Meeting at the Ministry of Justice -- with the Government Agent for Macedonia before the European Court of Human Rights

I very much appreciated the opportunity to meet with the Government Agent who represents the Republic of Macedonia before the European Court of Human Rights, Mr. Kostadin Bogdanov.

Macedonia became the 38th Member of the Council of Europe in November of 1995 (as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)  and signed on  to the European Convention of Human Rights in 1997 (the treaty was ratified and went into force in October 1997).

Some fast facts about Macedonia before the ECtHR --

- Judge to the European Court of Human Rights: Jovan Ilievski.
- Applications allocated to a decision body in 2016: 340
- Judgments in 2016: 12 of which 8 violations and 4 non-violations

The latest Country Report from the European Court of Human Rights can be found here:

Macedonia Country Report from February 2017

For more info from the Council of Europe website about Macedonia, see:

http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-the-former-yugoslav-republic-of-macedonia-

And here is a link on the website of the Ministry of Justice to materials related to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR):  http://biroescp.gov.mk/

Ministry of Justice website:  http://www.pravda.gov.mk/ 

The UK has developed a Human Rights Database for Southeastern Europe:

https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/the-european-human-rights-database-for-south-east-europe

The Government Agent has 2 main tasks -- to represent Macedonia in cases before the European Court of Human Rights and to oversee the execution of judgments against Macedonia.  

As it relates to the implementation of the ECtHR's judgments, the Government Agent is tasked with drafting proposals to amend the relevant statutes.  These suggestions are not necessarily immediately enacted by the Parliament - so - much of what the Government Agent can do, in the short term, is to try to work on preventative measures. Much of this preventive work is done training judges and informing them of relevant cases handed down by the ECtHR and their application in the Macedonian context. Below are pictured copies of one of their publications -- translations of cases (highlights) from the ECtHR in Albanian.  (These publications are printed in Macedonian and in Albanian.)

the office of the Government Agent works to disseminate info about key rulings from the ECtHR (in Macedonian and Albanian) to judges throughout Macedonia

in the lobby of the Ministry of Justice

in the lobby of the Ministry of Justice