Skopje, 28 February 2024 (MIA) — The Constitutional Court has passed a decision to remove the ethnicity graph from the Law on Civil Registry, according to an official press release.

The Constitutional Court justices passed the decision after the political party Levica filed a motion drawing into question the constitutionality of several of the law's articles requiring that citizens declare their ethnicity on vital records.

Based on the legitimate arguments challenging the constitutionality of the law's provisions, the Constitutional Court said, a case was initiated on Dec. 20, 2023.

According to the Court, declaring one's ethnicity is not mandatory but optional information.

The ethnicity graph, the release says, discriminates against those citizens who prefer not to say what ethnic community they are members of, so the Court ruled that the contested provisions of the Law on Civil Registry were not constitutional. They violate Article 8 second indent of the Constitution. It says the free expression of national identity is one of the fundamental values of the country's constitutional order, including a person's right to state but also not to state their ethnic affiliation.

"Also, the contested parts of the Law on Civil Registry provisions regarding citizens needing to declare their ethnicity without a 'prefer not to say' option, or an option to change their answer, indisputably encroach on personal privacy," the release says, adding that the Constitutional Court found that the contested parts were in violation of Article 25 of the Constitution. mr/