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Women Are Important For Minority Self-Government

DSCI0236'Do not ever doubt the significance of minority self-government, no matter how often the ignorant about the matter tell you it is obsolete. Its significance was confirmed in 2006, when National Minority Councils became a constitutional category,' pointed out Аnikо Мuškinjа Heinrich, the Provincial Ombudswoman, in her opening address to the participants of the National Minority Councils Elections training in Vrdnik yesterday.

The training participants, exclusively women and prospective candidates in the forthcoming October elections, came to acquire additional knowledge of the elections process and its procedure, as well as to learn into greater detail about the new provisions of the Law on Amendments of the National Minority Councils Law.

The Provincial Protector of Citizens - Ombudsman (PPCO) institution has been monitoring the work of the National Minority Councils (NMCs) ever since their foundation, delivering formal opinions about their work and recommendations for it aimed at contributing to improvement of the national minority community men's and women's rights exercise, protection and advancement. Referring to the role of women in NMCs, the Ombudswoman wished them a successful training with the following words:

'Please, do not let them push you to the margins in the forthcoming elections. Do not agree not to be a candidate or to return your mandate. Do not let the elections rules get bent to your detriment, so you end up letting someone else take your place. I think that you will contribute to the development of minority self-government significantly because the fields relevant for the work of the NMCs - namely education, culture, information and official use of language - are those dominated by women's presence in them and where women can offer their maximum.'

The participants were also greeted by Јеlеnа Јоkаnоvić, a representative of the Democratization Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. Besides around twenty NMCs members, some of the participants are representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Administration and Local Self-Government, the Human and Minority Rights Office of the Government of Serbia, as well as Annemarie Vicsek, an MP with the Serbian National Parliament.

The National Minority Councils Elections training is a joint venture of the PPCO and OSCE Mission to Serbia, which also provided funding for it. In the light of the forthcoming NMCs elections in Serbia, the aim of this training is to promote effective participation of women in these elections.