The Roma community in North Macedonia is the most marginalized community that has been dealing with serious problems for decades, from socio-economic problems, all the way through problems with education, discrimination, access to all rights and services, poor living conditions, and what not!?
According to the latest census in North Macedonia (2021), the total population is 1,836,713 inhabitants, of which 46,433, or 2.52%, are Roma. Unofficially, the number ranges from 100 to 120,000 Roma. A particularly big problem facing the Roma community is the low level of employment and poor living conditions, which significantly complicates the everyday life of more than 70% of Roma families.
The conflict in 2001 contributed to changes in the political processes which in turn were further translated into major agreements between the major political parties. With the signing of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, the Roma community saw hope in fulfilling the equitable representation and integration of Roma through employment in the state and public sectors and fulfilling other rights defined in the principles of the agreement itself. According to the data and analyses that are available, and after 25 years of implementation of the OFA, equitable representation for the Roma community has been far from expected and therefore we cannot say that the principle of equitable representation is respected and that it is fully achieved.
The general conclusion according to the Ombudsman’s report is that with the new update of the institutions, as well as the collected data on the persons employed in these public sector institutions/agencies, the following data can be noted: the representation of Macedonians in the public sector in 2022 was 71.9%, while for 2023 it was 71.6%, which is a decrease of 0.3%. The Albanian community in 2022 was represented with 21.4%, while this reporting year it was represented with 21.7%, which is an increase of 0.3%. The Turkish ethnic community in 2022 was represented with 2.1%, while in 2023 its representation was 2.2%, which is an increase of 0.1%. The Roma ethnic community had the same level of representation in 2022 and 2023, with the representation of the Roma ethnic community being an exceptionally low percentage of 1.3%. On the other hand, there are only 0.3% of Roma in managerial positions in the public sector.[1]
According to the data, a small number of institutions have made some progress in implementing the principle of adequate and equitable representation, but most of the employment is intended only for Macedonians and Albanians.
Accordingly, smaller ethnic communities are still not represented at a satisfactory level, I would especially emphasize this for the Roma ethnic community, which amounts to 1.3%, which should be 2.52%, according to the last census of 2021.
Maybe a debate will open, as to how long will our focus be the numbers and percentages? Yes, I completely agree with that! But, when the entire country is being counted, then why not count the Roma community and accordingly create more appropriate policies based on real needs, and not just empty words!
This trend calls into question the level of implementation of the OFA as well as the question of whether the Ohrid Framework Agreement applies to all smaller communities, or not!?
The Citizens’ Association for Support of Marginalized Groups “Roma Resource Center” from Skopje recently conducted a short survey on the impact of the Ohrid Framework Agreement on the integration of the Roma community. The data from that survey confirmed that only 15% of the Roma community knows about the Ohrid Framework Agreement. This indicates how uninformed and unfamiliar this community is with the OFA and its principles. On the other hand, this agreement represents a fundamental link for stabilizing interethnic relations as well as the integration of all communities in our society. Or, perhaps bipolarization of the country! This really deserves attention with respect to thinking more profoundly and drawing a conclusion as to what was essentially achieved with this agreement?
What is more worrying now is that the Ohrid Framework Agreement seems to have “achieved its goals” and now something new is coming. Where big players and important figures will sit down again to reshape the fate of everyone, and to agree on new percentages and numbers…. Where are the Roma, in this equation? They will again enter into some statistics, which can be easily deleted and corrected….! This calls into question the principle of integration and inclusion of the Roma in society and their appropriate and equal treatment at all levels of the system, as in the period from 2001 onwards.
On the other hand, the weakening of the Roma political bloc further complicates the position of the Roma community in negotiations with larger political parties, which is a fundamental key to participation in the system and institutions.
The only document targeting the inclusion of Roma in the Republic of North Macedonia is the 2022 – 2030 Roma Inclusion Strategy. This strategy is not binding and remains at the discretion of the Government and the relevant ministries to implement activities in support of the Roma community. Why am I mentioning this!?
If we take into account that the Ohrid Framework Agreement is no longer so relevant, i.e. equitable representation is no longer the main focus of the political structures because the Albanian community is already adequately represented at all levels of the system, somehow the focus on this principle is lost within the framework of political negotiations.
And that means that now the Roma issue is left solely on the 2022 – 2030 Roma Strategy, which has no political perspective at all as a document.
This raises the following question: How and in what way will support for the integration and inclusion of the Roma community in the country continue?
The answer is very simple, but politics complicates it to the point where it is impossible to reach a solution!
The 2022 – 2030 Roma Strategy should be translated into a mandatory document equivalent to the Ohrid Framework Agreement, but only for the Roma community. Many will comment, why only for the Roma? Well, we saw what happened with the Ohrid Framework Agreement, the least progress achieved in equitable representation has been with the Roma community. Therefore, it is necessary to provide targeted legislation and policy to support the integration and inclusion of the Roma community.
Otherwise, this community will continue to live on the margins, at social risk, which in the long run will cause great harm to the entire society, not just the Roma community. And the fault for that lies with all of us!!!
All of you who will read this text, could you imagine living for a day in the conditions in which thousands of Roma children live??? Just a single day!!!
And in no case should politicians shrug their shoulders and not have adequate answers as to why decades-old problems are being ignored, discrimination and Antigypsyism towards Roma is growing stronger day by day, and in the end all the blame is shifted to this community alone! In the absence of desire and concrete solutions, always pointing the finger at the other side is the easiest way!
This society must be more responsible towards those who live in historical isolation and segregation, and not leave them to time, to disappear like fog after sunrise.
At the very end, will we all realize that we have a responsibility and duty to the weakest? Or should there be another conflict in order to make changes?!
Sebihan Demirovski
General Manager of the Roma Resource Center Skopje (RRC).
MA in Human Resource Management
[1] Report of the Ombudsman on monitoring the implementation of the principle of adequate and equitable representation: https://ombudsman.mk/CMS/Upload/NarodenPravobranitel/upload/documents/SPZ/SPZ-2023-Mak.pdf
