Workshop: What is the progress and what are the challenges for improving the human rights situation?

The government’s plans and priorities, after the bilateral screening, as well as the monitoring plans of CSOs in this direction were discussed today by relevant state actors, responsible for various aspects of human rights, involved in the process of the country’s accession to the EU and CSOs working on the rule of law and human rights.

The workshop was led by Frosina Tasevska, State Counselor for EU Integrations in the Ministry of Justice and Hristina Konevska-Beroska, head of the Department for Integration at the Secretariat for European Affairs.

They talked about the degree of readiness and compliance, along with the challenges that will have to be worked on to improve the human rights situation in North Macedonia.

The second part of the workshop focused on exchanging experiences from member states and countries currently in the negotiating process in coordinating fundamental rights in view of EU accession.

Ivan Novosel, Director of Programs at Human Rights House Zagreb presented the Croatian experience and challenges in coordinating fundamental rights in view of EU accession.

Jovana Spremo, Adviser on EU integration-related policies at the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights from Belgrad talked about Serbia’s challenges in ensuring citizens’ rights towards EU accession and what needs to be done to improve the situation.

The workshop was held as part of the project “Advancing fundamental rights in view of EU accession in North Macedonia” financed by Civil Rights Defenders. The project aims to contribute to a renewed focus on fundamental rights as part of chapter 23, as well as increased understanding among both key state institutions and CSOs of key policy areas. Its objective is to support meaningful CSO involvement and policy dialogue on fundamental rights in view of EU accession.