A delegation of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe went to Skopje (North Macedonia) from 4 to 6 November. The visit focused on civil society participation in the decision-making process in different sectors of public policies and public affairs, and the current state of the civic space in the country.
The visit was co-organised by the North Macedonian chapter of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, with the help of the Permanent Representation of North Macedonia to the Council of Europe and the Unit for Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organisations at the General Secretariat of the Government.
Meetings took place with a variety of civil society organisations specialised in such subjects as human rights in general; public policy analysis; access to justice and the justice system; gender equality; violence against women; sex workers; discrimination; legal services; anti-corruption policies.
The delegation also met with representatives of public authorities: Deputy President of the Government in charge of good governance; General Secretariat of Government (Unit for cooperation with non-governmental organisations); Commission against Discrimination; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Social Policy, Demographics and Youth; Office of the Ombudsman; Commission against Corruption; Municipality of Skopje. The CINGO delegation also held an exchange of views with the EU delegation in North Macedonia.
The dialogue with different NGOs and governance levels provided interesting insights into the domestic situation. The legal and institutional framework continues to promote an active civil society and public decision processes, in the way they are designed, offer broad participation opportunities. In practice, however, some important mechanisms were put on hold, there is a broad perception that civil society input has often little impact on policy making and funding mechanisms remain problematic, with many organisations relying ultimately on foreign support.
The report about the visit will be presented at the next Spring session of the Conference of INGOs (7-9 April 2025).
