Web pages about "Macedonia"

Macedonia: Government's failure to address double discrimination against Romani women and girls

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:10:12 +0000

I wanted to go to school but we needed to pay for food, for clothes. My mother did not have any education. My father died when he was very young. So I needed to take care of myself and there was no money for school.
Silvana, a Romani woman talking to Amnesty International

Romani women in Macedonia suffer double discrimination -- on the grounds of their gender and their ethnicity, according to Amnesty International. In a report published today, the organization calls on the Macedonian authorities to break the pattern of discrimination against Romani women.

"This long-recognized double discrimination is widespread, routine and pervasive. Romani women and girls suffer from intersecting and overlapping forms of discrimination which, in many cases, go hand in hand with poverty," said Sian Jones, Amnesty International's researcher on Macedonia.

Amnesty International's report, Macedonia: The government’s failure to uphold the rights of Romani women and girls, provides evidence of discrimination against Romani women in accessing three basic human rights: the right to education, the right to employment and the right to health, as well as violence against women as a form of discrimination.

The report also notes that significant number of Roma, including Romani women, who do not have birth certificates or citizenship cannot access basic services, including education, social insurance and health care.

"At school, Romani girls are faced with stereotyped low expectations from teachers which, along with the absence of free primary education, leads to the majority of girls dropping out of school before they complete their education," Sian Jones said.

The failure of the Macedonian authorities to guarantee the right to free and compulsory education means that more than half of Romani women -- an estimated 66 per cent -- are only able to find work in the informal economy, unprotected by labour or health and safety laws. Those employed by state institutions work predominantly as cleaners. Only a small percentage of university-educated Romani women are able to find employment in professional or managerial posts.

"When Romani women do find work they often face verbal abuse and harassment from their employers. Romani women work in worse conditions, for longer hours and for lower pay than non-Romani women," Sian Jones said.

Romani women find it very difficult, in some cases impossible, to secure health care for themselves or for their children. They may not have health insurance at all or because of poverty they may not be able to afford basic medicines or even medical treatment. In addition, Romani women may face direct discrimination by health workers, including in being refused access to treatment.

"The Macedonian government has, to date, failed to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination framework that would enable Romani women to secure their rights and challenge abuses."

Violence against women occurs in all communities and across all social groups in Macedonia. An estimated 70 per cent of Romani women have reported domestic abuse. However, when Romani women report -- if they report such violence at all -- law enforcement officers often fail to respond appropriately and may further subject them to racist abuse and discriminatory treatment.

Amnesty International is concerned that successive governments have consistently failed to address the human rights of Roma. The organization is also concerned that the current administration has failed to respond to the challenge of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, which aimed to introduce measures to ensure that all Roma in Macedonia are guaranteed their rights including access to education, work, health care and adequate housing. Where action has been taken, it has not been taken by the government, but rather by domestic and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Romani NGOs, and with international funding.

Amnesty International calls on the European Union to continue their monitoring of the state’s progress towards meeting the human rights standards set out for candidate member countries, ensuring that with respect to the protection and improvement of the rights of minorities, the rights of Romani women and girls are fully considered.

"If racial and gender discrimination persist, Romani women are unlikely to escape the cycle of poor education that traps them in low-paid jobs, while further discrimination denies them access to health care and social security and condemns many to a life of poverty," Sian Jones said.

Macedonia: Amnesty International calls for investigation into police killings

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:27:48 +0000

Amnesty International urges both the Macedonian authorities and the ethnic Albanian community in Macedonia to ensure respect for human rights following the killings by the police of six men on 7 November in the village of Brodec, in the Shipkovica region north of Tetovo, close to the border with Kosovo.

"Given the political tensions in the parliament between and amongst ethnic Albanian and Macedonian parties over the last year, including over the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, the events of 7 November can precipitate a situation where there is a risk of human rights violations," said Nicola Duckworth, Director of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Programme.

According to government information six men were killed, amongst them at least two ethnic Albanian men who had escaped from Dubrava prison in Kosovo during August, as well as other ethnic Albanians from Macedonia who were believed to be part of an armed opposition group. Five people, including one police officer, were reportedly injured.

The Operation "Mountain Storm", which reportedly aimed to apprehend the escaped men, started in the early hours of 7 November and concluded around midday. Special police units parachuted into the area around Brodec, followed by ground support. The armed group reportedly opened fire from a house in which they were hiding.

According to the Minister of the Interior, the police took every effort to protect the civilian population. However ethnic Albanian sources have alleged that a number of other civilians were killed or injured in the operation. The Democratic Union for Integration, an ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia which had formed part of the ruling coalition under the previous government, have alleged disproportionate use of force.

"The authorities had a duty to recapture the escaped men and to ensure the security of the people of Macedonia. However, this should be done without resorting to disproportionate use of force and without endangering the lives of civilians," Nicola Duckworth said.

"In order to assure the Macedonian public that law enforcement officers acted in accordance with international standards, the authorities must open an investigation into these killings."

Between 13 and 15 ethnic Albanians have reportedly been arrested, including people in Brodec believed to have provided support - allegedly including weapons - to the group. Others were arrested on 9 November, when police raided ethnic Albanian houses in Skopje, reportedly looking for weapons.

Amnesty International urges the authorities to ensure that all arrested people are treated in accordance with international standards, including that they are not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, as has been the case in similar operations targeting the ethnic Albanian community and documented by the organization.

"At a moment when tensions in neighbouring Kosovo are rising over the failure to resolve its future, it is imperative that the Macedonian authorities do not violate human rights when trying to defuse the tension and ensure stability and security", Nicola Duckworth said.

Background
Seven men, each convicted of serious offences, escaped from Dubrava prison in Kosovo in August, and had reportedly been hiding in the area north of Tetovo since their escape. Two had been recaptured and a third, Zhavit Morina, was shot dead on 1 November; another reportedly killed himself by detonating a hand grenade during the raid.The remaining men include Ljirim Jakupi, an ethnic Albanian from Bujanovac in southern Serbia, who is believed to be still at large.

The six-month conflict in Macedonia in 2001 between the Macedonian authorities and armed ethnic Albanian groups was concluded by the Ohrid Framework Agreement, signed on 13 August 2001. This resulted in the introduction of legislation granting of increased rights to minority populations , including in particular ethnic Albanians, who form around a third of the country's population, and a new constitution which for the first time recognized Albanians, Roma and other ethnic groups in its preamble. Recently the failure of the governing coalition to implement provisions of the Ohrid Agreement has lead to increased tensions in the parliament.

Control Arms Campaign: Tangible momentum and potential for real change

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:44:04 +0100

By Mary Robinson

On this 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, threats of new terrorist attacks and the dangers of weapons of mass destruction dominate the headlines.

But the real weapons of mass destruction go largely unnoticed by those of us who live far from conflict and war. Those weapons are the 639 million small arms in circulation, and at least 16 billion units of military ammunition produced every year – enough to shoot every man, woman and child on the planet twice.

Such figures on their own would mean little, if it were not for the fact that the easy availability of arms increases the incidence and impact of armed violence, and can trigger conflict and prolong wars once they break out.

During my five years as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, I spent a huge proportion of my time meeting people who had been terrorized by armed violence.

I went to Colombia and met some of those caught in the crossfire. I witnessed the same in the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Time and again, a tide of weapons fed the slaughter and kept the conflict going.

So where do the weapons used to deny people their most basic human rights come from?

According to the 2003 edition of the Small Arms Survey, 1,134 companies in at least 98 countries are involved in some aspect of small arms production. At least 30 countries are regarded as significant producers, with the United States and the Russian Federation dominating the global market. Between them, these two countries account for more than 70% of total worldwide production of civilian firearms. Russia and the US, together with the three other permanent members of the UN Security Council - France, UK and China - supply 88 per cent of the world’s arms.

As the survey points out, “The majority of countries involved in the small arms trade still fail to provide comprehensive official data on their annual arms exports and imports. A significant proportion of the global trade in small arms is conducted in secrecy, reinforcing an environment in which corruption and black markets thrive.”

The lack of data on the arms trade also makes it easy for many of the weapons traded legally to end up in the wrong hands. Almost all (80-90 percent) small arms start off in the legal sphere - they are manufactured legally and their initial trade is state-sanctioned. Yet many get into the wrong hands where they fuel conflict and abuse in the most unstable areas of the world.

Added to this significant problem, the situation has become worse since the terrible attacks in the United States on 11th September 2001. In the name of fighting a "war on terror", more arms have been supplied to regimes that have poor human rights records. Some of the recipients of increased US military aid are armed forces that have committed grave violations of human rights, and which the US state department itself has identified as being amongst the worst human rights violators.

In the year after the 11th September attacks, security assistance from the US to Uzbekistan, for example, increased by $45 million, despite the continuation of systematic human rights violations in the former Soviet state.

Several other countries, including the UK, have cleared for export increasing numbers of arms to countries in which human rights violations continue. For example, UK arms sales to Indonesia grew by 20 times from 2000 to 2002.

The displacement and deaths of millions of innocent civilians are not the only human rights consequences of such exports. Governments in countries at war are also much less able to meet long-term commitments to education, healthcare and housing - all of which are fundamental human rights.

Despite the deadly nature of the trade, there are currently no binding international laws to regulate the arms industry.

Over the last five years, the problem of the illicit proliferation of small arms has been recognized and there have been small steps towards international controls. The UN Program of Action on small arms and light weapons, adopted in July 2001, contains some positive provisions including measures to monitor progress on collection and destruction of arms. However, it does not mention human rights, makes few references to international humanitarian law, and doesn’t provide a mandate for creation of a binding law.

Responsibility for controlling the arms trade lies with all exporting and importing countries. As the world’s largest exporters of arms, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council must face up to their role in fuelling the conflicts that destroy people’s livelihoods and trap countries in a cycle of violence and poverty.

The need for strong action by Security Council members was highlighted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his 2002 report to the Council. For example, he recommended that the Council support the development of an international weapons marking and tracing instrument and also mentioned the need to enhance transparency in armaments.

The urgently required international action, recognized by the United Nations, is the subject of a new Control Arms campaign, launched by Oxfam, Amnesty International and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

The organizations have banded together to press for regulation in the form of an Arms Trade Treaty. The proposed treaty includes legally binding criteria based on existing international law, to stop the flow of arms to human rights abusers, repressive governments and criminals. Governments would be required not to sell arms where they would be used to violate human rights or international humanitarian law, at last injecting regulation into a dangerously unregulated trade.

Though the campaign was only launched two months ago, numerous governments from Macedonia to Mali, Cambodia to Costa Rica have all expressed their support for an Arms Trade Treaty. With key influential leaders such as President Lula of Brazil also backing the campaign, there is tangible momentum and potential for real change.

After World War Two, countries pledged support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in order to stop the “barbarous acts” that had outraged the world’s conscience. But atrocities continue and it is now time to control the arms fuelling these violations.

This can only be achieved by the creation of a new universal declaration – an Arms Trade Treaty.

Mary Robinson is a former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is now Honorary President of Oxfam International and heads the Ethical Globalization Initiative.