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MP RIZA HALIMI AND SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADUATES ON ESTABLISHMENT OF ALBANIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL

20. February 2010.

As part of the project „Let’s Familiarize Ourselves with our Rights”, which is implemented by the „Center for Multicultural Education” NGO from Presevo, a roundtable on the importance of establishing the Albanian National Council was held on the premises of the Human Rights Youth Initiative organization.  

Riza Halimi, a member of the Serbian parliament, talked with twenty or so secondary-school graduates from Presevo. 

Beljul Nasufi, the Head of the „Center for Multicultural Education” NGO, presented the goals of the project and, at the same time, thanked the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja for funding this project. The project envisages another three roundtables that will be attended by Saip Kamberi,  President of the Municipality of Bujanovac, and Nagip Arifi, Deputy President of the Municipality of Bujanovac, while Svetozar Ciplic, PhD, Minister for Human and Minority Rights, will be asked to attend the last in a series of roundtables. 

MP Riza Halimi talked about the importance and role of the Albanian National Council, pointing out that all minority rights that are provided for in international conventions on the protection of minorities, will be guaranteed by establishment of the National Council.  

The young are informed about the possibilities and competencies of the National Council, through which members of a community may exercise their rights according to the law. Also, the National Council enables the solving of issues in the fields of education, culture, provision of information to national minorities in their own language and use of the official language, script and alphabet. In addition, the National Council takes part in many decision-making processes or it reaches decisions on important matters and may be the founder of various institutions, such as, for instance, electronic media or magazines in minority languages. MP Riza Halimi pointed out that the National Council was a real opportunity for the Albanians to solve their several years’ long problems, such as those relating to education, curriculum and textbooks in their mother tongue.  

So far, around eight thousand signatures for establishing the Albanian National Council have been collected in the municipality of Presevo and around seven thousand in the municipality of Bujanovac. MP Halimi said that he was optimistic about the matter and that a sufficient number of signatures for establishing the Council would be collected until expiry of the deadline.   

Beljul Nasufi presented to the secondary-school graduates the international Convention on Minority Rights, minority rights from the Serbian Constitution and the Law on Ethnic Minorities’ National Councils.