Equal freedoms for national minorities

Strasbourg, May 11 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav Minister of National Minorities and Ethnic Communities Rasim Ljajic signed Yugoslavia's accedence to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities which forms an integral part of the international protection of basic human rights and freedoms.

This Convention provides national minorities and majorities with the same rights, and each individual can chose for himself if he wants to exercise them as a member of a national minority, without any consequences whatsoever.

Accepting this fact as the basis of its attitude towards national minorities, Yugoslavia committed itself to act in the spirit of tolerance and conformity with the principles of good neighborliness, friendly relations and cooperation with other states. This guarantees to persons belonging to national minorities the right of equality before the law.

The state pledged itself to promote and exercise full equality of minority freedoms, as well as those of majorities regarding economic, social, political, and cultural rights.

According to Ljajic, the Convention will represent the basis of a new policy on national minorities in Yugoslavia, allow maintenance and development of minority culture, as well as the preservation of the essential elements of their identity regarding religion, language, and tradition.

The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was adopted in Strasbourg in February 1995. All member countries of the Council of Europe acceded to it.