According to the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Istanbul Convention (2018-2023), the Ministry of Health is obliged to make amendments to the Law on Health Care and the Law on Patient Protection in order to harmonize these laws with the provisions of the Convention ratified in 2017. These activities were planned for 2018, however, they have not yet been fully implemented.
During 2021g. the team of the National Network conducted a gender analysis of the legislation related to the health care of women victims of gender-based and domestic violence. The Law on Health Care, the Law on Patient Protection and the Law on Health Insurance were analyzed, as well as the National Annual Public Health Programs and 7 prevention programs that are relevant for women victims of gender-based and domestic violence for the period 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The main conclusion of this analysis is that prevention programs do not represent women victims of gender-based and domestic violence as a specific category in the groups of citizens to whom the programs are adopted. Only victims of sexual violence are represented in the Program for active protection of mothers and children, namely those who will be the beneficiaries of the Referral Centers for Victims of Sexual Violence.
What is crucial is that violence against women and domestic violence must be included in these programs as a social problem, with a special emphasis on the causes and consequences on the health of women and children, as well as the consequences at the level of society as a whole. In a narrower sense, prevention programs through the Law on Health Care should comply with the Istanbul Convention and the Law on Prevention and Protection from Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and provide free health services to all women who have survived any form of violence no mater their health insurance status.
The findings and recommendations from the analysis were presented on 23.09.2021 through the ZOOM platform. The presentation was followed by representatives from the Ministry of Health, Institute of Public Health, Clinic of Psychiatry – Skopje, Referral Center for Victims of Sexual Violence, Institute for Mental Health of Children and Youth, Center for addiction, Faculty of Medicine and Institute for Maternal and Child Protection.
The document is available in Macedonian on this link.
This document has been prepared within the project “Advocacy and Dialogue at Expert Level with the Government and Parliament on Amending Existing Legislation in the Field of Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination”, and has been implemented by the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) and the National Network Against Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, under the Regional Program of the European Union and UN Women “Prevention of Violence against Women in the Western Balkans and Turkey: Implementing Norms – Changing Attitudes.”
