Harsh reaction of the Network for Protection from Discrimination and the Platform for Gender Equality
At a time when physical violence in schools is filling the media in Macedonia and the region and the public is horrified by the details of the events, the Ministry of Education and Science, instead of taking responsibility and taking appropriate measures, is establishing policies that set back the fight against violence and creating an environment in which prejudice and violence will be tolerated and unsanctioned.
On 7.7.2025, the Ministry of Education and Science adopted a new Rulebook on the manner of reporting and protecting a student victim of any form of violence, abuse and neglect. This Rulebook represents a direct regression of the efforts invested in 2019 and 2020, when, with the support of the expert and civil society, a guideline was developed in line with European standards and the country’s international obligations.
The new Rulebook will be executed for efforts to deal with violence, will not yield results and will not prevent new cases of violence. Instead of providing real protection, it deprives schools of the opportunity to recognize the motives behind violence and take effective preventive measures, leaving the entire system blind to the most common forms of discrimination and violence.
First, the Ministry of Education and Science adopted the Rulebook without consulting with associations working on the topic of violence in schools and between peers. Such non-transparent adoption of acts produces solutions that neglect the expertise of associations working on the ground. In addition, such non-transparent adoption is contrary to the Code of Good Practices for Civil Society Participation in Policy-Making, as well as the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.[1] Although networks have reacted since the moment of the announcement of the amendments to the Law on Primary Education, the Ministry persistently ignores these indications and continues to make decisions behind closed doors.
Second, the Rulebook is completely contrary to the standards of human rights and freedoms. Set in this way, the Rulebook is in direct conflict with the Constitution and the laws on prevention and protection from discrimination and on prevention and protection from violence against women and domestic violence, as well as the Istanbul Convention, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Rulebook, in its current form, does not meet these standards because key elements are excluded from the form for reporting violence. The form removes the questions of whether the violence is gender-based violence or violence against a personal characteristic (sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, etc.) and whether the violence is motivated by hatred and/or prejudice. In its fight to erase invisible LGBTI children from the education system, the Ministry, with the new Rulebook, actually excludes the recognition of all marginalized categories. With this, children from poor and economically less powerful families, children living in single-parent or unconventional families, as well as children who have already been victims of violence, become invisible. Instead of a protection system that recognizes vulnerability and acts preventively, we get a system that consciously chooses not to see those children who need it most. In addition, it cannot be expected that gender stereotypes, such as that a girl cannot be a truck driver, or that a boy must not cry, will be suppressed, because if those stereotypes were the reasons for committing violence, they would not be registered when reporting violence. Such addressing or “dealing” with violence in schools, which is increasingly common and serious, is superficial and will not yield any results.
At the same time, we are particularly outraged and concerned that such a new Rulebook, which does not include the personal characteristics of children, comes after numerous studies confirming that discrimination and violence exist at all levels of the education system, including primary education. LGBTIQ+ students in North Macedonia are often exposed to discrimination, verbal and physical violence in educational institutions. Violence is often systematic, and schools rarely offer an adequate response or support, which contributes to further marginalization and psychological consequences for these students.
Such a Rulebook excludes the personal protected characteristics of children, precisely at a time when statistics and experiences show that young people are most often involved in bias-motivated incidents – both as perpetrators and victims.[2] Although the numbers indicate a serious problem, the competent institutions still do not keep adequate official statistics on bias-motivated incidents, which has been noted for years by the European Commission.[3]
At the same time, cases of sexual violence against girls are not far behind, cases that have outraged the public and drawn attention to how educational institutions are addressing violence against girls. It is particularly concerning that this Rulebook comes after the surge of anti-gender and anti-democratic movements in the country, which was also recognized in the European Commission’s 2024 Report on North Macedonia.[4]
In light of the above, we urge the Ministry of Education and Science to revise the Rulebook, so that gender-based violence, hate violence, gender stereotypes and discrimination against marginalized communities are recognized. Only in this way can we say that the Ministry is serious in its publicly stated intentions to combat violence and stereotypes in schools.
[1] Committee of Ministers, Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education, 2010, available at: https://search.coe.int/cm#{%22CoEIdentifier%22:[%2209000016805cf01f%22],%22sort%22:[%22CoEValidationDate%20Descending%22]} .
[2] The Helsinki Committee, in 2023 alone, registered 197 cases involving 213 victims and 292 perpetrators, of which as many as 142 victims (67%) and 132 perpetrators (45%) were minors. In 2024, 113 cases were recorded with 103 victims and 155 perpetrators, of which 60 victims (58%) and 83 perpetrators (54%) were minors. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, “Annual Report on Hate Crime in 2023” (2024). Available at https://zlostorstvaodomraza.com/izvestai/.
[3] European Commission, North Macedonia 2019 Report, Brussels, 29 May 2019, pp. 20, 24, 30, 31., European Commission, North Macedonia 2020 Report, Brussels, 6 October 2020, p. 32., European Commission, North Macedonia 2021 Report, Brussels, 19 October 2021, p. 32., European Commission, North Macedonia 2023 Report, Brussels, 12 October 2023, pp. 32 – 35.
[4] European Commission, North Macedonia Progress Report 2024, p. 37.
