The Council of Europe, in co-operation with the Agency for Community Rights Realisation and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade organised in Skopje a consultation process to discuss the draft Action Plan on Advancing the Rights of Persons belonging to Communities dedicated to the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities or communities which is an important part of the EU Accession processes. This is an important step forward in the efforts to empower dialogue and build trust and co-operation between public institutions and associations of ethnic communities living in North Macedonia.

The Forum was tailored to function as an informal and consultative platform that fosters co-operation, communication and trust between the underrepresented ethnic communities and related public actors. It ensured dialogue between participants, provided recommendations for improving the society and rights of all ethnic communities and discussed key issues surrounding the protection of ethnic communities rights’.

The event was opened by Dalibor Kitanović, Director of the Agency for Community Rights Realisation, welcoming the participants and inviting them to openly express their views in order to create a document which will address the needs and improve the rights of all ethnicities, emphasising the importance of the Forum as a platform which has opened important topics and will continue to do so.

H.E Michalis Rokas, the EU Ambassador to North Macedonia also greeted the participants, expressing his satisfaction to see a wide participation in this event. He emphasised the importance of this meeting, another important step forward for the adoption of the Action Plan, in line with North Macedonia’s commitments as part of the EU accession process.

Angela Longo, Head of the Council of Europe Anti-discrimination Co-operation Unit highlighted the importance of the Action Plan to ensure a better protection of human rights for minority communities. She recalled its importance to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention on national minorities in the fifth opinion on North Macedonia in 2021. She reiterated the essential role of dialogue and co-operation between actors to ensure a human rights-based approach by providing transparency and accountability and ensure voices of communities are heard.

The forum followed with presentation of the Action Plan, its methodology and design. The international and domestic experts discussed with the participants the document and the general state of play. After a constructive dialogue, a summary of the main take aways of the meeting was prepared, and participants were encouraged to provide any additional comments in writing to allow for their consideration in the next phase of the drafting process.

This event was organised with the support of the action “Combating hatred and intolerance in North Macedonia”, part of the European Union and the Council of Europe joint programme “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Türkiye”.