by: Besa Arifi
In North Macedonia, hate crimes are a reality for which only non-governmental organizations speak about. De jure, hate crimes in our country are punishable by law. The Criminal Code of North Macedonia has been supplemented two times in relation to this issue, back in the distant year of 2009, and now more recently in 2018. Like with many other issues, the law anticipates protection of citizens from this form of crime, but nevertheless, de facto, the implementation of these dispositions in practice, leave much….
If one looks at the statistics of the non-governmental organizations, it can be noticed that hate crimes, motivated by interethnic hatred, dominate in our country. These crimes are at the top of the list of motives for this crime, compiled by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights within the program “Hate Crimes”. If you take a look at the statistics of OSCE on this issue in the region, you will notice that North Macedonia has no official statistics. Officially, in our country there are no hate crimes. They exist only as written in the law, while we do witness them every day, and see them as incidents resulting from hatred reported by NGOs. The ignoring doesn’t make us look better neither among each other, nor in the eyes of the world. By ignoring, this problem is put under the rug. The ignoring has to end and our institutions have to openly confront this form of crime. This will be evidence that North Macedonia not only declaratively, but also institutionally, has decided to consider diversity as a value and without fear of treating hatred.
Hate crime is any criminal act that is committed because of some group characteristic of the victim. This means that hate crimes are considered more severe criminal acts than usual ones, as they target the identity of the victim. In these crimes, the victim is attacked because it is Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox. These acts target gender groups with common characteristics. They target women as a group, persons with disabilities as a group, LGBT people as a group, immigrants as a group… Precisely this group targeting makes these acts more serious than others. The punishments for these crimes are more severe and the targeting of a person for group affiliation is always a more serious circumstance according to the law.
Why is it important to prosecute these crimes? Because group targeting of victims can have major consequences for the entire society. Let’s never forget that throughout the world, even the most severe hate crimes have started with small steps.
When Hitler gave speeches in the 1920’s, where he dehumanized the Roma and Jews, no one took him seriously, no one could have imagined that in just several years the Holocaust would become a reality. When the Hutu expressed themselves in a dehumanizing manner towards the Tutsi in Rwanda, no one imagined that a genocide would take place in just 100 days in 2004 in that country. The problem with hate speech and hate crimes lies in the fact that they pave a very risky path, the end of which can be fatal for many people and a huge trauma for mankind. Therefore, hate crime should be dealt with immediately when it appears, and not allow for it to escalate overwhelmingly, with unanticipated and irreversible consequences.
Adequate and institutional treating of hate crimes by state bodies is essential for preserving democracy and equality of citizens. The moment these crimes stop being treated in an appropriate manner, citizens of certain affiliations do not feel safe in their homes, in their neighbourhoods, in their country. This insecurity makes them suspicious of their own country, which does not offer them the necessary protection, this insecurity makes them marginalized. This insecurity makes them feel alienated in their own home, own neighbourhood, own country. Insecurity never results in something good and often is a reason for other problems.
The European Union has special mechanisms for dealing with hate crimes. Harmonizing these mechanisms to our legislation and judicial practice will be one of the necessary steps that will need to be taken on the path to EU integration of North Macedonia. After all, one cannot say that a state that still has no appropriate ruling for dealing with hate crimes has decided to pull this problem from underneath the rug and openly confront it.
This content is part of the Initiative “United in Diversity”, dedicated to the promotion of diversity as an advantage, richness and quality of our society. The Initiative is led by CIVIL, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
The findings, views and other online content published by CIVIL, namely, the Editorial Office of CIVIL Media, does not necessarily reflect those of the donors or sponsors of CIVIL and of the media platform of the organization.
translation: N. Cvetkovska
