ERRC ROMA RIGHT 2014:ROMANI PEOPLE FROM WESTERN BALCAN-MACEDONIA

Macedonia – Creating a Padlocked Cage for Roma Called “Measures for False Asylum Seekers”

by  Tefik Mahmut,
      Zoran Bikovski

Liberty and freedom, taking the words in their most concrete sense, consist in the ability to come and go, to choose and to participate. This includes choosing travel destinations and your place of residence as well as exercising your own rights whenever and wherever you want, within the confines of the law.Freedom of movement as a human rights concept is enshrined in many State constitutions as well as in international instruments for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, it has been violated and obstructed by too many State authorities, including a small country that looms large in the legal work of the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC): Macedonia. 

This article focuses on obstructions that Romani Macedonian citizens face when they try to exercise their freedom of movement, i.e. their fundamental right to leave their own country, which is guaranteed by the Constitution3 as well as by several international treaties which Macedonia has ratified.