UN Women’s Rights Committee Highlights
Romani Women’s Issues in Macedonia On 20 February 2006, the Roma Centre of Skopje (RCS), the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC), and the Open Society Institute’s Roma Women’s Initiative (RWI) welcomed the Concluding Comments of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Macedonia’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Committee convened in January to review Macedonia’s Initial, Second and Third periodic report on measures to implement the Convention. The Committee expressed specific concern about the situation of Romani women, as well as Albanian women and rural women, stating that “rural women, as well as ethnic minority women, particularly Roma and Albanian women, remain in a vulnerable and marginalized situation, in particular with regard to access to education, health, employment and participation in political and public life.” The Committee also expressed particular concern over “high school dropout rates among Roma girls and girls living in rural areas.” In their Concluding Comments, the Committee urged the State Party to: After welcoming legislative changes taken to combat violence against women, the Committee also expressed concern about the “high prevalence of violence against women, including domestic violence.” The Committee then urged the Government to: In the run-up to the review, the RSC, the ERRC and OSI, with financial and technical assistance from UNIFEM’s Bratislava office, submitted a parallel report to the Committee highlighting key areas of concern for Romani women in Macedonia, including discrimination in access to education, employment and health, and issues related to domestic violence. The RSC, the ERRC and OSI now urge Macedonian authorities to implement the Committee’s recommendations in full. . (ERRC) |