HIGH COMMISSIONER ON NATIONAL MINORITIES Baltic States Since January 1993 the High Commissioner has been involved in the situation of the Russian populations of Estonia and Latvia, paying a number of visits to these states and to the mainly Russianinhabited Estonian cities of Narva and Sillimae. His most recent activities there include a visit in early January 1994 to Riga during which he concentrated on the draft legislation on citizenship and naturalisation. Romania The High Commissioner's visit to Romania, which took place in June 1993 in response to an invitation by the Romanian Government resulted in a number of recommendations, inter alia on the importance of developing an effective Council for Ethnic Minorities. The HCNM has offered his support to the Council by seeking to provide it with international expertise and experience on specific issues. The Government accepted the High Commissioner's offer. He has also recommended that the Romanian government take action to combat expressions of ethnic hatred and to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of violent attacks on other ethnic groups, particularly against the Roma. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia The High Commissioner's involvement in the situation of the Albanian population in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FRYOM) led to a report and recommendations to the Government of that CSCE observer state. In the middle of November 1993 the High Commissioner visited the country again to consult the Government and Albanian representatives further on a number of issues (in particular the holding of a census and the establishment of an Albanian-language faculty for the training of teachers) and because of the arrest of a number of Albanians in connection with an arms find. The Government accepted the report and recommendations. Albania The High Commissioner's visits to Albania in connection with the position of the Greek minority in southern Albania resulted in a report and recommendations which were discussed at the September 1993 meeting of the CSO. The Albanian Government reacted favourably to the report and its recommendations, which focused on education in the Greek language, the setting up of a minority office within the government and the resolution of the issue of confiscated church property. From 13-17 December the High Commissioner paid a follow-up visit to Albanian for the purpose of examining the situation of inter-ethnic relations in light of these recommendations. The HCNM put particular emphasis on questions related to Greek-language education in southern Albania where the majority of ethnic Greeks live in concentrated areas. He visited the southern region and Tirana, meeting with the highest political leaders of the country and representatives of the Greek minority. Slovakia/Hungary: Visit of the Team of Experts On the initiative of the High Commissioner a three-person Team of experts accompanied by an HCNM staff member visited Slovakia and Hungary in the period of 19 to 29 September 1993. Their task was to study the situation of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia and that of the Slovak minority in Hungary. Two weeks after they concluded their visits, the Team submitted a confidential report to the High Commissioner on their findings and their ideas concerning possible recommendations. A followup visit by the High Commissioner to Bratislava took place later in October. Subsequently he submitted two sets of recommendations, one to the Hungarian Government and the other to the Slovak CSCE ODIHR BULLETIN Vol. 2, No. 1 50