Macedonia’s Ministry of Culture has submitted to Parliament a Draft Law on Natural and Cultural Heritage Management in the Ohrid Region, however the text is drastically different from the one presented at the last UNESCO committee meeting in Baku – more than a dozen civil society organizations have reported.
It is disputed that the new institution that will be created by the Law – the Council for the Ohrid Region – should refer to the recommendations it brings to vote with so called Badinter majority, which, according to civil society organizations, will further open the possibility for additional political influences. Case in point was the building of Mosques in downtown Ohrid, despite the fact the city itself has less than 1% muslim population.
They consider that this way of making Council decisions is not in accordance with the Ohrid Framework Agreement, since the Badinter Decision-making principle has been set up to avoid an override of smaller ethical communities at the expense of the majority in representative bodies, such as the Parliament and The Council of Municipalities, where elected representatives make decisions on behalf of the citizens.
At the moment, the Ohrid region and its natural beauty are being systematically destroyed by Zaev’s Government junta. We have witnessed over a dozen fires in protected areas, who are then immediately turned into commercial zones with the rights to build given to both DUI and SDS officials.
