The Inter-Party Parliamentary Group for support of Roma rights and their inclusion and integration (IPPG) has been founded and promoted, this group will contain MPs from the current Parliamentary composition from various political parties.
The elected coordinator of the IPPG is the current MP – Ljatife Shikovska, and the deputy coordinators are the MPs Ljupco Balkovski and Igor Zdravkovski.
During the constitutive meeting, the President of the Parliament, Talat Djaferi had a speech where he expressed his full support towards the initiative to found this group, while also talking about the protection and the advancement of the rights of the Roma in this country.
The meeting was attended by the Vice Presidents of the Parliament, the President and the members of the Committees for relations between communities, the Commission for equal opportunities of women and men, the MPs Club, several members from the informal groups, or to be more specific, the IPPGs in the Parliament, interested MPs, representatives from several Embassies, as well as representatives from several NGOs.
The coordinator Ljatifa Shikovska, gave an explanation of the mission, goals and the priority fields of work of this Group. The attendants expressed admiration towards the coordinator and the founder of the Group, and also, having in mind the specifics of the Roma ethnic community as a nation which has been constitutively accepted. They suggested numerous questions and current subjects, ideas, to discuss the degree of rights of the Roma community, opportunities to improve the situation, and proposals would be considered at future meetings.
The Roma are an ethnic community with specific needs and problems, having this in mind, it is necessary for the state to take care of the Roma as a moral obligation and as a legally regulated duty in order to positively change the overall quality of the life of the Roma in Macedonia and to further increase their participation within the society of the Republic of North Macedonia.
In this context, the speakers remembered the deceased Faik Abdi and Amdi Bajram as representatives of the Roma community and as dedicated and approved advocates for their rights.
