Ohrid, March16, 2008

Conclusions and Recommendations

The fact that representatives of civil society organizations, government institutions, national human rights institutions and other experts deliberated for two days about topics related to the EU accession process is a sign of a certain improvement in the state of human rights both in Croatia and Macedonia, but also a recognition of a real need to address important human rights issues such as discrimination and equal access to justice. In our deliberations, participants have taken as a starting point that a majority of the citizens and civil society organizations in Croatia and Macedonia support the EU accession process on a general level. However, the EU accession process should not be misused by governments in order to set human rights standards that are lower than those we ought to seek.

In line with the context presented in the opening session, the conclusions of the two thematic discussions related to antidiscrimination and free legal aid as well as the ensuing discussion, the participants of the Ohrid seminar have confirmed the following recommendations:

1.Laws, and especially those dealing with human rights issues, must be drafted in an open and participatory consultative process among different stakeholders - government, civil society, national human rights institutions and experts, not as a result of hasty procedures spurred by the political imperative of EU accession

2.Keeping in mind the still pervailing problems faced by both Croatia and Macedonia in relation to the rule of law, it is necessary to pass special and realistically implementable laws in the field of anti-discrimination and free legal aid

3.The main objective of every law must be to ensure the implementation of its provisions in everyday life, including that the conditions for implementation are set up in advance - from training sessions for government officials in charge of implementation, securing the necessary financial and other means to informing the public of their proscribed rights

4.Organizers and participants concluded that follow-up activities on specific themes related to the EU impact on Human Rights will be organized

5.As the main follow up activity of this meeting, a bigger regional conference that would deal with specific themes but aslo will discuss the role of civil society will be organized. This conference would focus on integration processes and results with the aim to increase capacities as well as positive results

6.The processes in Croatia and Macedonia are similar, but resulsts are different, although there are some improvements in certain aspects, the actual situation is "work in progress"

Prepared by:

Slavica Indzevska Tin Gazivoda
FOSIM, Deputy Executive Director Human Rights Center, Director