Vaska Bajramovska-Mustafa, Deputy Ombudsman, at the CIVIL debate “At the “ball “for the human rights of the Roma referred to the protection of the rights of the Roma.
“The ombudsman institution has existed for more than 20 years with a mandate to protect the constitutional rights of citizens, including Roma. In this institution we keep statistics on our needs for respect for the right of citizens to self-expression. From year to year the number of complaints submitted by the Roma community is increasing. It does not reflect the actual number on a daily basis. The Ombudsman must work more in the field of protection of Roma rights. I feel uncomfortable when there is an outdated tradition of Roma human rights to talk only about Roma on World Roma Day. We all need to change this. The human rights of the Roma are not celebrated only on April 8, we should all strive for all disrespect to be expressed. We have a special area targeting the problems of Roma from discrimination and adequate and equitable representation. One of the main problems that Roma have is discrimination from the police, health care, the right to regulate citizenship and many others.
The ombudsman maximally strives to be closer to the Roma by organizing conferences and the like on how much the situation of the Roma in RSM has improved,” said Bajramovska-Mustafa.
