Volume IV, Issue II (April 2006) - Columbus School of Law

Jabuka in particular, recognized as a national minority. 367 In the census of 2003, only 25,847persons declared as Macedonians. 368Apparently, by recognizing the Macedonians as national minority, there is a departure; fromthe position that Macedonia is just a Southern part of Serbia an that Macedonians have Serbianethnicity. This is also confirmed by the fact, that the two countries concluded a bilateralagreement for minority protection. However, despite declarations, besides advisory help by theMinistry for Human Rights, there was no financial support in the activities for implementation ofguaranteed rights. In addition, the request for restoration of the previously guaranteed rights touse the Macedonian language as official and education in the mother tongue, have not beenrealized. 369 As linguistic rights depend on relative number of individuals and geographicconcentration, it is reasonable to permit some degree of that language's use in state services andactivities 370 . Some progress was made, when in 2004, in Belgrade formed a National Council ofthe Macedonian national minority was constituted, and in turn, when its representative wasincluded in the Council for National Minorities, institutionally confirming the states of nationalminority, which shall provide with opportunities for articulation of the distinctive characteristicsif the group, in accordance with national legislation. 371ConclusionAs far as international instruments are concerned, the research proved that although the Sates arestill not willing to undertake far-reaching obligations with respect to minorities, there is a broadconsensus that they cannot go under certain limits. Thus, forced assimilation is strictly prohibitedand while the principle of non-discrimination is very important, it is not sufficient for minorityrights. In addition, there is still not a document, which insists on collective rights, but theexistence of the community is inherent in provisions, dealing with minority rights. On of the mostimportant rights, somewhere guaranteed explicitly, while somewhere being implicit, is the rightto identity of minorities, which is an underlying value of the rights, related to minorities.The basic problem of the Macedonian minority in Greece and Bulgaria is the refusal to acceptthe existence of the minority within their jurisdiction, which as consequence has that it cannotbenefit from the rights intended for minority protection, provided for in the national legalframeworks. The denial of the identity of the minority though legally impermissible, stems fromcomplex historical and political controversies, which do not appear to be solved in near future.Consequently, it is even harder for the group itself to preserve its identity when it cannot governits own cultural affairs and feed into national plans, particularly on education. 372 Thus, from auniversalist-Kantian perspective, both national majority and national minority identities areconstitutionally protected as long as they do not limit the other group's identity or interfere with367 Report submitted by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, pursuant to Article 25, paragraph 2 of theFCNM, 2002, available ethttp://www.coe.int/T/e/human_rights/Minorities/2._FRAMEWORK_CONVENTION_%28MONITORING%29/2._Monitoring_mechanism/3._State_Reports_and_UNMIK_Kosovo_Report/1._First_cycle/PDF_1st_SR_FRY.asp#TopOfPage, [hereinafter referred to as Report 2002]368 See Facts on MNM, supra at 51369 Id370 See Fernand Varennes, supra at 20371 Id372 See Geoff Gilbert, Autonomy and minority groups: a right in international law?, 35 Cornell Int'l L.J. 30763