Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC)

[Pavel]

interesting interview with pavle and dimitri on kanal 5

http://www.kanal5.com.mk/Default.aspx?mId=120

select faktor 5 at the bottom.

[Soldier of Macedon]

The latest reports we have are asserting that people are reading Nova Zora in "every cafe in the county of Lerin". It is off to a 'flying' start - we hope that this eventually translates in to a strengthening of the Macedonian human rights movement in Egej.

That is fantastic news, well done to all those involved and all of the tireless efforts to get this off the ground, great to hear that it is doing so well, so early.

[Daniel the Great]

First Macedonian newspaper in Greece Nova Zora.


YouTube - The first newspaper in Macedonian language in Greece - "Nova Zora"

[Prolet]

What a fantastic interview

Spolaj Ti for the link Pavel

Mitcho Jovanov is better then i thought, he seems like a very wise man.

[Phoenix]

Congratulaions and well done to all concerned and wishing you a successful and long future...

How can MTO best promote the internet version of "Nova Zora"...is it possible to form some sort of relationship with the editors at "Nova Zora" without compromising their position working within the normal lunacy of greek government restrictions and intimidation...?

[AMHRC]

Thanks Phoenix,

In terms of promotion on the net; the MTO is already doing it. Though we suppose members of MTO could spread knowledge of Nova Zora's existence by forwarding the news of it with a link, to friends that are not readers of MTO.

The connection between the editorial team of Nova Zora and the Diaspora needs to be one of moral support and for those that can afford it, financial support too (that is of course, so long as the newspaper remains loyal to the cause of Macedonian human rights).

Sending supportive emails directly to the editors or making a contribution through the AMHRC or MHRMI would be very helpful indeed. People often forget that these ventures cannot be carried through without finance. Those readers of MTO that are already members of the AMHRC or MHRMI, are in other words, already making a significant contribution.

Regards,

AMHRC.

[julie]

Has Nova Zora got a facebook page? perhaps with links to the newspaper?

[Grotius]

Congratulations to all the people behind this initiative, it is a welcome addition to the Macedonian human rights movement. Indeed, the fact that such a newspaper is being published and circulated within Greece, given all the oppressive conditions that Macedonians face in that country is testament to the work of our human rights activists there. The more people that read this paper the better.

Also, well done to AMHRC and MHRMI for gettting behind this.

[AMHRC]

Has Nova Zora got a facebook page? perhaps with links to the newspaper?

Julie,

Yes they do have a facebook page and here is a link to it:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=119789201382189

Cheers,

AMHRC.

[julie]

cheers AMHRC

[Pavel]

What a fantastic interview

Spolaj Ti for the link Pavel

Mitcho Jovanov is better then i thought, he seems like a very wise man.

yeah dimitri is very good. you shouldnt have underestimated him.

[Pavel]

U.N. ON Greece

AMHRC and MHRMI - Press Release
Melbourne, Australia and Toronto, Canada, September 25, 2009
Yet Another UN Body Recommends that Greece Recognize the Rights of its Macedonian Minority
On 28 August 2009, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released its "Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination" in relation to the 16th - 19th periodical reports of Greece. The Committee is a United Nations body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its State parties. All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations".


The Committee made a number of important observations and has a number of significant recommendations in relation to the ethnic Macedonian minority of Greece. In particular, the Committee was "concerned about reports on the propagation by certain organizations and media outlets of racist stereotypes and hate comments against persons belonging to different ethnic and racial groups". As a result, the "Committee recommends that the State party [Greece] take effective measures to penalize organizations and media outlets that are guilty of such acts. It further recommends that the State party concretely ban Neo-Nazi groups from its territory and take more effective measures to promote tolerance towards persons of different ethnic origins".

Moreover, the Committee was "concerned about the obstacles encountered by some ethnic groups in exercising the freedom of association, and in this regard takes note of information on the forced dissolution and refusal to register some associations including words such as 'minority', 'Turkish' or 'Macedonian', as well as of the explanation for such refusal". Thus, the Committee recommended "the State party [Greece] adopt measures to ensure the effective enjoyment by persons belonging to every community or group of their right to freedom of association and of their cultural rights, including the use of mother languages".

The Australian-Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) and Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) call on the international community to apply pressure on the Greek government to take note of CERD's observations and implement, in full and without delay, CERD's recommendations. The AMHRC and MHRMI would also like to take this opportunity to commend the work of the Greek Helsinki Monitor during this CERD monitoring cycle, in particular for submitting a "Parallel Summary Report on Greece's Compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination'.



Minorities in Greece are not "equal" they do not even exist according to the greek state. the only state in europe that has no ethnic minorities - a very sick culture.

[julie]

Napred Nova Zora, so Gospod napred, da bidete blagosloveni od boga, i samo napred, da ne se plashite od nishte, pravinata sekoy pat ke izleze na belo videlo, tsel svet pulaat glupostvite na Grtsia, i ka stanat na nodse aka contra odat sega so vas, moy mil maychinski narod Makedonski.

[AMHRC]

AMHRC/MHRMI Condemn Bulgarian FM's Statement

AMHRC/ MHRMI Condemn Bulgarian Foreign Minister’s statement that no Macedonian minority exists in Bulgaria


Melbourne, Australia and Toronto, Canada (10/5/2010) -- The Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) and Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) condemn the statement by the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov that a Macedonian minority does not exist in Bulgaria.

On 6 May 2010 the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, during an official visit to the Republic of Macedonia, stated as follows in reply to a journalist’s question about the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria:

"There is no Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria there are no minorities of any sort, however there are people who have human rights and our constitution is based on the individual rights of people and not collective rights”.

Foreign Minister’s Mladenov statement is not only factually incorrect, but disturbing as it comes from an eminent representative of a country which claims that it is committed to basic human rights principles such as freedom of speech, assembly and association as well as the right to self-identification.

It is well known that the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria lives compactly in the Pirin region and ethnic Macedonians are found in significant numbers in other regions of Bulgaria. From 1944-1948 the distinct ethnicity of the Macedonians in the Pirin region and Macedonian immigrants in other parts of Bulgaria was officially recognised. In 1947 the Bled Agreement between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria was signed regarding cultural cooperation between the then People’s Republic of Macedonia and the Prin region within Bulgaria. This agreement in effect granted cultural autonomy to the Macedonians in Pirin and ushered in a period of cultural renaissance during which the Macedonian language and history were widely taught.

This period of cultural autonomy was brought abruptly to a halt in June 1948. From then on the Bulgarian state reverted to its pre-September 1944 position whereby Macedonian history, language and culture were misappropriated and presented as an integral part of Bulgarian national and historical development. This policy of denial and forced assimilation of the Macedonians in Bulgaria has continued to the present day and as a result the number of those willing to declare as Macedonians has significantly reduced or been deliberately underreported.

From 1956 onwards the Macedonian nationality all but disappeared from Bulgarian public life, official documents and census figures. In 1950 Hristo Kalaydzhiev reported to the Conference of Cultural and Educational Societies that the number of Macedonians in Bulgaria was about 500,000. The official census of 1956 established that 178, 862 Macedonians (or 63.7% of the total population of the Pirin region) live in the Pirin region. However, the 1968 census only registered 7-8,000 Macedonians in all of Bulgaria at a time when emigration was severely restricted under the Communist regime. At the last census held in 2001, 5071 persons declared that they were of Macedonian ethnicity; however the Bulgarian Prime Minister at that time, Simeon Saxcoburgski, indicated that such persons were Bulgarians with a Macedonian regional identity.

The ability of Macedonians in Bulgaria to enjoy their basic human rights is severely limited. Even though they are not subjected to the brutal treatment meted out to them under the Stalinist Zhivkov regime, Macedonians in Bulgaria are subject to significant official and societal discrimination and harassment when they attempt to assert their rights. Macedonian political parties such as OMO-Ilinden-PIRIN and OMO Ilinden remain unregistered. Those who assert a Macedonian ethnic identity encounter discrimination in employment, education and cultural life. The Macedonian language is not taught at any level in the education system. Macedonian human rights activists are subjected to official harassment when attempting to legally and peacefully carry out their activities.

Given the widespread human rights violations to which Macedonians in Bulgaria are subjected, it is disingenuous in the extreme for Foreign Minister Mladenov to assert that Bulgarian citizens-including those who identify as ethnic Macedonians- are accorded full enjoyment of their human rights.

It is even more absurd for him to claim that there are no minorities in Bulgaria. Bulgaria has signed and ratified all major international human rights instruments and conventions and importantly on 7/5/1999, it ratified the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities which states at Article 3:

“Article 3
1. Every person belonging to a national minority shall have the right freely to choose to be treated or not to be treated as such and no disadvantage shall result from this choice or from the exercise of the rights which are connected to that choice. 2. Persons belonging to national minorities may exercise the rights and enjoy the freedoms flowing from the principles enshrined in the present framework Convention individually as well as in community with others”.

In the light of this undertaking, it is absurd for Mladenov to firstly claim that there are no minorities in Bulgaria by referring to the fact that the Bulgarian Constitution does not recognise minorities’ collective rights and secondly, by refusing to recognise the sizeable Macedonian, Turkish, Roma, Armenian and Pomak minorities which exist within Bulgaria’s borders. The existence of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria is an objective reality which no amount of obfuscation by Sofia can conceal.

Moreover we strongly urge that Foreign Minister Mladenov and the Bulgarian state implement the recommendations made in the report on Bulgaria released by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe on 9 February 2010. Namely, as indicated at paragraph 52 of the report:

“52. The Commissioner believes that domestic law potentially restricting freedom of association should be precise and its application proportionate to the aims pursued in the context of a democratic society. Regardless of the outcome of the new applications lodged with the Court, the Commissioner considers necessary the establishment by the authorities of an open, sincere and systematic dialogue with all minorities in Bulgaria, including the Macedonian one, in line with the Council of Europe standards. Furthermore, it would send a positive signal to all minority groups if the domestic law, including the Constitution, could be amended in such a way that the rights to freedom of association and assembly enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights were better safeguarded in practice for minorities.”

The Australian-Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) and Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) call on the international community to apply pressure on the Bulgarian government to observe its obligations towards all minorities that exist within its borders; to implement the recommendations of Commissioner Hammarberg in his most recent report and to cease its policy of denial and assimilation of its Macedonian minority in order to enhance regional stability and peace in the Balkans.

For all those who are interested in contributing support to the Macedonian human rights movement in Bulgaria, please contact the AMHRC or MHRMI via the means offered below.

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Established in 1984 the Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee (AMHRC) is a non governmental organisation that informs and advocates to governments, international institutions and broader communities about combating discrimination and promoting basic human rights. Our aspiration is to ensure that Macedonian communities and other excluded groups throughout the world are recognised, respected and afforded equitable treatment. For more information please visit http://www.macedonianhr.org.au, or contact AMHRC at [email protected] or via +61 3 93298960.

Macedonian Human Rights Movement International (MHRMI) has been active on human and national rights issues for Macedonians and other oppressed peoples since 1986. For more information, please visit www.mhrmi.org, or contact MHRMI at 416-850-7125, or [email protected].

[Risto the Great]

Thank you for highlighting the inconsistencies of the Bulgarians in such a concise manner AMHRC/MHRMI.