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European Court of Human Rights
STRASBOURG
10 June 2010
CASE OF SPASOVSKI v. THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
JUDGEMENT
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20th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”[1]
This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Unfortunately, in the course of the last few years the number of cases related to the violation of the rights of the child submitted to the Helsinki Committee has increased as well as the number of publicly disclosed cases indicating or even showing beyond any doubt violation of the rights of the child. |
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MACEDONIA: Officials continue to put into practice the Macedonian Religion Law's hostility to some religious communities, Forum 18 News Service has found. Discrimination continues against the Serbian Orthodox Church and Bektashi Muslim community, and in favour of the two "state faith communities" - the Macedonian Orthodox Church and Islamic Community of Macedonia.
By Drasko Djenovic, Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org |
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WORLD REPORT 2009 IT’S NOT JUST THE ECONOMY, IT’S A HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS |
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It is our duty to ensure that these rights are a living reality -- that they are known, understood and enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. It is often those who most need their human rights protected, who also need to be informed that the Declaration exists -- and that it exists for them.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon |
Message on the occasion of 10th December – Human Rights Day and 60th. Anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
The State Department released the 2008 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which covers the period from March 2007 to March 2008. |
The situation for asylum seekers in Greece is alarming. Thousands of asylum seekers live under unworthy conditions, and without any forms of legal protection. The chance of receiving protection in Greece is close to zero. Transferring asylum seekers to the country is therefore irresponsible. |
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) issued a report Wednesday in which it criticizes Macedonia over ill-treatment of detained persons. |
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“In the first six months of 2010 on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia in the field of sexual offenses on juveniles, total of 41 crimes were registered committed on 43 juveniles and criminal charges were filed against 48 persons. During the analyzed period, the number of crimes dropped for 18% in comparison with the same period last year. In 2009, total of 50 crimes were reported in which the juveniles were subject to assault. This is because no incest was registered this year (five incest crimes were registered in the first six months of last year).
According to the type, the most frequent is the crime “sexual attack on minor under 14” – 30 cases; five cases of “showing pornographic material to a minor under 14”; four cases of “rape” and one case of “satisfying sexual passions in front of another” and “sexual assault of physically helpless person [1]“ |
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May 2010 |
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"The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries. The United States takes its first-ever ranking not as a reprieve but as a responsibility to strengthen global efforts against modern slavery, including those within America. This human rights abuse is universal, and no one should claim immunity from its reach or from the responsibility to confront it." Full Text
- Republic of Macedonia |
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| The rights of the psychiatric patients are a topic of great interest and controversial conclusions both among the domestic and the world public. Regardless of the significant legal, clinical and ethical progress in this area, not too many surveys have been done in Macedonia. In that context the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights within the framework of its continued efforts to promote, respect, enhance and protect human rights, and in compliance with its mandate at the beginning of March 2010 once again[1] carried out monitoring at the three public psychiatric hospitals in Macedonia, the Psychiatric Hospital “Skopje” – Skopje, the Psychiatric Hospital “Demir Hisar” and the Psychiatric Hospital “Negorci”. |
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Response to the press release of MOC-OA as of 11.03.2010 The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia opposes the press release of the Synod of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric (MOC-OA) issued on 11.03.2010, which violates the human rights of certain groups of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, enhances their stigmatization and contrary to the basic teachings of this institution, spreads hatred and takes over the role of a judge. |
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U.S. Department of State BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR
March 11, 2010 |
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| PRESS RELEASE | | |
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March 8, International Day of Women’s Rights and International Peace The International Women’s Day, March 8, is a day commemorating the struggle of women for their rights, equal participation in political, economic and social processes. The observation of this day began back in 1910 at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, when upon the initiative of Clara Zetkin a decision was made to honour the movement for women's rights held worldwide in 1903, under the motto “Struggle for the General Right to Vote”. |
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Human Rights Watch Law Should Cover Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The Macedonian government's decision to ignore sexual orientation as a protected category in its draft anti-discrimination law would leave lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) people without vital protection, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Macedonian authorities. Human Rights Watch called on the government to support a comprehensive and inclusive anti-discrimination bill, including protection on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity. |
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| Message on the occasion of December 10, Human Rights Day | | |
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The United Nations celebrate this year’s Human Rights Day under the motto “Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination.” According to UN, millions of people globally struggle to extract themselves from situations of discrimination at almost every turn in their daily lives which seems like an impossible ambition. UN notes that tragically, as we have seen in the past twenty years, policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide, policies based on discriminatory ideologies, have led to destruction, exile and death. Where do we stand? |
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On November 16, the International Day for Tolerance, the first ever Citizens’ March of Tolerance was held in Skopje. |
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| A neglected human rights crisis People with intellectual disabilities tend to be among the most marginalised. Even today their treatment is clearly inhuman in country after country, even in Europe. They have limited possibilities to make themselves heard and this has contributed to making their situation a hidden human rights crisis. It is time for political decision makers to stop ignoring these vulnerable citizens. |
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One cannot neglect that by fully accepting the indictment, the Court has circumvented the facts that unambiguously are in favor of the indicted, particularly the fact that Jovan Andonov and Vasil Tupurkovski are well-known public figures and in the past were present at the political scene for a long time, leaving an impression that the entire case is politicized. By neglecting these facts, i.e. the biased acceptance of the indictment, the Court has formally and drastically violated the fundamental human rights of the indicted persons, depriving them from the possibility of having a fair trial. |
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Even in the political sphere in a country such as ours, there is an ethical minimum under which it is impossible to go. |
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Message on the occasion of June 26 - UN International Day In Support of Victims of Torture[1] |
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The incident that happened on March 28 between the members of the “First Archibrigade”, an association of students from the Faculty of Architecture from Skopje, who wanted to stage their “First Architectural Offensive” under the motto “Do not rape the city” in a protest against the construction of a church on the main city square in Skopje, on the location between the former Department Store and the restaurant “Dal Met Fu” and their spontaneously organized opponents, who readily waited on the site of the previously announced peaceful demonstrations is undoubtedly a school example of the violation of one of the basic human rights – the right to assembly and association[1]. Apart from the fact that this self-organization is just another borrowing from the time of the rise of Slobodan Milosevic’s star – the so-called “people’s developments”. |
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The Standing Questionnaire Commission for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia was obliged to hold a session on February 3, 2009 (Tuesday), where according to the agenda of the Commission, the monthly reports from October and November, 2008 on the Human Rights situation by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia, should have been reviewed as the first item on the agenda (and “Various” as a second item on the agenda). The session was postponed because the majority of the members of the Commission are from the lines of the political party VMRO–DPMNE, and for the second time in 5 sessions of the Commission, they refused to adopt the agenda. This time, they used the pretext that “the monthly reports on the Human Rights situation by the Helsinki Committee for October and November, 2008 are unfounded and are not directed towards the protection of the human rights, but that they are directed towards spreading sheer populism and pre-election marketing of the opposition in order to increase their low rating.” |
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| Round table 25.11.2008 |
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Analysis of the amendments to the Law on Communication Interception and the Law on Criminal Procedure |
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| Analysis of the conditions in the closed institutions | | |
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| PRESS 28.10.2008 |
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The Helsinki Committee continuously monitors the detentions in the past few months/years[1] and regretfully notes that in most of the cases the principle of presumption of innocence, which is one of the basic postulates in the criminal procedure, guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and the European Convention on Human Rights is not respected. |
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Organized by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia together with the Ministry of Interior held on 24 April 2008 in the hotel “Arka” in Skopje |
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| The first early parliamentary elections in the Republic of Macedonia were undoubtedly the worst organized elections in the history of this country. |
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| Globally, the regulation of the issue on promoting the rights of the child has made the most significant progress in 1989, when the General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention, accessed and ratified in the Republic of Macedonia in 1993 was an extension to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child as of 1959, which in record time was accessed by the necessary number of UN state parties and entered into force only one year after its adoption. Although it is one of the most widely accepted international instruments in the field of human rights, the implementation of the Convention is still a serious problem in many countries worldwide, including the Republic of Macedonia. |
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| Special Analysis | | |
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-Addition to the public debate on the proposal Law on Public Prosecutors office and the Council of Public Prosecutors |
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| News | | |
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Human Rights Watch Don’t Accept Torture Intelligence From Abusive Countries |
Balkans World Report Highlights Gap Between Record and European Aspirations
Human rights protections in the Western Balkans lag behind aspirations for European integration, Human Rights Watch said today. In its World Report 2010, Human Rights Watch documents human rights conditions and issues in Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo. |
The State Duma of the Russian Federation has voted in favour of the draft law ratifying Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights. The vote clears the way once and for all for the Protocol, already ratified by the other 46 States Parties, to enter into force. |
Interview Iso Rusi, President of the Helsinki Committee |
Inmates in Macedonia's prisons have detailed beatings by police officers and degrading conditions in the prisons themselves, in a Council of Europe report |
Raising awareness among judges, prosecutors and attorneys on the international standards for pre-trial detention was the aim of an OSCE Mission-supported conference which ended in Skopje today. |
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 6 February 2008 at the 1017th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies) |
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