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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agreement reached on developing programme promoting and protecting minority rights

Belgrade, 2 November 2005

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica met today with the leader of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians Jozef Kasa. Also attending this meeting were Serbia-Montenegrin Minister of Human Rights and Minorities Rasim Ljajic and Vojvodina’s Secretary for National Minorities Tamas Korhec.

The participants in the meeting reached an agreement on creating a programme that would help promote and protect the rights of minorities, with precisely defined means of informing the public about what has been done in practice regarding this programme. The programme will be developed in coordination with the Serbian Council for National Minorities, the Serbia-Montenegrin Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Vojvodina’s Executive Council.

Special attention was given to the Vojvodina Executive Council’s project themed “Affirmation of multiculturalism and tolerance in Vojvodina”. All of the participants in today’s meeting fully recognised the importance of respecting differences and promoting mutual trust in interethnic relations.

Those present pointed out the need for making joint efforts in improving the position of national minorities and agreed on organising regular meetings with Serbian ministers of justice, interior and education and sport, at which concrete solutions for problems in those sectors would be discussed with the view of improving the position of national minorities.

Most of all though, emphasis was placed on the necessity of enabling proportional participation of members of national minorities in legal institutions, and introducing language courses for police officers who work in multiethnic areas. In the sector of education, creators of syllabi should pay special attention to promotion of multiethnic tolerance.

The activities regarding the opening of a teacher-training faculty in Subotica with Hungarian as the language of instruction were also discussed at today’s meeting. A conclusion has been reached that the topic for discussion at the next session of the Serbian Council for National Minorities should be a draft law on jurisdiction and election procedures for national councils. It was also pointed out that this draft law needs to be introduced into the parliament as soon as possible.

The participants in the meeting have also addressed the new Serbian constitution and the ways national minority representatives can contribute to the creation of the highest legal act a country can undertake.

Serbia-Montenegrin Minister of Human Rights and Minorities Rasim Ljajic said at the meeting that the Council of Ministers today has formed a commission with the task of composing an objective and comprehensive report on minority-related incidents in the period from 2003 to the present.