According to the UPR list, Republic of Macedonia has to present its national report on the fifth UPR session in 2009. In addition, OHCHR and other stakeholders should respectively prepare reports to be taken into consideration by the Council when reviewing in this case Republic of Macedonia.

In answer, Polio Plus, the Secretariat of the Coalition, identified and coordinated with all relevant NGOs who were interested to participate in the preparation of the information under UPR. The activities that were undertaken included: preparation of the questionnaires for NGOs and implementation of a workshop on which the key human rights issues were defined and structure of the stakeholder note under Universal Periodic Review (hereinafter: UPR) were defined.

The UPR report was prepared by two consultants experienced with the human rights issues, especially human rights of marginalized groups. The stakeholder note under UPR was sent by Polio Plus to the UN Human Rights Council in the time frame that was specified from the OHCHR Secretariat.   

Law on non-discrimination in Macedonia

In 2008 Ministry of Labor and Social Policy created Working group for preparation of the Law on non-discrimination, asking to be delegated representatives from NCB members from civic organizations. Mirjana Najcevska and Zvonko Shavreski from Polio Plus were delegated as experts from civil society organization.

Besides their contribution, in November 2008 MLoSP prepared a version which doesn’t satisfy the expectation of the NGOs and the Coalition Macedonia without discrimination, led by Polio Plus, prepared recommendations with concrete proposals towards amendment of the draft-Law on non-discrimination. The recommendations were shared in the meeting with the legal experts from Venice Commission and ODIHR during their official visit in Macedonia, regarding the draft-law. The Coordinator of the Coalition (placed in Polio Plus) is regularly informed by the MLSP about the process of preparation of the Law.

The coalition Macedonia Without Discrimination is consisted of the Association for Democratic Initiatives – ADI, First Children’s Embassy in the world-MEGJASHI, Polio Plus – movement against disability, Humanitarian and Charitable Association of Roma in Macedonia – Mesecina, Healthy Options Project Skopje – HOPS, Macedonian Association for Free Sexual Orientation – MASSO, Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation – MCIC, Macedonian Women Rights Centre – MWRC, Roma rights forum Arka and Union of Woman Organizations of Macedonia – SOZM.

Joint UPR stakeholder’s report sent by Polio Plus in behalf of the coalition Macedonia without discrimination deals with the scope of international obligations, constitutional and legislative framework, institutional human rights structure and promotion and protection of human rights obligations of the human rights on the ground, as well as with listed recommendations of how to address the identified problems, you may find attached to the article.

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