A workshop focusing on enhancing the relations and co-operation between the newly established External Oversight Mechanism (EOM) with the state authorities took place on 15 April 2019 in Skopje. It gathered public prosecutors from the specialised unit within the Prosecutor’s Office, Deputy Ombudsman, representatives from the Department for Internal Control at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions at the Ministry of Justice and prison officials.

The participants shared their experience on the current functioning of the new mechanism and discussed the modalities for increasing the co-ordination and co-operation among all stakeholders involved in external oversight over the work of persons with police authority and prison police.

It was jointly agreed that the Government must provide the newly established bodies (PPO unit and Ombudsman unit) with the necessary preconditions so they can be fully operational, such as funding and adequate human and material resources. Once the EOM is fully equipped, additional support would be needed in terms of capacity building, more specifically focusing on training of staff, awareness-raising campaigns targeting the professional, as well as the general public.

The workshop was organised within the scope of the Action “Enhancing human rights policing”, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey” and implemented by the Council of Europe.