OSCE Mission to Skopje supports cultural event to foster co-operation between communities

SKOPJE, 11 December 2014 – Promoting the country’s cultural diversity, enhancing respect for minority rights, and fostering inter-cultural relations, are the aim of a cultural event taking place in Skopje tonight, which features dances, songs, poems and stories from different ethnic communities around the country.

The event is organized by the national Agency for Community Rights Realization and supported by the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

“The respect for the rights of persons belonging to national minorities is part of universally-recognized human rights,” said the Head of OSCE Mission to Skopje, Ambassador Ralf Breth. “The OSCE has enshrined in its founding documents and political commitments that they are essential factors for peace, justice, stability and democracy of every society.”

“As a security organization, our primary goal in these endeavours is to ensure security and democratic development: this can only be achieved through respect for diversity and active co-operation and collaboration.”

Director of the Agency for Community Rights Realization, Vesna Babic-Petrovski, said this event is a unique opportunity for all communities to present their cultural heritage and artistic creativity in one place.

“A large number of participants have never had an opportunity to perform in public; they have been mainly involved in the cultural life of their own community as an important segment in preserving their tradition and ethnic identity. Our goal tonight is to celebrate and foster the common values of all communities, their unity and cultural diversity as key foundations of a multicultural society,” she said.