After the successful roundtable in Kukës,  the European Union and Council of Europe anti-discrimination action and the OSCE Presence in Albania supported the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Committee for National Minorities in organising another roundtable, this time in Dervican (Dropull). The event brought together local community members, public institutions and civil society, along with participants from Greek, Roma, Egyptian, Aromanian and Serbian national minorities. The roundtable aimed to raise awareness about the process of self-identification, which allows individuals to officially identify their national minority background.

Dhimitraq Toli, Mayor of Dropull, welcomed the participants, emphasising the importance of awareness about minority rights and the self-identification. In their opening remarks, Llazo Kucuqi, Representative of the Greek Minority in the Committee for National Minorities, Paolo Lobba - Programme Manager at the Council of Europe and Milica Stojanovic from the OSCE Presence in Albania, highlighted the importance of understanding minority rights, legislation, and procedures.

Participants learnt about the role and work of the Committee for National Minorities through a presentation by Arjan Lile, representative of the Egyptian minority, who stressed the value of representation and inter-community cooperation. Arlinda Lisha from the Ministry of Internal Affairs joined the discussion explaining how the work of the Commission for the Recognition of National Minorities helps individuals through the official recognition and self-identification process.

A key part of the roundtable introduced the recently developed practical tools to support the self-identification process, including a toolkit and an informational leaflet. Hasimin Keci, a representative of the Bosnian minority in the Committee, explained that these tools are available in all national minority languages to help individuals and organisations navigate the procedures.

The roundtable also provided space for open discussion, allowing participants to ask questions, share concerns and exchange views on the self-identification process and related issues.

This initiative is supported by the action “Advancing the protection from discrimination in Albania” part of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”, in co-operation with the OSCE Presence in Albania.