Hungarian American Coalition

"Restoration of Voivodina's Autonomy:
A Model of Multi-Ethnic Stability"
June 28, 2001, Mansfield Room (S 207) of the Capitol

Opening Remarks - 10:30 a.m.
Edith Lauer, Chairman of the Board, Hungarian American Coalition

Overview -10:35 - 11:05 a.m.
Janusz Bugajski, Director, Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
First Panel - 11:05 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Voivodina: Aspirations, Opportunities and Obstacles
Moderator:
László Hámos, President, Hungarian Human Rights Foundation
Panelists:
Charles Ingrao, Professor of History, Purdue University
László Józsa, Vice-President, Alliance of Hungarians in Voivodina
Nenad Čanak, President, Provincial Assembly of Voivodina
Tibor Purger, Washington Correspondent of Magyar Szó, Újvidék / Novi Sad

 
Working Luncheon - 12:15 - 1:00 p.m.
Keynote address:
Paul Goble, Director of Communications, RFE/RL
Self-Determination and Its Discontents:
Managing Ethnic Challenges in the Post Cold War Period

 
Second Panel - 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Policy Alternatives
Moderator:
Frank Koszorus, Jr., Board Member, Hungarian American Coalition
Panelists:
Ian Brzezinski, Senior Professional Staff Member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Julie Mertus, Assistant Professor, American University; Senior Fellow, US Institute of Peace
Kurt Bassuener, Co-Director, Democratization Policy Institute
Discussants:
Ambassador Géza Jeszenszky of Hungary
Ambassador Ivan Grdesic of Croatia

The Hungarian American Coalition and the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation are grateful to the
following organizations and individuals for their financial support of this conference:
Stephen Fuzesi; Hungarian Americans for Human Rights in Delvidek; Hungarian Reformed Federation of America; The Lauer Charitable Fund; National Committee of Hungarians from Slovakia; George Olgyay; The William Penn Association

 

 

"Restoration of Voivodina's Autonomy:
A Model of Multi-Ethnic Stability"

An International Seminar in Washington DC
June 28, 2001, Mansfield Room (S 207) of the Capitol

 

    The Hungarian American Coalition and the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation will hold a groundbreaking international seminar in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 28, 2001, concerning the future of the province of Voivodina, Yugoslavia.

    With forces in Montenegro and Kosovo pushing for further breakdown in Yugoslavia while armed conflicts take place in neighboring Macedonia, the status of Voivodina — the last multi-ethnic province of Serbia — needs renewed focus in American policy circles. For centuries, Voivodina has constituted a unique ethnic mosaic of over a dozen nations and all of the region's major religions. A historically prosperous region serving as a gateway to the West, Slobodan Milosevic stripped away the province's autonomy in 1988, one year before he revoked Kosovo's autonomy and set the stage for ever harsher repression and the beginning of the bloody ethnic conflict.

    Voivodina was at the forefront of the anti-Milosevic DOS movement which successfully toppled the dictatorship. Many among the democratically elected Serbian leadership — supported by the largest minority community, the Hungarians — advocate autonomy and minority rights in Voivodina in order to secure the country's integrity and promote ethnic tolerance. The restoration of Voivodina's autonomy also represents a crucial opportunity for U.S. policymakers: to promote the legitimate aspirations of those groups who choose democratic, moderate and peaceful solutions to help shape a new order in Central Europe and the Balkans.

    The seminar objectives are to:

·         Provide a forum for representatives from Voivodina, U.S. policy makers, non-governmental organizations and journalists to discuss the most critical questions facing Voivodina and its position in the Central European and Balkan region.

·         Inform the Washington policy-making community, as well as NGOs and the media, of the specific areas of concern and obstacles facing Voivodina in its aspirations toward democracy, ethnic pluralism, the rule of law, a market economy and regional security and stability.

·         Help define concrete means of assistance on the part of the U.S. government, public bodies, and private organizations to Voivodina, its local authorities and nationalities, in advancing democratization, stabilization, more balanced relations with Serbia, and future international integration.

·         Promote the findings and recommendations of the Voivodina conference to a wider audience in the United States and in Europe and help translate policy advice into policy action.

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Revised: August 8, 2001