Promotion of thematic reports on sexual violence through images and deepfakes and the concept of shared parenting
In Skopje at H. Marriott, we organized an event for the promotion of 2 thematic reports with two panel discussions: “Protection of sexual privacy in the age of new technologies” and “The readiness of the Macedonian society to introduce the concept of joint parenting/guardianship”.
At the first part of the event, author Martina Drangovska Martinova presented the main findings and recommendations from the thematic report “Strengthening legal protection against sexual violence through images and deepfake technology”. The speakers in this part were also Biljana Arsovska – Head of the Public Relations Department in the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the RNM, who presented the challenges of the public prosecution in cases of sexual violence committed using digital technologies and guidelines for improving the legal framework, Azamela Chuljevic – Head of OIZI (Department for Internet Abuse Investigations at the Cybercrime Sector at the Ministry of the Interior) which presented the actions and challenges of the cybercrime sector in cases of sexual violence using digital technologies and Prof. Dr. Alexandra Deanovska Trendafilova from the Faculty of Law Justinian Prvi Skopje and a member of the working group for the new Criminal Code, who stressed the need to supplement the Criminal Code in terms of regulating forms of violence that are carried out through new digital technologies.
After the first discussion, all those present agreed that it is necessary to introduce a new criminal offense for this form of violence, which will provide appropriate punishments for the perpetrators.
The second part of the event started with the thematic report “Balance between joint parenting and the best interest of the child” presented by the author Natascha Petkovska, and discussed together with Despina Stojanovska – psychologist/family and systemic psychotherapist, who presented the psychological consequences on children’s development in cases of conflicting relations between parents, Janaki Mitrovski – a lawyer who gave an overview of the legal aspects and challenges of the application of joint parenting/guardianship, especially in cases of domestic violence and previous court practice, and Elena Dimushevska – executive director of the National Network against Violence against women and domestic violence who talked about violence in the family and the application of the concept of joint parenting – how to ensure adequate protection for women and child victims.
The conclusion of the second discussion is that the Macedonian society as a system is not yet ready for the introduction of the concept of joint parenting. Again, everyone present agreed that this is an extremely sensitive topic, which requires a wide debate and other preliminary steps, before starting to apply such a concept.
The moderator of the event was Ana Avramoska Nushkova, and more than 50 participants from various institutions and civil society organizations, members of parliament from the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, representatives from the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth (Ministry of Labor and Social Policy) and the Ministry of Interior participated.
