VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #1464 3012307
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 282246Z OCT 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO USMISSION USOSCE IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 111464 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE UP RS KV MK KZ HU LO GG
SUBJECT: OSCE/PERMANENT COUNCIL:  RESPONSE TO THE REPORT 
BY THE OSCE HIGH COMMISSIONER ON NATIONAL MINORITIES, KNUT 
VOLLEBAEK 
 
¶1.  Post is authorized to make the following statement at the 
October 29, 2009, meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in 
Vienna: 
 
Begin Text: 
 
Thank you, Madam Chair. 
 
The United States warmly welcomes Ambassador Vollebaek back 
to the Permanent Council and thanks him for his thorough and 
thoughtful report. 
 
As we mentioned during last week's Corfu process meeting, 
treatment of minorities is at the heart of many of Europe's 
potential, active or frozen conflicts.  The persistence of 
tension and conflict over minority issues means it is 
imperative for us to do even more to address not only the 
causes, but also the conditions or actions that can 
exacerbate conflict. 
 
The United States continues to strongly support High 
Commissioner Vollebaek and his team, and their persistent and 
even-handed focus on improving education, participation by 
minorities in public life, and relations between states and 
minorities in neighboring states with whom they share ethnic 
affinities. 
 
We welcome your efforts, Ambassador Vollebaek, to improve 
bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine on these 
issues, and are pleased to see that both parties have reacted 
positively to your recommendations thus far. 
 
We are particularly concerned about tensions in the Crimean 
peninsula, and agree on the need to develop a comprehensive 
strategy to deal with this situation.  We appreciate your 
facilitation of the drafting of legislation regarding 
formerly deported minorities in Ukraine that would 
meaningfully address disputes over land, property issues and 
cultural rights.  We are also interested in receiving more 
information on the project "Culture of Good Neighborhood," 
and wonder if it could serve as a model for other regions. 
 
In Kazakhstan, we appreciate your work to ensure that 
minority populations -- particularly the Uighur and Uzbek 
communities -- are fully integrated into the Kazakhstani 
educational system.  We welcome your plans to monitor -- in 
conjunction with the government -- the educational situation 
of Uighurs in Almaty and its region.  Like you, we commend 
Kazakhstan for taking up your recommendations on including 
minority language schools in the trilingual education program 
and for unambiguously ensuring that promotion of the official 
state language will not be at the expense of any other 
language spoken in Kazakhstan.  These are positive 
developments. 
 
Your work in Southeast Europe is helping to consolidate gains 
made in interethnic relations and is an important part of 
building the foundation for long-term stability.  We highly 
value your efforts, in coordination with other international 
organizations and bilateral donors, to assist authorities in 
Macedonia to address the issue of ethnically separated 
education.  Likewise, we commend your work in Kosovo to help 
the public understand the concept and value of transitional 
justice and to keep the issue on the political agenda, and 
your work on minority education issues. 
 
We strongly support your continued engagement in Georgia, 
where your efforts to call attention to the situation of 
ethnic minorities, particularly in Gali and Akhalgori, are 
especially important.  We remain concerned by the issues 
identified in your November 2008 joint report with ODIHR on a 
lack of human rights protections in the war-affected areas of 
Georgia.  We once more urge the immediate implementation of 
the report's recommendations, and reiterate our call for a 
follow-up assessment mission to ascertain the current human 
rights and humanitarian situation in the Abkhazia and South 
Ossetia regions of Georgia.  We look forward to your planned 
visit early next year, and hope you and your office will 
continue your efforts to prevent further conflict and ensure 
respect for human rights and humanitarian law throughout 
Georgia. 
 
We applaud Slovakia and Hungary's decision to work with you 
to find common resolutions for resolving tensions in their 
bilateral relations.  We call on other participating States 
to follow this example and work together with the High 
Commissioner to address areas of concern before the situation 
escalates. 
 
Ambassador Vollebaek, we commend your essential work to 
prevent conflict on minority issues, which also advances 
respect for human rights and promotes inter-ethnic harmony 
throughout the OSCE area.  We wish you every success in your 
work for the upcoming year. 
 
Thank you, Madam Chair. 
 
END TEXT 
CLINTON