Minorities from Western Balkans follow the example of Schleswig-Holstein

Many great ideas how the countries of the Western Balkans can learn from the minority politics of Schleswig-Holstein: That is the outcome of the visit of a delegation of twenty representatives of minorities from the Western Balkans which took place from 30th October – 4th November 2016. The visit was organized by the Federal Union for European Nationalities (FUEN). ‘The model of Schleswig-Holstein is working for many years already. Here, communication with minorities  takes place at eye level’, said Renate Schnack, Minority Commissioner of the Minister Torsten Albig, at a visit of the delegation to the state chancellery in Kiel. ‘We know each other. We decide together.’ The minority representatives don’t experience such a cooperation in their countries Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia.

Schleswig-Holstein is regarded as a modern region. There are living four minorities peacefully together in the German-Danish border region: Danish minority, Frisian ethnic group, Sinti and Roma as well as the German minority in Denmark. Swetlana Krätzschmar, City President of Flensburg, said at the closing evening of the visit: ‘The state and politics play an important role in a successful protection of minorities. It is necessary to anchor equalization and non-discrimination as core values by law. We aim at a just access to state services and social benefits.’

The visit is part of a project for the Western Balkans, where FUEN and ECMI, supported by the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and on the initiative of the state chancellery Schleswig-Holstein, successfully applied for funding. The funding is being granted within the framework of a new Federal-Länder-pilotprogramme „New formats of collaboration in technical collaboration“ of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Further project funds are provided by the state Schleswig-Holstein. Participating minorities from the Western Balkans are Sinti and Roma as well as groups with Albanian origins as ‘Ashkali’ and ‘Egyptians’. At the state chancellery in Kiel their representatives were discussing with Claudia von Dohlen from the Ministry of the Interior about problems of integration of Roma, the group of minorities that is being sent back to their home countries from Germany. They told about returnees not being able to speak the national language any more, not having a home and about the difficulties to get certificates recognized. Especially Roma are affected by economical discrimination in the Western Balkans. Access to communal services, infrastructure, education or to the job market is mostly lacking. For instance, in Serbia there are only 0.02 percent of Roma working in public institutions, though a rate of 10 percent has been determined. Oftentimes minorities are living on the poverty line and under very bad housing conditions.

‘Hunger always needs to be fought’, said Matthäus Weiß, National Chairman of the Association of German Sinti and Roma. He knows about the problems of the minority living in Germany. For more than 20 years he is advocating for ca. 6000 Sinti and Roma living in Schleswig-Holstein. More and more frequently also people from Eastern Europe approach him: ‘We are a strong minority community here in the North and we cooperate with the public authorities and with nongovernmental organizations. We achieved a lot in Germany already. But there are still problems. Reports about forced prostitution and sterilization as well as severe discrimination in Eastern Europe concern me very much. These people need help.’ Cooperation with public institutions is the key to integration of Sinti and Roma into society. The residential project Maro Temm, established in Kiel in 2007, is proving how integration can work. In this case public institutions and Sinti and Roma are working hand-in-hand.

At the end of the visit there are many great ideas how the Western Balkan can learn from Schleswig-Holstein’s minority politics and how some ideas can partially be adopted. The familial cooperation was highly appreciated: ‘The FUEN is a strong representation of interests’, said Boza Javonivic, Roma from Serbia. In Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzigovina) people are dreaming of a House of Minorities like the one in Flensburg. And they are dreaming of bilingual education and Romane’s kindergartens, as there are in Schleswig-Holstein.

‘We should adopt the Bonn-Copenhagen-Declarations (BKE) for the Western Balkans!’, suggested the Macedonian representative Ahmed Jasharovski. The declarations from 1995 regulate the cohabitation and integration at the German-Danish border (http://www.geschichte-s-h.de/bonn-kopenhagener-erklaerungen/). ‘Laws are important. But laws don’t help, if there is no recognition.’

What the former Danish Prime Minister Hand Christian Svane Hansen said in 1995 is still important today. An implementation of the BKE in the Western Balkans could be a start for rethinking and for a better life for the minorities living in these countries.

About the FUEN

The FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities) represents the interests of the European minorities – on regional, national and in particular on the European level. With more than 90  Member Organisations in 32 countries FUEN is the biggest umbrella organisation of the autochthonous, national minorities in Europe. FUEN is committed to protect and promote the identity, language, culture, rights and own character of the European minorities. FUEN is the voice of the minorities at the international organisations, notably at the European Union and the Council of Europe and also at the United Nations and the OSCE. FUEN was founded in Paris in 1949 and has three offices today: in Flensburg, in Berlin and in Brussels. More info: www.fuen.org. Contact person: Susann Schenk, e-mail: info@fuen.org, phone: 0461/128 55.