Conference: Civic Initiative for Changing Laws

The Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the School of Journalism and Public Relations organized a conference that was held on February 27 (Tuesday) from 10:30 – 12:15 in H. Alexander Palace in Skopje. The topic is the cooperation between the Parliament and the civil society organizations, especially from the aspect of legislative initiatives that relate to different human rights, and are stimulated by the citizens themselves.

The opening event was opened by Emil Atanasovski, Director of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. At the event, Gordan Georgiev, former MP, Anja Bosilkova-Antovska, Wilson Macedonia – Health Care for Patients with Rare Diseases, Blagica Dimitrovska, Inclusion – Policy for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and their Families, Miroslav Draganov, Institute of Human rights – Amendments to the legal system without discrimination and Simona Mladenovska, Jeff-Macedonia – Sanctions on hate speech in the media. Presentations were also given by Ivana Tufegdzik and Pavle Bogoevski as current MPs in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. Today they presented the results, but also the challenges they face in addressing the lack of dialogue between the Parliament and civil society organizations. Despite the numerous obstacles that have been overcome and which are ongoing, there is modest progress in the cooperation between the citizens and the Parliament, and at least the recognition of the need to amend the specific laws by the institutions. The civil society organizations that worked for the past 2 years, continue to demand the amendment of the laws aimed at realizing the problems of the citizens. The conference is the final event of the project “Citizens in the Assembly: Legislative Initiatives for Human Rights”. The project is funded by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).