Skopje, 23 June 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Jovanka Trenchevska, is participating Friday in an international conference on human rights within the framework of protection from discrimination in Montenegro. At the conference, the Minister addressed a panel on combating hate speech as a modern field of anti-discrimination.

In her address, Minister Trenchevska touched upon the state of gender equality and hate speech in Macedonian society, stating that great progress has been made in the past five years.

“Currently, 43 percent of MPs in Parliament are women, 35 percent of the councilors in local self-government units are women, and we have five women ministers. But this is not enough to say that our society is gender sensitive and de facto enables equal opportunities. The greater the participation of women in the decision-making processes is, the more prominent hate speech in the media becomes,” said Trenchevska.

Trenchevska said despite the Ministry’s commitment and efforts to sensitize society, hate speech remains as one of the most common forms of intolerance.

“I can regretfully confirm that in the past few months, social media has given rise to the first anti-gender movements in our country, which are overflowing with hate speech, degradation, stigmatization, and this is something that is especially concerning. The new Law on Gender Equality is the target of these movements, which are contrary to the pro-European aspirations we foster as a country and a Government,” said Trenchevska.

The Minister noted that in March 2023, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, through its campaign for the empowerment of women, demonstrated how important it is to talk about hate speech, provide support to every woman, but also to encourage every woman. Additionally, Trenchevska stressed, in the coming period, in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Ministry will work on the topic of online violence with the focus on the youth, in order to strengthen the abilities of young people to recognize violence and gender equality.

“The fight against gender-based hate speech and discrimination of women is an issue that impacts all countries of the region. The anti-gender movements are present everywhere, with the basic goal of undermining democracy in our modern societies. Consequently, we need greater regional cooperation, joint activities, which we will focus on in the future and which will serve as a guarantee for the rule of equality. This is precisely how we can launch a platform for a joint response to hate speech aimed at women,” said Trenchevska at the conference in Montenegro.

The conference, attended by ministers from the region and representatives of international organizations and the EU, was opened by the Montenegrin Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Fatmir Gjeka. The Macedonian Ambassador to Montenegro, Zećir Ramčilović, also had an introductory address at the conference.  

Photo: MIA Archive