[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E377-E378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 36: THE NEED FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN 
     HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 1997

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, one of the most difficult challenges facing 
the fledgling democratic governments of Eastern Europe involves 
learning to treat equally and fairly all of their citizens--regardless 
of ethnic background--with regard to rights and opportunities. 
Unfortunately, some of those governments are still seeking to treat 
their citizens from minority ethnic groups in traditionally 
nationalistic and counterproductive ways. Rather than working to ensure 
that all citizens are treated equally, they seek to limit the rights 
and opportunities of those citizens who do not belong to the majority 
ethnic group.
  Mr. Speaker, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, an 
independent state since 1991, has so far avoided the ethnic-based 
conflict that has afflicted several of the other successor states to 
the defunct Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. There are 
troubling signs, however, that the Government of Macedonia has yet to 
take sufficient steps to ensure that those of its citizens from its 
considerable Albanian minority are provided with adequate opportunities 
for higher education in the Albanian language. The most worrisome 
consequence of this lack of educational opportunity is an increasing 
resentment toward that government among many of its ethnic Albanian 
citizens. Their frustration has led some ethnic Albanian citizens to 
attempt to open an Albanian-language university to ensure that 
opportunities for professional education are readily available to those 
who have been raised and educated in Albanian at the secondary school 
level.
  In February 1995, a renewed attempt to open such a university in 
Tetovo, Macedonia led to a violent clash between ethnic Albanians and 
Macedonian police. Tragically, 1 individual lost his life and 28 others 
were wounded in that violent incident.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe all of us want to see the former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia and, in fact, all of the Southern Balkans avoid 
the kind of ethnic violence that wracked the Northern Balkans for 4 
years. We need to encourage the Government of Macedonia to 
constructively address the issue of fair opportunities for higher 
education in the language of its Albanian minority. I am, therefore, 
introducing today House Concurrent Resolution 36, a resolution that 
focuses specifically on Macedonia and on the issue of proper access to 
higher education in that country.
  This resolution calls on the Government of Macedonia to:
  Ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all its citizens, 
regardless of ethnic background;
  Consider all means by which higher education conducted in the 
Albanian language can be provided, including the possible establishment 
of an Albanian language university;
  The resolution also calls on the President of the United States to:
  Express our country's strong support for Macedonian efforts to ensure 
access to higher education conducted in the Albanian language;
  Offer appropriate support for those international organizations that 
are working to resolve the issue of higher education in the Albanian 
language in Macedonia, and;
  Offer appropriate support for efforts by the Government of Macedonia 
to ensure access to higher education conducted in the Albanian 
language, including assistance for establishing curricula and provision 
of textbooks and related course materials.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to strongly encourage my colleagues to join in 
cosponsoring this timely and important measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I insert a copy of House Concurrent Resolution 36 for 
printing in the Congressional Record:

                            H. Con. Res. 36

       Whereas failure to achieve fair and cooperative inter-
     ethnic relations often leads to governmental repression and 
     conflict between peoples of different ethnic backgrounds;
       Whereas the achievement of fair and cooperative treatment 
     of all citizens, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, is a 
     serious challenge for all of the states of the Balkans 
     region, including those states that gained their independence 
     after the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia;
       Whereas the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia faces 
     important issues involving the fair and equitable treatment 
     of all of its citizens, regardless of their ethnic 
     background;
       Whereas the extraordinary census conducted by the 
     Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 
     June 1994 determined that those citizens of Albanian descent 
     constitute at least 23 percent of the total population;
       Whereas Macedonia's citizen of Albanian descent are 
     increasingly concerned to ensure fair and equitable treatment 
     as citizens of the state of Macedonia, including appropriate 
     opportunities for education at all levels of instruction;
       Whereas the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a 
     member of the Council of Europe, an organization that 
     encourages its member states to provide the opportunity for 
     educational instruction in the languages of minority groups 
     that constitute the citizenry of those states;
       Whereas the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a 
     member of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in 
     Europe, an organization that, in the ``Copenhagen Document'' 
     of its 1990 Conference on the Human Dimension, noted the need 
     for adequate opportunities for educational instruction in the 
     native languages of citizens from minority groups;
       Whereas international documents and conventions recognize 
     the right of persons belonging to national minorities to 
     establish their own educational institutions within the 
     framework of and in conformity with the legislation of the 
     state within which they live;
       Whereas levels of admissions of ethnic Albanian citizens of 
     the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the 
     Universities at Skopje and Bitola are far below the 23 
     percent of Macedonia's population that is composed of 
     ethnic Albanians;
       Whereas higher education for ethnic Albanian citizens of 
     Macedonia is made more difficult by the lack of general usage 
     of the Albanian language at that level of instruction;
       Whereas there are increasing reports that ethnic Albanian 
     citizens of Macedonia are concerned that efforts to ensure 
     access to higher education in the Albanian language have met 
     with little success;
       Whereas an application was filed with the Ministry of 
     Education of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 
     October 1994 seeking permission to open an Albanian-language 
     university as part of the established system of education;
       Whereas, in the absence of a response to the application 
     filed with the Ministry of Education of the Former Yugoslav 
     Republic of Macedonia in October 1944, attempts were made in 
     December 1994 to begin university classes in the Albanian 
     language at Tetovo, Macedonia and were prevented by the 
     intervention of police forces; and
       Whereas in February 1995 renewed attempts to open an 
     Albanian-language university at Tetovo, Macedonia were again 
     prevented by police forces, with the death of one ethnic 
     Albanian citizen of Macedonia and the wounding of 28 other 
     persons occurring as a result of the related violence: Now, 
     therefore be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of 
     Macedonia should take all appropriate measures to ensure the 
     fair and equitable treatment of all of its citizens, 
     regardless of ethnic background;
       (2) while steps taken by the Government of the Former 
     Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to ensure instruction in the 
     Albanian language and the language of other national 
     minorities in Macedonia at the primary and secondary levels 
     of education and the adoption of a law permitting Albanian 
     language instruction at the University of Skopje are 
     commendable, the ethnic Albanian citizens of Macedonia 
     continue to suffer from the lack of opportunity for higher 
     education in their native language;
       (3) the Government and Parliament of the Former Yugoslav 
     Republic of Macedonia should therefore consider all means by 
     which higher education conducted in the Albanian language can 
     be provided, including the establishment of an Albanian-
     language university;
       (4) the efforts by the High Commissioner for National 
     Minorities of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in 
     Europe, the Council of Europe, and the Working Group

[[Page E378]]

     on Ethnic Minorities of the International Conference on the 
     Former Yugoslavia, to offer guidance and mediation to the 
     Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and 
     representatives of the Albanian minority in resolving the 
     issue of higher education in the Albanian language, are 
     commendable;
       (5) the President should express to the Government of the 
     Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the strong support of 
     the Government of the United States for measures that will 
     contribute to democracy and stability in the Former Yugoslav 
     Republic of Macedonia, including efforts to ensure access to 
     higher education in the Albanian language;
       (6) the President should offer appropriate support for the 
     efforts of the High Commissioner on National Minorities of 
     the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe to 
     resolve the issue of access to higher education in the 
     Albanian language; and
       (7) the President should offer appropriate support for 
     efforts by the Government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of 
     Macedonia to ensure access to higher education in the 
     Albanian language, including assistance for the establishment 
     of necessary curricula and the provision of textbooks and 
     related course materials.

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