At the beginning of 2024, Transparency International – Macedonia published the report: “National Integrity System Assessment North Macedonia”, which contains an analysis of the situation of the 15 pillars of the national integrity system in relation to corruption and the effectiveness of national efforts to deal with corruption.
The NIS Report was prepared during 2022 and 2023 within the project “EU4 Rule of Law: Citizen Engagement for Public Integrity (CEPI) in the Western Balkans and Turkey”, which was funded by the European Union and the Government of Switzerland.
Within this Report, for the first time, there is a gender sensitivity analysis with recommendations conducted for the 14 pillars which are very relevant for the country’s integrity system. The analysis was conducted according to a methodology prepared by Transparency International. Gender sensitivity was one of the indicators to analyse the work of the 14 out of 15 pillars on which overall assessment was conducted.
Public Prosecutor
Prosecution mechanisms are not gender-sensitive, but there is some training on gender sensitivity.
Score: 25/100
The prosecution service’s complaint and investigation mechanisms have no explicit gender-sensitive protocols or guidelines. There is also no procedure for collecting gender-disaggregated data on complaints filed, processing times of complaints, complaints solved or disregarded, and so on. The number of female prosecutors in the prosecutorial council is five of nine members, and the public prosecutor’s office has only thrее women out of nine prosecutors.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that the Prosecutorial Council continues to respect the gender balance in its appointments and to continue to have regular gender equality and awareness raising trainings for both men and women prosecutors and staff around the country.
It is recommended that the prosecution service complaint and investigation mechanisms include gender-sensitive protocols and/or guidelines. At the same time, the procedure for collecting gender-disaggregated data on complaints filed, processing times of complaints, complaints solved or disregarded should be initiated and continuously used.
It is recommended that in the yearly reports of the State Public Prosecutorial Office, all data is disaggregated by gender including the data for children as perpetrators of crimes (which is not the case for example, in the last published report in July 2023).
It is recommended that there is consistent and continuous capacity building for each new prosecutor and staff, both women and men, on gender equality, gender mainstreaming, analysing and using laws and policies from gender perspective as well as on gender responsive budgeting, media and online platforms presence and usage.
Considering the rising online violence against women politicians and the ones who are running or hold elected office (at legislative, executive and judicial levels), there should be continuous training and awareness raising campaigns for women on how to deal and overcome the online (and offline) threats that are being sent to them increasingly.
National Integrity System Assessment North Macedonia Gender Indicators Recommendations
