On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on the 21st of March, the Municipality of Çair in cooperation with the local Youth Council, NGO Aksioni Vepro! and Çair middle schools organized a Q&A session with the Mayor (Mr Izet Mexhiti) in Cair’s City Hall. The audience consisted of local citizens as well as the international representatives. Following the Q&A session, a press conference ensued where correspondents from all major national and private media outlets were present. The activities of the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism were amongst those announced by the Mayor of Çair.

The aforementioned institutions recently launched a survey concerned with the three major forms of discrimination present in our community, namely; ethnic, religious and gender based discrimination. The survey was completed by the 7th and 8th grade classes of several middle schools on the 15th, 16th and 17th of March. The analyses of the results were presented at the open event hosted by the Mayor of the Municipality of Çair on the 21st of March 2011.

In addition, an essay/poetry writing and drawing competition based on the question “What is discrimination and how can we combat it?” was held in the above mentioned schools. The winners were announced at the event and an exhibition of the artwork was presented.   

After the Q&A session (during which students from middle schools made questions to the Mayor of the Municipality of Çair), children from all ethnicities (Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, Roma, Serbian, Bosnian) convened at the City Hall to perform each other’s songs and dances in front of the audience.

The full program has been available in official languages of the municipality of Çair (Albanian and Macedonian) at our website: www.cair.gov.mk.

Teuta Agai Demjaha, Municipality of Çair