On September 25, in Skopje the Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General on the situation of human rights defenders, Hina Jilani, finished her official visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The report includes numerous positive remarks as well as recommendations for human rights defenders in the region. (27-SEP-07)

Positive Development
There are a considerable number of positive developments since 2003. The outmost important is the increased level of capacity and professionalism of civil society organizations in terms of expertise on human rights methodologies, clarity about their objectives and strategies to achieve them.

An overall improvement of the interaction between civil society organizations and Government structures, as well as several examples of consultation processes between the Government and NGOs related to draft laws and policies have been noted.

In addition, the report enlightens positive development in adopting legislation relevant for the work of human rights defenders, such as: the law strengthening the inspection functions of the Ombudsperson; the law on free access to public information; the abolition of prison sentences for the offence of defamation; the law on an independent court budget, among others.

Recognition of the Human Rights House Macedonia
Following the improvements of the situation of the human rights defenders in the region, the Special Representative stressed the importance of coordination and networking among civil society organizations. `Initiatives like the Civic Platform of Macedonia or the nascent Human Rights House are positive attempts to have overarching coordinating mechanisms for civil society organizations`

Areas for further improvements
Despite the progress of adoption of new laws, the report underlines areas for improving the process of their implementation. There is a limited responsiveness of the Government to the complaints of human rights violations documented by the defenders, as well as enforcing and monitoring mechanisms that defenders can use to report cases of non-compliance and protect affected victims are still lacking, are insufficient or do not function properly.

The role of the international Community
The Special Representative recognizes that the international community has played an important role to strengthen human rights defenders in the country both in funding their projects and in building their capacity.

The current trend of reducing funds for civil society organizations is a concern. The Special Representative firmly believes that support to civil society organizations by foreign donors is essential therefore the recommendation in this regard is for the international donor community to accompany the transition process until the end and continue supporting human rights defenders, both in terms of funding and capacity building.

The visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a follow-up mission aimed at identifying progress and challenges in the situation of human rights defenders four years after the visit undertaken by the Special Representative in 2003.
The mission in this country concludes a visit to the region started in Belgrade on 17 September and continued in Kosovo on 20 and 21 September.

Read the whole report