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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

No reasons for census boycott

Belgrade, 28 September 2011

Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-Government and President of the Coordinating Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Milan Markovic today stated that the Bosniac and Albanian communities have no reasons to boycott the upcoming population census.

Appearing on Radio Television Serbia, Markovic said that the announced boycott of the Bosniac and Albanian communities is a political decision that cannot benefit citizens in any way.

The Minister noted that the census will be held in line with the standards in European countries.

There are no reasons for boycotting the census that have anything to do with issues such as the language of the forms, the Minister underlined, adding that the decision of Albanians in the southern part of central Serbia to boycott the census was made in agreement with Pristina.

We will do all we can to make sure the census takes place, he said, stressing that residents of Presevo and Bujanovac cannot benefit from the boycott, because the process to resolve issues in this area is already under way.

Census is in the interest of those who are being registered and boycotting it is a radical move, he observed.

The Minister added that he talked with Albanian representatives and that their reasons for the boycott are unfounded.

Markovic recalled that certain problems are being resolved this year, such as the issue of textbooks in Albanian, the formation of the Albanian National Minority Council and the establishment of mechanisms for resolving problems.