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Women, Peace and Security Initiatives: Macedonia
In-country | International

In-country

Women Can Do It
March 30, 2004
The Union of women's organizations of the Republic of Macedonia in partnership with the Unit for promotion of gender equality within the Ministry of labour and social policy start the implementation of the project Women Can Do It , local elections 2004. Project goal: To increase participation of women at the decision-making levels in the Republic of Macedonia; Incorporation of the gender equality in the work of the political parties in the Republic of Macedonia on local level. Email Svetlana Milenakova for more information.

Promoting Active Citizens Participation
July, 2003
Citizens for Citizens (C4C) promotes citizens' participation in political decision making processes in Macedonia. Their most recent initiative is the organisation of visits to the Macedonian parliament, which for long time was "closed" and accesible only to the "choosen ones". After long time negotiation and pressure from the public opinion and the NGOs in Macedonia, the Parliament aloud group of citizens to visit the parliament. The main idea of this project is to facilitate and encourage the communication between the citizens and their elected representatives as part of the project of promotion of good governance principles in Macedonia. Citizens for the Citizens coordinate and organize group of interested citizens to visit the parliamentary building. The visits will be held every friday. Interested citizens can contact Citizens for the Citizens.

Week of Action Against Small Arms
June, 2003
During the Week of Action Against Small Arms, the Macedonian NGO’s, Journalists for Children and Women Rights and Protection of the Environment and the Union of Women Organizations, organized a round table entitled "Women force in the process of voluntary disarmament in Macedonia". There were 30 participants representing local and international NGOs, political parties, experts and media. The Guest Speaker was Prof. Biljana Vankovska, security expert and Liljana Popovska vice president in Macedonian Parliament. For more information visit the Balkan Action Network on Small Arms.

For life without weapons
February, 2003
A nation-wide initiative called "For life without weapons" was launched by the Rights of Women and Children and for Protection of the Environment in Macedonia, attempting to tackle the frequent resort to violence in the country by reducing the number of weapons. The first campaign action was called "Books for Guns". Schoolchildren were encouraged to give up toy weapons, receiving books as a reward. By March 2003, Macedonian children have returned 900 plastic guns, all of which would be recycled and used as a material for a statue that will symbolise the action. Popular singers and actors helped promote the campaign. The motivation comes from the government’s failure to adopt a new law for disarmament as promised within its 100 days in office, and from the many murders and shootings in Macedonia, in which young people are often the victims. For more information visit Rights of Women and Children and the Protection of the Environment.

International

Third Macedonian World Human Rights Conference
September 20-21, 2003
The Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada and the United Macedonians Organization of Canada, as defenders of the human rights of ethnic Macedonians living in Macedonia, and throughout the world, organized the First Macedonian World Human Rights Conference on 25-26 August, 2001, in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia. The second Conference was held on 31 August, 2002, in Kolarovo, Pirin -part of Macedonia- (Republic of Bulgaria). The goal of the first two conferences was to bring together the Macedonian human rights organizations and their activists from the Balkans so that they coould learn about each other’s human rights conditions, and chart a course of joint action towards securing the implementation of all international human rights standards in their given countries. The purpose of this year’s conference is to internationalize the Macedonian situation, and to address the minorities’ struggle to attain their rights. To read the full conference press release click here. For more information visit The Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada.