In a press release, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights announced that the Basic Civil Court determined the segregation of Roma children in the educational process. The full text of the Health Committee's announcement follows.
The basic civil court in Skopje established that the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MTSP), the Ministry of Health (MOH), the State Education Inspectorate (SIP), the Municipality of Bitola and the Municipality Shtip committed discrimination - segregation of Roma children in the educational process.
The court determined that discrimination - segregation of Roma children was committed by:
– The Government, the Ministry of Education, the Municipality of Bitola and the Municipality of Shtip by not taking, that is, failing to take actions to arrange the method of re-zoning in order to avoid possible segregation.
- The Government, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education and Culture by not taking, that is, failing to take actions to control the rezoning decisions made by the Municipality of Bitola and the Municipality of Shtip; about the way of implementation of rezoning decisions in practice; about the method of enrolling Roma children in schools.
– The Government, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Education, the Municipality of Bitola and the Municipality of Shtip by not taking, that is, failing to take actions for an even and appropriate distribution of Roma students with other ethnic communities in classes; they did not undertake or failed to undertake activities for the process of desegregation in schools where there are segregated classes with Roma children; they did not take, that is, they failed to take actions to sanction the acts of discrimination committed by elementary schools.
– The Government, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Education and Culture and Ministry of Education and Culture by not taking, that is, failing to take actions to adopt legal and by-laws for detailed regulation of the way of categorization of children with special needs, especially Roma children; they did not take, that is, they failed to take actions to adopt legal and by-laws for the detailed regulation of the composition of the Commissions and the procedure for revising their decisions; did not take, that is, failed to take actions for the recategorization of inappropriately categorized Roma children studying in special schools.
- The Government, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Education, Municipality of Bitola and Municipality of Shtip by not taking, that is, failing to take actions to educate all stakeholders in the educational system and the parents of the children in order to facilitate recognition and fight against acts of discrimination.
The court ordered all the defendant authorities to take all necessary actions for the desegregation of Roma children in the educational system and to take all actions for the recategorization of Roma children studying in special schools. In addition, the Court ordered the defendants to publish in the media the pronouncement of this verdict, in an accessible format, within 15 days after receiving the verdict.
The basic civil court passed this judgment after the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, through lawyer Pavlina Zefić, filed a lawsuit for protection against discrimination in the public interest (actio popularis) on February 1, 2021. The procedure was conducted within the framework of the project "Support to North Macedonia in the promotion of the rule of law and human rights", which the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights implemented in 2020 with the OSCE Mission in Skopje.
Link: https://trn.mk/segregaczi%D1%98a-na-deczata-romi-vo-makedoni%D1%98a/
