Skopje, 13 February 2023 (MIA) - North Macedonia has made progress in terms of eradicating impunity for serious human rights violtions by implementing the external control mechanism, which still needs to be expanded with the inclusion of civil society represenatives, said a round table organized by the Ministry of Justice and a Council of Europe delegation from the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), in regards to execution of ECHR judgements and the functionality of the external control mechanism.

Maria Kanellopoulou, Head of Economic Issues, Institution Building & Cross-Border Cooperation at EU Delegation to North Macedonia, said the Republic of North Macedonia has adopted the European Human Rights Convention and has ratified most of the international European human rights instruments, but it will take additional efforts to implement certain anti-torture instruments.

"This is still at an unsatisfactory level, and some things are lacking in the prison system, conditions, healthcare etc. These issues remain open and we should focus on them,” Kanellopolou said, noting that according to data from the EC Annual Report in June 2022, there have been 813 complaints to the ECHR. The court reached 11 verdicts, and 3 were confirmed breaches, as opposed to 14 in 2021. The main problems are related to fair trial, ban on torture and freedom of expression. She also mentioned ECHR's 'Kitanovski' cases. 

"“In 2015, the EU asked to deal with the issue of police impunity, implementing an independent surveillance mechanism in the country which was formed in 2018, backed by the EC and the EU. The goal is to support the protection of victims of human rights violations when done by police officers or prison police officers, by ensuring that effective investigations of these cases will be carried out. Significant progress in this sphere has been made over the past five years. The institutional framework is there, as is cooperation with interested parties, but there are still some open issues, such as the participation of civil society. Rest assured that the EU will be fully committed and in full support of all of North Macedonia’s efforts to deal with all identified weaknesses,” Kanellopolou said.

Lejla Dervišagić, Head of the Media Cooperation Unit of the Council of Europe, said the EC has been closely cooperating with European institutions since 2015 in setting up this external mechanism to build a safer, more humane society by respecting the rights of everyone who has been victim of abuse by police.  

The mechanism was formed in 2018 in North Macedonia, and over the past 4 years, authorities in the country have been working on strengthening the capacities of the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Corruption, the Ombudsman and the MoI through training, preparation of a manual for effective investigations and campaign on the possibilities the mechanism provides. 

"We’ve done a lot and the results are encouraging. It’s important for the mechanism to be expanded with the inclusion of civil society representatives. We hope the Parliament chooses the civil organizations that will expand it. One of the goals of this round table is to represent the accomplishment, as well as to agree on the goals, such as improving prison conditions,” Dervišagić said.  

Nikolaos Sitaropoulos, Head of Division and Deputy to the Director at the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said the external control mechanism has a key role in the uprooting and prevention of excessive force and inappropriate behavior by the police, as well as the execution of ECHR judgments. It has many cases to deal with, and in the context of the 'Kitanovski' case, the Ministerial Council of the EC decided to conduct it under strengthened procedure, which implies closer examination by the Committee of Ministers in regards to human rights and a more regular and systemic dialogue and support for local authorities.

"The Convention prevents torture and inappropriate conduct, but it is not always implemented. The weight of the problem is seen in the large number of verdicts against member-states. The gap between standards and their implementation must be bridged. The first reason for this is that the right to prevent torture and inappropriate conduct is a key value. The second reason is that the victims are individuals putting up with it from state authorities and the problem is bigger if it simultaneously breaches the right to non-discrimination,” Sitaropolous said, adding that the judgment execution sector allocates many resources to this, except for the cases before the Committee of Ministers.

“We prepare the cases, we cooperate on a bilateral and multilateral level, we support member states in the fulfilment of their obligations. The sector is relying on dialogue with national authorities, not just judges and prosecutors, but also the surveillance bodies for national and international anti-torture instruments and the external control mechanisms, including the Ombudsman who can work as a mechanism for petitions," he said, adding that the Ombudsman and the external control mechanism thoroughly know the context and their role in following standards is key.

The progress the authorities have made is praise-worthy. A plan for acts to prevent torture has been announced, which is a positive step in the right direction to eradicate impunity for serious human rights violations, and the addition of the control mechanism is an important step despite challenges, according to Sitaropolous.

The forum discussion with the institutions and prison authorities will focus on the ECHR judgments from the 'Kitanovski' group, the eight cases concerning police abuse and ineffective investigations. The event is organized within the project titled Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the External Oversight Mechanism in North Macedonia, part of the joint program by the EU and the EC Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey, phase III. dk/nn/