Latvian parliamentarian Boriss Cilevics’ report was published

On 20 January 2010, the report on “Minority protection in Europe: best practices and deficiencies in implementation of common standards” prepared by Latvian parliamentarian Boriss Cilevics, member of the Sub-Committee on Rights of Minorities in Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe was published.

It is expressed in the report that fair treatment of minorities which is an important priority for the Council of Europe is guaranteed, and that the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages is hoped to quickly become universally accepted standards in Europe. In addition the report indicates that yet eleven years after it came into force, eight member states of the Council of Europe have still not ratified the framework convention – and even in those that have, national authorities were sometimes failing to make sure local authorities do their duty. It is noted that limited definitions were used in the report, excluding certain ethnic groups or discrimination has appeared between minorities and policies due to changing political winds.

The Parliamentary Assembly underlines in the report and the accompanying draft decision that the protection of persons belonging to national minorities as a part of the protection of human rights presents a fundamental importance for Europe´s equality, justice, stability, democratic society and peace. The Assembly reiterates its call upon the four states Belgium, Greece, Iceland and Luxembourg, which have signed the Framework convention but have still not ratified it, and four others – Andorra, France, Monaco and Turkey , which have neither signed nor ratified it, to sign and/or ratify the Framework Convention as soon as possible, without reservations or restrictive declarations.

Under the title of “non-ratification of the framework convention” the case of Greece is specifically reviewed

In the report which is examined in five sections, the situation in Greece is reviewed as a specific case in the section about “limits to the application of the framework convention in Europe”, with regard to the non-ratification of the Framework Convention. In the report´s section about “obligations of the local and regional authorities under the framework convention” it is indicated that in her report on Greece the United Nations Independent Expert on Minority Issues considered that the government must ensure that national policies are not subverted or defied by local authorities who find it more convenient to be responsive to local prejudices. Furthermore, in the section about “limits to the application of the Framework Convention”, the rapporteur Boriss Cilevics, who visited Athens, Thessaloniki and Florina from 26- 28 February 2009, notes in the report with regard to the issue of Greece that ECRI in its 2004 report on Greece noted that persons wishing to express their Macedonian, Turkish or other identity have incurred the hostility of the population and were targets of prejudices and stereotypes, and sometimes faced discrimination, especially in the labour market”.

Due to the publication of other reports of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights which address the issue of the Muslim minority in Thrace (Eastern Greece) as well as the situation of Roma in Europe, the rapporteur Boriss Cilevics adds that he limits his focus to the contentious issue of the Macedonian community in Greece, which has also recently been dealt with by the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner and the United Nations independent expert on minority issues. The report notes that Greek authorities only recognize the ‘Muslim’ minority in Western Thrace, by virtue of the Lausanne Peace Treaty of 24 July 1923 and that in this context, Greece was recently commended by various bodies, including the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, for a number of measures it had taken to enhance the rights of the Muslim minority in Greece.

Problem of Former Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code

The issue of the former Article 19 of the Greek Nationality Code which provided that Greek citizens who were not ethnically Greek could have their citizenship revoked if they left the country and the Greek authorities believed that they did not intend to return has also been explained in the report. Furthermore the report underlines the fact that as a consequence of this provision which is applied from 1955 to 1998, there were approximately 60,000 Greek citizens, including minors, who lost their nationality. Despite the repeal of Article 19, the consequences did not have a retroactive effect. It is also stated in the report that with the instruction of the Ministry to local authorities to accelerate the procedure for naturalizing stateless Muslims in Western Thrace and that ECRI stated in its report that no other regulations have been made to the issue although a group of persons have reacquired their citizenship. Moreover, the report takes reference to the relevant explanation of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and states that the European Court of Human Rights has also dealt with the situation of a Muslim Greek applicant who had fallen under Article 19 of the Citizenship Code in its recent judgment Zeïbek v. Greece and adds that the Court found that she had been discriminated with regard to her right to retirement pension.

Issue of freedom of association

With regard to the case of Sidiropoulos and others v. Greece (freedom of association and right to self-identification), Boriss Cilevics states that during his visit to Greece he expressed the fact that Greece must comply with the ECHR´s decision related to the issue of the Turkish community in Greece. Moreover, this issue had been addressed in the ECRI’s 2009 report on Greece.

With regard to the issue of the ratification of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, rapporteur Boriss Cilevics expresses that during his visit to Greece, no timeframe was given for ratification. Furthermore, he reminds that ECRI in its 2009 report on Greece has once called upon the Greek authorities to ratify the framework convention as soon as possible. The report contains the statement of the Human Rights Commissioner, in which he recommends Greek Government to create a consultative mechanism, at national, regional and local levels, which would ensure an institutionalized, open, sincere and continuous dialogue with representatives of different minorities and/or representatives of individual minority groups.

Under the title of obligations of Council of Europe member states which are not Parties to the Council of Europe minority instruments, the report reminds that the European Human Rights Convention guarantees, inter alia, essential rights for persons belonging to minorities: freedom of expression, and freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as freedom of association.

With regard to the report, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe, (ABTTF), Halit Habipoğlu, made a stamen as follows: “The focus of the report, written by the Latvian parliamantery Boriss Cilevics, is not set on the Western Thrace Turkish Minority and its problems, because Michel Hunault prepared a special report on the issue of the Western Thrace Turkish minority. Despite, the report presents the lack of regulations in Greece, due to the non-ratification of the Framework Convention. Moreover, it is very pleasant that the report deals with the problems of the Turkish Minority, related to the issue of Article 19 and freedom of association. With the report of Boriss Cilevics, with whom ABTTF is in contact for many years, and who in addition is a minority-friendly politician, four reports have been published about the issue of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace, by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly during 2009. Thus, the issue of the Turkish Minority of Western Thrace has been brought to the PACE agenda”.

The full report written by Boriss Cilevics can be reached at the link http://assembly.coe.int/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc10/EDOC12109.pdf