Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Concluding observations on the combined fourth to seventh periodic reports of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Addendum

Information received from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on follow-up to the concluding observations *

[9 January 2009]

In accordance with the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of the Racial Discrimination regarding the IV, V, VI, and VII periodic report of the Republic of Macedonia, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia submits the information on the activities undertaken in line with the Committee recommendations contained in paragraphs, 15, 16 and 18.

As regards the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination contained in paragraph 15 related to the information about measures adopted for the purpose of implementing the new Law on Labor Relations in respect of various ethnic groups living on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, the following has been undertaken.

In accordance with the Law on Labor Relations the following Directives have been taken over:

Directive 76/2007/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion and working conditions.

Directive 2002/73 amending and supplementing the previous referred-to Directive, which contains a new definition of indirect discrimination and of harassment as a form of discrimination.

Directive 97/80/EC on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination based on sex.

Directive 75/117/EEC relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women.

Directive 92/85/EEC on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding.

Directive 96/34/EC on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded by UNICEF, CEEP and the ETUC.

The Law contains provisions prohibiting discrimination on various grounds (Art. 6).

As of the beginning of the application of the Law on Labour Relations thus far, there have been no applications or complaints under the said Law submitted to the State Labour Inspectorate.

As regards the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination contained in paragraph 16 related to the intensification of efforts for the implementation of the National Action Plan and the Operative Housing Plan with a focus on the Roma population the following has been undertaken:

In the Urbanization of Roma Settlements sector and under the Decade of Roma Inclusion, in the framework of the 2007 Annual Program of preparation of urban plans, the Ministry of Transport and Communication allocated 1.8000.000,00 MKD which were used for urbanization of part of the primarily Roma settlements in the Municipalities of Bitola and Prilep.

In cooperation with the Municipality of Bitola, two projects in the amount of 1.000.000,00 MKD have been co-financed:

Amendments and supplements to the Master Urban Plan of Bitola and the Documentation basis for the Detailed Urban Plan – Urban Unit “Bair 2”. The preparation of these Urban Plans enables the Roma population in Bitola, living in areas where there are no conditions for urbanization, to be relocated in urbanized settlements, which will serve as basis for further advanced urbanization of the settlements of relocation, then for regulation of property rights of the concerned population and for ensuring equal living conditions in an urbanized environment.

There have been 720.000,00 MKD (90% of 800.000,00 MKD) allocated to finance the preparation of the Urban Plan for part of the Roma settlement called Trizla in Prilep: Draft Detailed Urban Plan, Urban Unit 4, Urban Block 4.

As regards the planned activities for improvement of the infrastructure in the Roma settlements, under the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia there are funds allocated for “Construction of water supply and sewage systems in units of local self-government in the Republic of Macedonia in 2007”.

As part of the funds provided for the above-mentioned purpose under the 2007 Budget of the Republic of Macedonia, there were 2.800.000,00 MKD allocated for the Municipality of Suto Orizari. The Municipality has utilized 2.760.000,00 MKD for construction of hydrophore device for water supply of part of the Suto Orizari settlement.

As regards the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination contained in paragraph 18 related to the intensification of efforts to increase the education level of persons belonging to the Roma community, the following has been undertaken:

In accordance with the Action Plan under the 2005–2015 Decade for Roma Inclusion, the Ministry of Education and Science has undertaken activities to provide support and raise initiatives for optional Roma language classes, then for scholarships for 30 Roma secondary school students (funded under the budget of the Ministry of Education and Science) then for institution of procedures for construction of a Secondary School in the Suto Orizari settlement, and for facilitating access for Roma students to enrolment in the state secondary schools; this year facilitated access has been ensured for 918 Roma secondary school students.

There have been also activities initiated for establishment of Roma Language Desks at the Faculties of Pedagogy and of a Roma Studies Desk. In this respect, there has been dialogue established between the Rectorate of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University and the Faculties of Pedagogy in the Republic of Macedonia. There has been an increase of the Roma representation percentage up to 4%, as part of the supplementary equitable representation quota for students belonging to the communities, but not at the expense of the other candidates under this quota, except for certain study groups at the Faculty of Philosophy.

The Roma Education Fund has assessed the Project entitled “Inclusion of Roma children in pre-school education” as one of the most successfully implemented projects financed by this Fund. This is a joint project of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and of the Roma Education Fund in Budapest (the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy has allocated 220.000 EURO from its Budget, while the REF participated with 160.000 EURO). The project implementation started in October 2006 in 15 child facilities in Macedonia (3 in Skopje and 12 in the other cities) and is to be completed in July 2008. For purposes of more successful implementation of the Project, there have been 15 pre-school teachers belonging to the Roma ethnic community engaged for the Project, through a Temporary Employment Agency.

In light of the success of this Project and considering the need for its continuation, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy has initiated a meeting with the mayors of local self-government units in which the Project is implemented. At this meeting, the successful results of the project have been presented and local self-government units have been asked to participate in the Project costs for purposes of continuing the Project after September 2008, which the mayors have accepted.