МR. STANKOVIC: A SPECIAL OMBUDSMAN’S REPORT ON THE OFFICIAL USE OF THE ALBANIAN LANGUAGE AND SCRIPT, A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT

23. March 2018.

Bujanovac - A special Ombudsman’s report on the official use of the Albanian language and script was presented at the amphitheater of the Subotica Faculty of Economics’ Department in Bujanovac.

In the opening part of the conference, the attendees were addressed by Zoran Pasalic, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia, Andrea Orizio, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Saip Kamberi, the Mayor of Bujanovac, and Zoran Stankovic, the President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

While addressing the attendees, the President of the Coordination Body welcomed the initiative to develop a Special Report on the Official Use of the Albanian Language and Script, and pointed out that the report was a concrete and excellent instrument for the local self-governmens, governmental bodies and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

"I am thankful to the Ombudsman for presenting the report in Bujanovac, as well as to the OSCE Mission for having mediated in the development of this very important document. The Coordination Body fully respects the constitutional and legal provisions relating to the official use of the language and script. Given the importance of the above, the Coordination Body funded a series of translations of important laws into the Albanian language, so that members of the Albanian national minority could be informed about their rights and obligations, "Mr. Stankovic said.

He pointed out that the Coordination Body had received four recommendations from the Ombudsman, and that the second recommendation related to the activities that would follow and in which the Albanian National Council would be be actively involved.

„The second recommendation relates to the development of a kind of catalogue with Albanian names and surnames, which would be helpful to registrars when registering births. In this regard, the Coordination Body shall, in coordination with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, with the support of the Albanian National Council and with the mediation of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, proceed with developing the catalogue in a realistic time frame, " Mr. Stankovic said.

Source: Coordination Body