In the period from 21-22 March 2014, at the hotel Drim in Struga, networking meeting was organized for the purpose of networking the grant holders of the program CIVICA Mobilitas, which was organized by the Centre for institutional development- CIRa.  During the meeting, debate was organized on the topic “Current situation and challenges for development of the civil sector in RM”, and the discussion was related to the impact of the civil sector on the policy creation and resolution of the situation in the society as well as the image of the civil sector, cooperation and solidarity in the work of civil organizations. The executive director of ESE, Jasminka Friskik shared her views regarding the status of the mechanisms for citizen participation and the inclusion of civil organizations in the decision-making process. Namely, she spoke about the inclusion of civil organizations in decision-making both on local and national level, i.e. at the level of local self-government, executive and legislative branch of power. Special discussion was held about the efforts and mechanisms that the Government of RM makes in order to enable the participation of civil organizations in the decision making process. In order to assess the impact of civil organizations, the assessments made by USAID in the Index of NGO sustainability were being used for many years in a row for that purpose. The challenges that civil organizations will face regarding this matter in future were specified at the end of the debate.

The signed Declaration to condemn hate speech and discriminatory speech towards women, lesbians, gay people, bisexuals, transgender people and marginalized communities was promoted on 18.03.2014 at the EU Info Centre. The signing of the Declaration was initiated by the Coalition for sexual and health rights of marginalized communities, Helsinki committee for human rights, LGBTI Centre for support, Akcija Zdruzenksa, ESE and the national network to fight homophobia and transphobia. The Declaration was signed by several political parties: Liberal party, Liberal-democratic party, Democratic renewal of Macedonia, Democratic Union, New Socialdemocratic party, Alliance for positive Macedonia and Social democratic Union of Macedonia.   

The wording of the Declaration can be found on the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwKypQ6wUcCgZnZtTUdtZkxmbHc/edit?usp=sharing

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In the period from 16 to 21 February 2014, five representatives of the Association ESE attended the five-day workshop on monitoring and analysis of public expenditures. The training was held in Berovo and conducted by an international expert on budget monitoring and analysis, Rosio Moreno Lopex, permanent associate of the association.

The workshop comprised of two parts: theoretical and practical part. During the theoretical part, ESE staff acquired knowledge and skills about the importance and application of the approach for monitoring and analysis of public revenues.  In addition to the theoretical part, the association ESE together with the international expert developed a strategy to expand the activities in the field of monitoring and analysis of health budgets and introduction of the public revenues analysis in its work. The concrete parts of the public revenues that will be subject of further analysis were also defined during the training.   

The Association for emancipation, solidarity and equality of women of RM – ESE, on 06 March (Thursday), held a joint meeting with the citizen associations in order to review the draft Report of the working group on the Universal Periodic Review and the recommendations that our country should accept until June. The meeting is part of the initiative “Human rights in health care“ and it is financially supported by the Foundations Open Society New York and the Foundation Open Society Macedonia. The purpose of the joint meeting is to reach a common agreement about promotion and advocacy for given recommendations to our state with regard to the protection of the right to health.

The joint meeting was a continuation of our efforts and work towards promotion of the health status of several marginalized groups of population. Part of this process was also the preparation of the Joint report on implementation of the right to health in several vulnerable groups of patients within the mechanism (UPR – Universal Periodic review), which was submitted to the UN Council on human rights.

The following citizen associations attended the meeting: Foundation Open Society Macedonia, Coalition “Sexual and health rights of marginalized communities“, Republic centre for support of people with intellectual disability - PORAKA, H.Е.R.А. Association for health education and research, KHAM Delcevo, Open Gate – La Strada, Roma organization for multicultural affirmation – ROMA SOS, National Roma Centre and LGBTI Centre.

 Source: Association for emancipation, solidarity and equality of women of RM – ESE – 07.03.2014

Unfavorable socio-economic and living conditions, along with the barriers in the access to health services contribute to the poor health status and shorter life span of Roma people compared to the majority population. According to research data, 45% of male Roma and 64% of female Roma suffer from chronic diseases.

The prepared video illustrates the barriers that Roma people face in the access to health care, in particular when the First aid services refuse to provide their services. The main purpose of our  petition is to ensure timely and quality First aid services both for Roma and all other citizens of RM when that is required. Therefore, in this petition we shall request the following from the Ministry of health:

- Preparation and adoption of a unified triage protocol whereby the First aid service will be able to establish whether to respond to the citizens’ requests. The adherence to the protocol shall eliminate the free judgment of health workers whether they need to respond to the calls.

- Any call to the first aid service should be recorded and the records should be kept for long time for the whole territory of RM. Citizens who were prevented to exercise their right to first aid can use this measure in any further procedures to exercise their rights.

Demographic standards for the First aid service in the network of medical institutions need to be developed and the First aid service should be adequately equipped with equipment and staff. This shall enable timely and quality services on the whole territory of RM.