This year, Republic of Macedonia celebrates 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 for Human Rights (HCHR) in Macedonia, 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.

One of the main institutions that should look after the rights of the children is the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Centers for Social Welfare which is under its competence. As we have already stated in a number of occasions as part of our monthly reports and special analyses, we believe that neither the Ministry, nor the centers have proved to have capacity or knowledge, will or desire to really fulfill the responsibilities they have mandate for, especially when it comes to the rights of the children. 

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia being aware of the indivisibility and interdependency of human rights, as well as reiterating its efforts to promote social rights, as an integral part of human rights; carried out a monitoring on the work of the Centers for Social Welfare in Macedonia. The observation of these institutions was carried out based on the European Social Charter Part I Article 14 and Part II Article 14.

Setting of from the number and the content of the submitted individual motions in the field of social safety and protection, the Helsinki Committee based on the previously acquired agreement by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, visited eight centers for social welfare in the Republic of Macedonia and prepared a questionnaire that was forwarded to the other centers that we did not visit. The representatives of the Helsinki Committee visited and personally collected information from the following eight centers: Bitola, Veles, Kocani, Kumanovo, Skopje, Strumica, Tetovo and Stip.

The goal of the visits to the centers, as institutions competent for the social welfare activities was to conduct interviews with the directors and the employees in order to look into the conditions that exist there, to visit the special departments established within the centers and to collect information about their activities. After the visits a need emerged to draft a special analysis about the range, capacity and the way in which the centers for social welfare operate.

The general conclusion is that there are many identified shortcomings in the social security network in Macedonia that prevent the capability of people to exercise their social rights. It is not enough to have good laws and provisions, it is also necessary to have good will and readiness to monitor and implement them in order to function effectively in practice.  In the Republic of Macedonia there are many obstacles, including the absence of control, existence and adequacy of the systems for protection from failure to exercise the rights, existence of alleged and differential treatment in the practice and absence of responsibility on the part of the officials. 

Based on all this information, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia is in a position to identify the main challenges regarding the approach to the social rights in the Republic of Macedonia. There are five basic challenges:

  • To strengthen the significance and quality of ensuring social rights by improving the appropriate services; 
  • To strengthen the institutional monitoring of the exercising of social rights;  
  • To increase the resources that are available for the exercising of the social rights;  
  • To change and improve the procedures and services and benefits management that are intended for exercising the social rights; 
  • To improve the familiarization of citizens with their social rights and the way how to exercise them and how to utilize the benefits from them.

Having in mind the previously differentiated challenges, and for the purpose of their proper realization the Helsinki Committee recommends:

  • Strengthening of the Centers for Social Welfare (equipping them with professional staff); 
  • Additional and continuous training of the professional staff on specific topics to be able to work within the teams formed for specific areas; 
  • Mobility of the staff working in the field and undertaking preventive activities for avoiding certain problems;
  • 24 hours accessibility of the Centers for emergencies (24 hour service); 
  • Separating the receiving of social welfare from the competences of the Centres for Social Welfare; 
  • Equipping of special premises for working with the victims of domestic violence and sexual exploitation and for meetings of the children with their parents (such a room exists and is used only at the Skopje Centre for Social Welfare, but even there the screening glass is not appropriate and it needs to be replaced); 
  • Establishing a special system for collecting and analyzing data related to the daily activities of the Centers for Social Welfare (on both national and local level);  
  • Equipping the centers with additional technical means and space, as well as company vehicles that are functional and in good state; 
  • Abolishing the wrong interpretation of the law regarding the obligatory reporting, once a month, of the beneficiaries of the Centers’ services; 
  • Developing partnerships and effective  cooperation on daily bases among the social welfare centers and other public institutions both among themselves as well as with the civic society; 
  • Transparency accompanied by continued distribution of information to the citizens.

Related articles:

Field research on children rights – by Megjashi Embassy ;

Rising trend of violence against children in MK;