Out of the spotlight: The rights of foreigners and minorities are still a grey area 59 4. BETWEEN EXISTENCE AND OBLITERATION: THE (IN)VISIBILITY OF MINORITY GROUPS “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.” Article 18, ICCPR “State Parties undertake… to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national of ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of… the right to nationality… the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” Article 5, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 4.1 Background A persisting concern of human rights observers over the last three decades has been the flawed framework guiding the government’s policies on minorities. The basis of this framework is the state’s assertion that “the only officially recognized minority in Greece is the Muslim minority in Thrace”, most recently stated in the country’s initial report to the UN Human Rights Committee. 115 Indeed, the “Muslim minority of Thrace” constitutes the only group of Greek citizens who are guaranteed specific rights as members of a minority – these rights were granted under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. 116 Since then, a number of other 115 UN Document CCPR/C/GRC/2004/1, p.165. This was the Treaty signed on 24 July 1923 that formally ended the first world war, signed between the Allies and Turkey and regulated territorial borders (Articles 1-45), the Ottoman public debt (Articles 46-57) and other matters, among which the compulsory exchange of Muslim and Orthodox populations between Greece and Turkey respectively (Article 142). Annexed to this Treaty was the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, signed earlier, on 30 January 1923, which also designated “The Greek inhabitants of Constantinople” and “The Moslem inhabitants of Western Thrace” in addition to the inhabitants of the islands of Imbros and 116 Amnesty International 5 October 2005 groups of Greek citizens have claimed the right to minority protection. The most widely publicized cases have been of groups of individuals living in the region of Florina claiming their right to self-identification as “Macedonians”, and members of the aforementioned officially recognized minority group claiming their right to self-identification as “Turks”.117 The Greek state has in response denied the existence of any minorities other than the “Muslim” one within its territory. This dispute has had repercussions on the state’s ability to comply with its obligation to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of individuals adopting political positions that are Tenedos, as groups exempted from the exchange (Article 2 of Convention, Article 14 of Treaty). A number of articles in the Treaty stipulate that the groups exempted from the exchange are to enjoy the same civil and political rights as other citizens, as well as additional protection of their rights in the areas of language and religion (Articles 37-45). 117 Estimates of the minority population in Thrace suggest a figure of 100,000, roughly half of which are thought to be “Turks”, the other half comprising “Pomaks” and “Roma” groups (according to locals as well as official terminology), many members of which, however, classify themselves as “Turks”. Estimates of the “Macedonian” population are more divergent: the authorities estimate “Slav-speakers” to be 10,000, while estimates from international Macedonian associations raise the estimate up to 200,000. AI Index: EUR 25/016/2005