Recommendations to Macedonia regarding violations of rights of the Roma

On the 11th and 12th of August, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination held its 87th Session, on which it also reviewed the Interim Report on the Republic of Macedonia, concerned with the issue of observing and implementing the rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified by the Republic of Macedonia.

The Network for Protection from Discrimination, together with the civil association Reaktor – Research in Action, submitted a Shadow Report, in which the problems of the Roma ethnic community were pointed out, especially the problems concerning freedom of movement, segregation within the educational system, social status of the Roma, unemployment and right to housing, lack of personal documentation, as well as the problems with health protection of Roma drug users, but also of Roma women. In the submitted Report the Network also offered some recommendations for overcoming the identified problems, which were to a large degree accepted by the Committee and suggested to the Republic of Macedonia in the Committee’s concluding observations.

According to the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the United Nations, it it obvious that the state does not succeed in improving the situation of the Roma population, as members of the most marginalized ethnic community in the Republic of Macedonia. The Committee underlines the restriction of basic freedoms and rights and their ineffective protection, especially in the areas of freedom of movement of the Roma, lack of personal documentation, the situation with Roma children living on the streets, and segregation within the educational system.

When it comes to freedom of movement, the Committee points out its concern about the cases of racial profiling of the Roma who want to leave the country, and recommends that the state should fully respect the right of the people to freely leave and return to the country, but also to undertake appropriate measures with which to prevent questioning, as well as arresting on the basis of the person’s ethnicity. Concerns regarding this issue have been recently expressed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which recommended that the state should respect the right of every person to leave any country, including their own. In the area of school segregation of the Roma, the Committee points out that it is concerned about the information that some schools, especially in Bitola, decline to enroll Roma children, then about the self-segregation present among Roma children, but also about the high percentage of Roma children in Macedonia enrolled in special schools. In this regard, the Committee recommends that the state should prevent all discrimination towards pupils belonging to the Roma ethnic community in the area of access to adequate education.

The Committee expresses special concern about the situation with Roma children living on the streets, Roma children who are drug users and Roma children who lack personal documentation and are unable to procure them in any way, and recommends that the state should undertake all necessary measures for protection of these children’s rights.

The Committee also expresses its concern about the housing of the Roma and their low social status, concluding that the Roma community is the one most exposed to poverty, unemployment and social exclusion.

On account of all these factors, we ask the Government of the Republic of Macedonia to respect the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and to undertake urgent measures for implementing the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.