A/49/415/Add.1
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organizations, provides advice to the Minister of the Interior on all matters
related to immigration and integration.
98. The Ministry further pointed out that the Council of Europe met at Vienna
on 8 and 9 October 1993 and adopted a plan of action for combating racism,
xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance. Part of the plan of action is a
campaign aimed particularly at the young, that will have a national and local
dimension in Denmark. This will be carried out by the Danish Youth Council, the
Ministry of the Interior and a wide range of other institutions and
organizations that make up the membership of the National Committee set up under
the campaign. The campaign will, in all likelihood, consist of measures for the
creation of general awareness and information, as well as special measures to
promote cultural meetings by activating and integrating young members of ethnic
minorities in leisure activities, associations and clubs also frequented by
Danes. Furthermore, the Nordic Council has resolved to implement a Nordic
campaign against racism and xenophobia. This campaign will be closely linked to
the Council of Europe Campaign and will be implemented in such a way that work
of a repetitious or inexpedient nature will be avoided.
99. The Government of Sweden pointed out that the two principal agencies
entrusted with the task of counteracting ethnic discrimination were the National
Board of Immigration and the Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination. The
National Board of Immigration focuses on studies and dissemination of
information and is responsible for communicating its findings so as to forestall
and prevent ethnic conflicts. The Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination is
responsible for counteracting existing or suspected discrimination, mainly from
a legal perspective. The Ombudsman must assist individuals who have experienced
discrimination and protect their rights by providing expert advice and
information, help form public opinion by participating in public debate and
recommend legislation and other measures to combat ethnic discrimination. In
some cases, when a crime against the Act to Counteract Ethnic Discrimination was
suspected, the Ombudsman has also had a litigating role.
100. Measures concerning a national minority in Sweden, the indigenous Saami
population, were described in the eleventh report of Sweden to the Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 1/ On 26 August 1993, after the
submission of that report, the governmental authority for Saami affairs was
inaugurated. The governing body of that authority is an assembly, the Sameting,
with 31 members, all elected every fourth year by the Saami population. The
Sameting will, inter alia, decide on the distribution of funds allocated by the
Government to promote Saami culture and to support Saami organizations.
101. The Government of Yugoslavia pointed out that funds were regularly
earmarked from the budget of the Republic of Serbia for publishing expenses for
the Bulgarian newspaper Bratstvo and for publishing houses. Within the
framework of the last distribution of radio frequencies tender, the Government
of the Republic of Serbia allocated a frequency to the assembly of the commune
of Dimitrovgrad.
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