Annual report on human rights in 2016

The Annual Report for 2016 represents a summary of analyses about the established situations regarding the human rights in the following areas:

• Civil and political rights;
• Judiciary;
• Constitution and legislation;
• Penitentiaries and harassment;
• Discrimination;
• Economic and social rights;
• Hate speech;
• Hate crimes;
• Gender-based violence and
• The refugee crisis.

Given the intensity of the political crisis during 2016, a number of public assemblies were organized so people could express revolt from the policies of the current governing structure. Namely, encouraged by their constitutionally guaranteed right to a public assembly, the citizens, due to various reasons, pointed out the systematic violation of human rights and freedoms in the country in almost all segments of society. The protests that started in 2015 intensified this year as a reaction to the decision of the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov, to collectively pardon 56 suspected perpetrators of crimes, members and senior officials or close associates of the largest political parties in the country against whom criminal charges have been filed and criminal proceedings initiated. Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.

Regarding the judiciary, the report states lack of impartiality and independence of the Judicial Council, illegal re-election of the President of the Council of Public Prosecutors and inefficient procedure for selecting candidates for initial training at the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.

On 15^th September 2015, the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia with 111 votes in favour passed the Law on Public Prosecution for Trial of Criminal Offenses related to and arising from the contents of the illegal interception of communications. The prosecutor Katica Janeva from the Public Prosecutor’s Office Gevgelija was elected head of this institution, a choice that then at least seemingly satisfied all parties on the political scene. The establishment of this institution was the key part of the Przino Agreement, the main link on the way out of the political crisis. As of March 2017, the SPP presented 16 cases. Regarding the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the report assesses that it does not protect the rights and freedoms of citizens.

During 2016, the Constitutional Court was often criticized by the professional and general public, and its work was frequently reported by the media. There are well-founded suspicions that the Court has become an institution subordinate to the legislature and the executive, and political parties, rather than a body that should protect constitutionality and legality. This has seriously violated the independence, impartiality, competence, and legitimacy of the Constitutional Court.

Regarding the free legal aid system, the report identifies legal problems and weaknesses in the law on free legal aid itself, which limit the right to equal access to justice.

According to the monitoring of the situation in the penitentiaries, in 2016, the convicts who contacted the Helsinki Committee pointed out the high level of corruption between the prison services and the prisoners, the violence by the prison services that persists, and the racist behaviour towards the Roma prisoners. ethnicity. During this year, the Helsinki Committee prepared a special report on the situation in the Special Institution Demir Kapija, according to which the condition of the special institution and the dependants taken care of in it is more than alarming.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights actively monitored the situation with discrimination in the Republic of Macedonia during 2016 through acting in the reported cases of discrimination and the proceedings before the equality bodies and the courts, as well as through the media and social networks monitoring and the court proceedings monitoring. The Committee found that the biggest grounds for discrimination are ethnicity, sex, political affiliation, disability, and religion.

During 2016, the Helsinki Committee registered a great number of complaints for violation of economic and social rights, which is primarily due to the high unemployment rate in the country, impoverishment of the population and violations of labour, social and health rights. This year, special attention was paid to the rights of people with disabilities, who submitted a large number of complaints to the Helsinki Committee due to the inability to exercise the legally established rights for this category of people. There has been no progress when it comes to the rights of people with disabilities and these people face difficulties in their everyday lives. Homelessness is a particularly important problem for which the state still has no solution. Another problem that was registered during 2016, which had been present for many years, is the problem with the constant violation of labour rights and the mobbing of female textile workers by their employers.

During the deepest political and social crisis in the Republic of Macedonia in 2016, hate speech was spread and promoted at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, the ignorant attitude and selective approach of the authorities continued, which contributes to a serious increase in hate speech through impunity of the perpetrators and the inability to take social responsibility for the spread of this negative phenomenon. In the period from 1^st January to 31^st December 2016, the Helsinki Committee registered 70 hate crimes.

Five more new cases of femicide were reported during the year. This situation is particularly worrying given the fact that the state neither provides special protection for all forms of gender-based violence, nor does it keep separate records of femicide cases. These conditions are determined in the Istanbul Convention, which is the first comprehensive international document for the protection of women against violence, to which the Republic of Macedonia is a signatory but has not ratified it yet.

Starting in 2014, the refugee crisis, which has been raging around the world, did not decrease in intensity during 2015 and 2016. The Republic of Macedonia found itself deeply affected during the entire refugee crisis as one of the transit countries of the so-called “Balkan route”. Dealing with the refugee crisis, in parallel with its own socio-political crisis, the Republic of Macedonia, with individual acts or established practices, failed to ensure respect for the basic human rights and freedoms of the refugees passing through the territory of the country.