Representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ombudsman office and senior officials of the Ministry of Interior in charge of internal control over the police met on 2 November 2022 in Skopje, to discuss their cooperation and how to increase the efficiency of the External Oversight Mechanism (EOM). The roundtable followed the recent changes of the senior management at the Department for Internal Control and Professional Standards at the Ministry of Interior, as well as changes in staff in the Public Prosecutor’s Office Department for investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by persons with police powers and members of the prison police.

The increased number of reports on alleged incidents this year points to a higher confidence into the EOM, but also raises the pressure to the limited personnel capacity at both institutions. This roundtable was focused on the current performance of the EOM, exchange of information and flow of cases, as well as the potential avenues for improvement. The stakeholders, including the Ombudsman’s EOM Unit, agreed to set a practice of monthly meetings, which will help them review cases on regular basis, identify practical gaps and increase their efficiency in conducting investigations into ill-treatment allegations.

All stakeholders appreciated the support of the Council of Europe, which has facilitated the process of establishment and functioning of this mechanism since 2016. The latest Ombudsman annual report and the North Macedonia country report issued by the European Commission note that while the EOM is being established, it still lacks representatives from the civil society organizations, which should be appointed by the Parliament.

This activity was organised under the action on “Enhancing the capacities of the penitentiary system and the External Oversight Mechanism in North Macedonia”, which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022".