Preshevë, 15 avril -Ethnic Albanian leaders in the southern municipalities of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac complained that they were underrepresented in state institutions at the local level. Ethnic Albanians lacked sufficient textbooks in the Albanian language for secondary education, report US Department of State, trasnmete the National Information Agency “Presheva Jonë” in Presevo.
Throughout the year the government continued to discuss publicly the 1999 disappearance and murder of Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi, three Kosovar-American brothers taken into custody by Serb paramilitaries. Senior Serbian officials made numerous claims that new evidence was found in the case.
Numerous observers noted the existence of a climate of hostility toward members of national and ethnic minorities. Discrimination with respect to employment and occupation was also reported
The government made no significant progress toward providing justice for the victims, however.
Government Human Rights Bodies: The office of the ombudsman is responsible for identifying problems within state institutions and making recommendations on ways to remedy them. The ombudsman continued to operate branch offices in three municipalities with significant ethnic Albanian populations.
Bodies known as national minority councils represented the country’s ethnic minority groups and had broad competency over education, media, culture, and the use of minority languages. Ethnic Albanian leaders in the southern municipalities of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac complained that they were underrepresented in state institutions at the local level. Ethnic Albanians lacked sufficient textbooks in the Albanian language for secondary education.
During the year the Institute for the Improvement of the Quality of Education, with support from the OSCE Mission to Serbia, drafted standards for the mandatory teaching of Serbian as a non-mother tongue in primary and secondary schools. During the year the standards were tested and used to improve further the teaching of Serbian for all minorities in the country. The government, with support from several international organizations, continued efforts to improve the teaching of Serbian as a non-mother tongue in Albanian-language primary schools.
