Council of Europe, ECRI, North Macedonia report 2023
Sept 20, 2023. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Strasbourg.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) with the Council of Europe (CoE) Wednesday put out a monitoring report on the Republic of North Macedonia which notes, among other things, attacks on persons self-identifying as Bulgarians.
It is the 6th monitoring cycle report on North Macedonia, assessing developments in the country's efforts to combat discrimination and promote equality, ECRI says on its website.
"Several attacks on persons self-identifying as Bulgarians and on
Bulgarian cultural centres have raised concern, as did the authorities’
move towards deregistering/dissolving some existing Bulgarian cultural
associations," ECRI said.
Other ethnic groups, such as Roma or Bulgarians, are also victims of hate
speech, the report says.
"Anti-Bulgarian hate speech is also a frequent occurrence in North
Macedonia according to ethnic Bulgarian interlocutors met by ECRI. A typical
anti-Bulgarian stereotype used is that of labelling all Bulgarians as
“fascists”. Another widespread insult targets Bulgarian women, portraying them
as “cheap prostitutes”. The second example, being a case of intersectional
discrimination/hate speech in which a group of persons is targeted because of
their combination of ethnic origin and gender, was also visible on signs that
were held up for public display by some spectators during the football match of
the national teams of North Macedonia and Bulgaria on September 26, 2022 in
Skopje. ECRI also heard allegations that the second term is used on occasion on
Channel 5, a public TV station," the report says.
The report goes on to mention an arson attack against the Bulgarian
cultural centre in Bitola on June 4, 2022 and says that yet another
anti-Bulgarian attack took place on 19 January 2023, in which the Secretary of
a Bulgarian Cultural Club in Ohrid was beaten and severely injured by three
unidentified persons, leaving the victim in urgent need of hospitalization.
"ECRI recommends that the authorities continue taking a strong public
stance condemning all forms of violence against persons who self-identify as
ethnic Bulgarians or their organisations as well as ensuring that local-level
authorities do
the same. Also, in line with the case-law of the European Court of Human
Rights, the authorities should refrain from cancelling the registration of, or
dissolving, associations of persons self-identifying as Bulgarians in North
Macedonia, if they do not incite, promote, spread or justify violence, hatred
or discrimination. If necessary, a Council of Europe expert opinion on the
revised Law on Associations and Foundations should be sought and the relevant
provisions reviewed
accordingly," the report says.
On the positive side, the report catalogues some notable developments since
the previous report in 2016. Among them is the establishment of the Commission
on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (CPPD), a new equality
body; progress in the field of inclusive education to support multiculturalism,
inter-ethnic integration, and tolerance in schools; positive steps regarding
the protection of LGBTI persons; efforts to combat hate crime; and initiatives
under the national Roma strategy to improve Roma inclusion.
‘VE’
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