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INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S DAY The number of complaints for violation of the rights of children in Macedonia every year is growing. Lately, also is increasing the family, school violence and violence in the streets. 
 
Children's rights in Macedonia are performed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Law legislation in the country. According to The Deputy Ombudsman Nevena Krusharovska, children in Macedonia are still insufficiently aware of their rights and obligations and even fewer have the knowledge and skills to recognize injuries and most of them do not know which institutions to approach and ask for help. Therefore, they are spending more time working on the education of children in the schools.

Krusharovska concluded with regret that the number of complaints of violation of the rights of children in Macedonia every year is increasing.

“The greatest number of complain concerning the right of the child to maintain personal contact with his/her parent who he/she does not live with also the family, school and street violence is increasing”.

Children or parents filed complaints in respect of rights children in education, health care, social rights and the rights of children with special needs.

The Ombudsman says that thay, as a institution, very often require supplementing and amending of the existing legal provisions, as well as they require adopting of new legal provisions for protection of children's rights and seeks urgent changes of the situations from the government and the competent institutions:
"On the basis of relevant considerations in our recommendations we are appealing to the competent institutions to the Government for taking appropriate measures to overcome certain conditions that we have noted in our research."

70% of children do not know of any right

According to latest research from the First World Children’s Embassy  Megjash from Macedonia, 70% of children in Macedonia do not know any right which is very concerning explains Dragi Zmijanac. According to him, for their children's rights they often learn in schools, but very few of them seek help from school psychologists and educators. He explains that they as non-governmental organization are pushing the competent institutions for the protection of children's rights.

"We regularly pressure all institutions, police, the Centers for Social Work, the Public Prosecution, by writing letters to the Ombudsman when they violate the rights of children in state institutions to put ourselves in function in the protection of children."

Favorable ratings, but also critics

Zmijanac reminds that from the behalf of 23 NGOs from Macedonia with the participation of children and their report on children's rights in Macedonia in February this year, at a conference in Geneva they received a favorable review on a report by the Committee on the Rights of Children. From the Government and the competent institutions in Macedonia, which also were present, were submitted comments on violating children's rights that urgently needs to be corrected, especially as regarding to the involvement of the children in education, solving the problem of street children, with abuse of child labor, with the opening of a shelter for victims of sexual child abuse and pedophilia and the regulation of cases of children who have not performed  their right to received birth certificate.

Sanja Vasic is 7th grader at the primary school "Vasil Glavinov” in Veles and says that the rights of the child have been learned through the Civic Education subject in the school, but she does not know that assistance may be demanded to the Ombudsman. She considers that she has a happy childhood and she did not had her children's rights violated:

"I have all the rights, but there are children of the world in whose rights have been violated, and as far as I know, most of them have violated  rights of education and the right to have their own home."

Author: Mitja Dimitrievska

Editor: Elizabeth Miloshevska Fidanoska