judges, the measures taken to broaden the representation of minorities in the State administration (para. 14), and the number of hours of television and radio programmes broadcast in the languages of the national minorities (para. 22). Such information was rarely made available to the Committee in such detail.
48. However, a reading of the report did raise several questions and he wondered, first of all, whether any associations had been banned in application of the Act on Social Organizations and Citizen's Associations, as mentioned in paragraph 5. It was also a cause for regret that no information had been provided on the complaints, prosecutions and rulings given in application of articles 137 and 417 of the Criminal Code (para. 6).
49. With regard to paragraphs 20 and 90 of the report and of the reasons given to explain the under-representation of the Albanian minority in secondary education, namely the absence of girl pupils and the social structure - the Albanian population being mainly rural - he wondered what measures the Government was intending to take in order to remedy that situation.
50. Furthermore, without wishing to deny the need to limit the right to move freely in border areas, he wished to know the extent of the area in which such measures applied.
51. In conclusion, he asked whether the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was planning to make the declaration mentioned in article 14 of the Convention, independently of the declaration that that country could make under the European Convention on Human Rights, which established a more limited jurisdiction than the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which dealt not only with civil and political rights but also with economic, social and cultural rights.
52. The CHAIRMAN pointed out that the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had announced that it was planning to make the declaration mentioned in article 14 of the Convention.
53. Mr. van BOVEN urged the Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to pursue its efforts to ensure proper representation of the Albanian, Turkish, Roma and other minorities in all sectors of the State administration.
54. The report before the Committee was extremely useful insofar as it provided a picture of the legal framework established in the country so as to guarantee the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination, but it did not provide sufficiently full information on specific cases of the application of those legal texts, particularly in the fields of employment and education. It would also be useful to have specific information on the application of article 6 of the Convention.
55. It might perhaps be advisable to establish a national body responsible for promoting the principles set forth in the Convention and, in fact, the Committee had already adopted a recommendation on the subject (general recommendation XVII). A council responsible for ethnic relations did exist in the country, but it did not appear to be very energetic. He suggested that it might be reactivated with a view to encouraging the application of the principles of the Convention, while in the field of information (para. 101) it might perhaps be useful to establish a programme on human rights in general.
56. He welcomed the intention of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to make the declaration mentioned in article 14 of the Convention and called upon the country to ratify the amendment to article 8, paragraph 6, so that the expenses of the members of the Committee would be financed from the regular budget and no longer by the States Parties, in accordance with the recommendation of the General Assembly.