Violation of Roma rights in North Macedonia, response of the Committee.

Parliamentary Questions

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1973/03

Submission: Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Commission

(03 June 2003)

P-1973/03GR

Response of Mr. Vitorino

on behalf of the Commission

(3 July 2003)

The Commission is closely monitoring developments regarding the gathering of more than 600 Roma individuals at the border between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece, near the Medzilija border, through the continuous care of the Commission’s delegation in Skopje. Thus, three representatives of the Roma community were received at the delegation’s headquarters on May 30, 2003, and the delegation’s staff visited the gathering sites near the border.

According to the most recent available data, the individuals gathered are receiving basic humanitarian assistance, including food, healthcare, and medical care, primarily from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (especially the Red Cross of North Macedonia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (FICR)/International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Swiss Red Cross (CRS), Caritas, Italian cooperation, etc.).

The international community (representatives from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), etc.) has also mobilized and is trying to assist the government of North Macedonia and the individuals in finding solutions. These individuals are part of a group that left Kosovo in 1999 and have an insecure temporary status in North Macedonia, which is renewed every six months, providing them with minimal social rights. Most of them had been living in the collective center in Suto Orizari, which opened in 1999 and was closed by the UNHCR in April 2003 due to its dilapidation. Vulnerable individuals (around 150) were proposed to be relocated to the second collective center for Roma in Katlanovo, while the remaining group was offered private housing facilities and a basic financial assistance. The concerned individuals rejected these options and chose to protest their living conditions at the aforementioned border point (and requested to be admitted to EU countries).

The Commission’s position has always been that the residence status and social rights granted to these individuals, who have been in North Macedonia for four years, should be improved. For this reason, the Commission, in cooperation with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), supported the process of reviewing North Macedonia’s asylum law, a process that should result in the implementation, in September 2003, of the new law. This law provides for an equal asylum procedure, better reception procedures for asylum seekers, the observance of the principle of non-refoulement, and local integration measures for those who will be granted protection. We note with satisfaction that the government of North Macedonia is ready to accelerate the implementation of this law for the benefit of these individuals. This particularly allows these individuals to submit asylum applications, which will be processed.

As part of the CARDS program, a plan of 2 million euros was developed to assist the government of North Macedonia in revising its asylum legislation and promoting the national action plan on asylum, migration, and visa issues, accompanied by a training program. In 2003, 1 million euros were allocated to continue the initiatives that began under the 2002 program. The European Reconstruction Agency is examining the parameters that will enable the continuation of this program and a more precise definition of its content.

For this reason, the Commission endorsed the statement of June 3, 2003, by the heads of the Union’s mission in Skopje, who emphasized that they were taking the steps of the Kosovo Roma in Medzitlija seriously to improve their situation and strongly encouraged them to accept the offer of the government of North Macedonia to withdraw from the border area and return to Skopje.

Furthermore, the Commission continues to support the efforts of the international community to provide appropriate conditions that will allow for the voluntary return to Kosovo of individuals displaced in 1999, including the Roma.