Skopje, 4 December 2024 (MIA) - As many as 61 percent of the women in North Macedonia have experienced online gender-based violence at least once in their lives, while 79 percent of them did not report it, according to an analysis presented Wednesday as part of UNDP’s “Combating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Digital Sphere” project that is being implemented with financial assistance from South Korea. 

“Women don’t report this violence due to the gaps in our legislation and the lack of coordination between agencies that act on these cases. It is important to improve this situation and that’s why the results of this analysis are very important. Today’s event is the first step to filling these gaps in the legislation in cooperation with the Government of South Korea,” said UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Anna Chernyshova. 

National consultant Neda Chalovska Dimovska, who drafted the Analysis, said that in general the country has a legal framework that is aligned with international standards, but noted that changes are necessary when it comes to the Criminal Code. 

“The Analysis shows the capacities of the institutions to provide efficient protection and efficient investigation. We determine that the Interior Ministry needs a lot of effort to strengthen its capacities in terms of collecting evidence, internal coordination, as well as communication with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is fairly slow in these cases of gender-based violence,” Chalovska Dimovska said. 

Muamet Redzepi, assistant to the Minister of Interior, in his address at the event said the fight against online gender-based violence calls for joint work by the institutions, organizations and individuals.

The head of the Justice Ministry’s department for international legal cooperation, Tanja Kikerekova said the Ministry has begun drafting amendments to the Criminal Code which would include a definition of gender-based violence. 

Photo: MIA