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For those who may not know, Macedonia is a landlocked country in the heart of the Balkans in Eastern Europe. It has a long history, which dates back to the Roman Empire and goes even beyond. The famous Alexander the Great was a Macedonian. This nation forms boundaries with Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro. It is certainly a beautiful country with a mountainous territory covered with deep basins and valleys along with three beautiful lakes. The Vandar River, which bisects the territory, adds life to the Macedonians.

Nation’s Perspective

The population of Macedonia is a little over two million. The nation’s form of government is parliamentary democracy. Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia on September 8, 1991 and two years later joined the United Nations. The two major cities are Skopje, the capital, and Ohrid, which is located on a large and beautiful lake a small portion of which forms boundary with Albania. Ohrid has been declared historic city by UNESCO and it is being very well preserved. The people’s wish in this nation is to prosper and to live at peace.

To this end, the government is very cooperative as it is revealed in its set of priorities and in its style of ruling. Its policies are anything but belligerent. Although Macedonia does have a small military with a conscript duty for merely six months, it plans to phase out such conscription completely by 2007. Its present military expenditure amounts to $200 million dollars, which is equivalent to 6% of the national budget. That is quite a contrast to the military budget of the USA which is running to 51% of its entire national budget!

The government of Macedonia, under the leadership of Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, is fully aware of the traditional Roman dictum: Si vis bellum para bellum, si vis pacem para pacem – If you want war prepare for war, if you want peace prepare for peace. The American dictum: Si vis pacem para bellum – If you want peace prepare for war, has been proven historically to be fallacious. Macedonia wants to pursue the course of peace by any means within its power.

The International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP), which is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) of the United Nations, was officially established in 1969 for the purpose of promoting and implementing the following objectives: (a) Promotion of international understanding and world peace through education, (b) Protection of the environment from air and water pollution, (c) Safeguard of human rights in accordance with the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and (d) Disarmament and development of the human resources merely for positive and constructive purposes.

Diplomas, Awards and Certifications

Over the past four decades or so, this organization, which now has branches in over 90 countries across every continent, has instituted a number of awards as a means to recognize outstanding work by individuals that relates to one or more of the above stated objectives. They are given seldom and only when confronted with a unique opportunity. Some are classified as diplomas, like the diploma of leadership and the diploma of scholarship. Some are viewed as awards like the ambassador of peace and the fountain of universal peace. Others are enlisted as certifications, like certificate of confirmed officers or membership in good standing within the organization.

Over the past decade, the organization’s Secretariat Executive Council initiated the World Grand Prize Award, which is given occasionally to an individual of who performs conspicuous public service “in recognition of humanitarian services performed with notable dedication and genuine concern for all people in an effort to bring about progress, prosperity and world peace.” In view of this objective, Dr. Robert Tafra of Split, Croatia, IAEWP Vice President for Europe, was advised to recommend that the Prime Minister of Macedonia, Mr. Vlado Buckovski, would receive the said award.

To this end, the IAEWP President traveled all the way from the USA to Macedonia to convey the said Prime Minister with this unique award in addition to the IAEWP World Peace Medal. Needless to say, an evening was set for this unique occasion that was followed by a nice reception. The Macedonian news media was there to bring this wonderful news to the rest of the nation and the world at large through the internet. However, instead of focusing on the good things the Prime Minister performed that enabled him to merit such a distinct honor, the news reporters focused on who were those in the past that got a similar award. In doing so, they enlisted names of world figures that were given other type of awards by the same organization, but not the one that was eventually given to Mr. Vlado Busckovski.

Besides, some reporters who learned that the International Association of Educators for World Peace was an NGO of the United Nations surprisingly concluded that the World Grand Prize Award was given by the UN rather than by IAEWP, which instituted the award! This was inaccurate reporting. As already stated, reporters focused more on who were the names of others that got this award rather than on the Prime Minister’s actions that led him to this honor.

Nobel Peace Prize Reporting

We are all familiar with the Nobel Peace Prize, which is quite prestigious. Among its recipients we have Mother Teresa who was born in Macedonia and who contributed a lot to alleviate suffering everywhere. We have Oscar Arias of Costa Rica who demilitarized his nation and turned it into an island of peace in Central America. We have Nelson Mandela of South Africa who with his slogan – Let bygones be bygones – managed to bring the numerous divisions of his nation together without resorting to civil war. The news media reporters focused primarily on the peace work such outstanding world citizens.

It would have been unwise for reporters to focus on a list of names that have secured the Nobel Peace Prize since some of the recipients were hardly peaceful. We may refer here to Yassir Arafat who was linked to terrorist groups in the past. In fact, one of the five committee members protested and refused to sign. We may also refer to Henry Kissinger who gave Indonesia the green light to invade East Timor where thousands were massacred as a result. He also supported military aid to several dictators who then used received US weapons to massacre the natives who protested against their inhumane treatment.

In other words, the news media reporters in Macedonia could have done a much better job if they used their energy to show how their Prime Minister’s philosophy of government was fully conducive to bring about peace in the Balkans and the rest of Eastern Europe. Instead, as stated earlier, they seemed to be more concerned on enlisting other personalities who might have been awarded the World Grand Prize Award and the World Peace Medal.

In conclusion, we need to congratulate Macedonia’s Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski for his courageous leadership in his effort to demilitarize his nation to the best of his ability. As a result, Macedonia would be in a better position to improve the present health care system through better hospitals. Besides, this historic nation of the Balkans would enable itself to promote a better and more competitive educational system through the improvement of schools at all levels of education.

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