A multi-stakeholder discussion on the implementation of the ECtHR judgement on X vs North Macedonia and the amendments to the Law on Registry regarding Legal Gender recognition was organised on 25 May online.
The activity was attended by different stakeholders – members of Parliament, government representatives, representatives from the civil society organisations and activists, representatives from the EU Delegation and the SOGI Unit and the Department for the Execution of Judgements of the European Court for Human Rights from Council of Europe.
where the European Court for Human Rights found that the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights) of the applicant who is a transgender person had been violated due to lack of a regulatory framework for legal recognition of his gender identity and how the proposed amendments are key factor for the implementation of the judgement.
The discussion was opened with welcome addresses by from Lejla Dervisagic, Head of Operations of the Council of Europe Programme, Freek Janmat, Head of Sector for Economic Issues, Building Institutions and Cross border cooperation from the EU Delegation, Tanja Kikerekova, Head of Human Rights Department and Maja Morachanin, MP and Coordinator of the Intra-Party Parliamentary group for LGBTI rights. All speakers voiced their support to the amendments and their importance to the fulfilment of the European standards in this field and continuing the reforms to advance LGBTI rights. The panellists touched upon different angles of the subject, based on their own work and mandates, including the importance of the legal gender recognition process in the country, linked to the implementation of the ‘X vs North Macedonia’ judgement, and the impact it will have on the lives of transgender persons. Civil society representatives during the discussion recalled the challenges that transgender persons are facing in in the country.
The Government of North Macedonia adopted the amendments to the Law on Registry which are essential to the implementation of the 2019’s ECtHR Judgement and to give transgender persons the possibility to fulfil their civil rights and have their gender identity recognised. The next step of the process is the adoption of the amendments in the Parliament of North Macedonia, which was encouraged and supported by all the participants and representatives.
The initiative was organized in cooperation between the “No Hate Speech and Co-operation Unit" and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Unit within the CoE’s Anti-discrimination department, supported by the Action “Promotion of Diversity and Equality in North Macedonia” as part of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022.
