On 24th July 2013 in Kumanovo, a meeting was held with the president of the Commission for protection against discrimination, Dusko Minovski, with discussions about several cases of civil discrimination, especially of the members of the Roma community.
The National Roma Centrum from Kumanovo, in collaboration with the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, organized an informative workshop with the Roma community where mechanisms for protection of human rights were promoted, namely the principle of non-discrimination, the work of the Commission and information about petitioning, the Law for prevention and protection against discrimination.
On the workshop, with the president of the Commission for protection against discrimination – Dusko Minovski, a number of problems were highlighted including the most important ones:
- The attitude of EVN AD Macedonia – towards the citizens of the Roma community;
- Exercising the right to social welfare and the parental benefit for a third child;
- Employment;
- The ban on traveling abroad.
It was pointed out that EVN Macedonia blames the Roma for electricity stealing, and while in most cases this was proven not to be true, this action by EVN stigmatizes the Roma community and puts the citizens in an unpleasant position. The citizens, regarding their socio-economic situation, don’t have the opportunity to pay the electric bills regularly and they often face lawsuits, executive proceedings, termination of electricity and with this their basic living conditions are jeopardized.
It is necessary to highlight this problem on a higher social level where the state would guarantee the minimum social living standards for every citizen and where the citizens in a difficult financial situation would be protected by the state.
Regarding the rights of social protection and the rights established by law for the protection of children, excessive conditions are placed, the citizens lose their basic social rights and are put in an unequal position. The parental benefits for a third child is problematic, because at first the right was approved and several years later the mothers are asked to return the whole amount because they don’t meet some conditions which were later established. Regarding the employment, even though the number of Roma gets higher every year, the situation is in stand-by and it is hard for Roma to get employment.
One of the key questions with recorded discrimination with Roma is the ban for travelling, i.e. crossing the Macedonian border. The Roma citizens are returned from the border without explanation, and thus marked as culprits for violating the Schengen visa system. This is a direct ethnic based discrimination and violation of the right of freedom of movement. It is impossible for the authorities to assume that every Roma citizen who leaves the state has a purpose to break the Schengen visa system. It is indisputable that there is a certain group of citizens which are asylum seekers, mostly in Germany, but this doesn’t mean that all of the asylum seekers are Roma. The problem with the asylum seekers and people leaving Macedonia is multilayered and socio-economic and it surges due to the living conditions and opportunities for economic prosperity, but in no case can it be exclusively connected to the Roma community in the Republic of Macedonia.
Supreme legal value is the legal certainty. The state must build a system of legal standards that will ensure legal security for all citizens. The Roma are a constituent nation and they must enjoy all their rights as all of the citizens of Macedonia. If the Roma citizens don’t have this feeling in their own country and constantly face their differentiation in relation to others, it is a serious social problem.
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