Skopje, 15 December 2021 (MIA) – The One Society for All strategy is being implemented according to plan, although the process is facing many challenges, concluded the participants in Wednesday’s panel discussion titled “One Society for All – Present and Perspectives”, organized by the NGO Civil. The One Society strategy is alive and functioning, said Robert Alagjozovski, national coordinator for interculturalism. The strategy, he said, addresses hate speech, discrimination and ethnic intolerance amongst other issues. “The strategy started implementing in 2020, but the pandemic broke out and the country held elections. In 2020 we achieved a lot, but we could have done better. 2021 was a peaceful year, the pandemic receded a bit. We plan on fully implementing the strategy in 2022 provided that we don’t come across other obstacles, such as the pandemic or economic crisis,” Alagjozovski told the panel. Justice Minister Bojann Marichikj said he also expected the implementation of the One Society for All strategy to be completed by the end of 2022. “Enacting the strategy was a bold step and a serious commitment of the government demonstrating it is a priority,” he said, adding the focus currently is on the legal framework ensuring equal representation in institutions and education of young people to recognize and embrace diversity. Dzelal Hodzic, deputy head of the agency in charge of implementing the rights of the communities, said that the two largest ethnic communities in the country should find a way to include smaller ethnic communities in the process of the creation of national policies. “A drop in inter-ethnic tensions has been recorded over the past several years. If our country remained blocked on its path to EU accession, we could again have to deal with inter-ethnic tension. Also, young people emigrating could be a challenge if the country was left without European perspective,” he said. President Stevo Pendarovski addressed the event via pre-recorded video in which he said that identity differences should be respected and transferred to younger generations as they learn about the fundaments of a political community. ‘The Macedonian society is the home shared by different communities and their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic characteristics create a mosaic in which all parts are equally important. As a country striving to be European democracy and a signatory of all relevant international documents on the respect of human rights, we have legal and moral obligations to respect the innate dignity and equality of every human being, including the right to life, freedom, personal safety, equality before the law,” Pendarovski told the event, which also saw addresses by Education Minister Mila Carovska and Labor Minister Jagoda Shahpaska.