Today, the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its baseline evaluation report on North Macedonia.

The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention in North Macedonia. It acknowledges the steps taken by the country to comply with the treaty and identifies areas where progress is needed.

GREVIO highlights several positive legal and policy measures taken by the authorities of North Macedonia, which demonstrate the country’s commitment to the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. These positive developments include the recent amendments to the criminal code, which introduced a definition of sexual violence and rape based on the absence of consent, and criminalised stalking, sexual harassment and female genital mutilation. GREVIO identifies several promising practices, such as the solid legal basis for the national co-ordinating body under Article 10 of the convention, and the availability of numerous guidelines, manuals and rulebooks for practitioners working with victims of violence against women.

On the other hand, GREVIO observes a number of areas where improvement is needed. The evaluation procedure has shown that traditional beliefs pose a serious challenge to combating violence against women in North Macedonia, including the views that domestic violence is a private matter. The persisting stigma that surrounds sexual violence and rape results in extremely low reporting rates of these crimes, which is amplified by the lack of a sufficient number of rape crisis and sexual violence referral centres. Women victims of violence are at times not taken seriously by law enforcement, the judiciary and other relevant entities, leading to impunity for the perpetrators and a severe lack of protection of women from further violence. GREVIO issues tailor-made findings to the authorities of North Macedonia in order to assist them in their efforts to implement the Istanbul Convention.
 

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