Skopje, 16 April 2025 (MIA) - The Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (CPPD) in 2024 worked on a total of 485 cases, 407 of which were new and 78 were carried over from 2023. Of the 407 new cases, 405 were complaints submitted by citizens and organizations, while the other two were cases launched by the CPPD, shows the annual report for 2024 presented at an event Wednesday.

According to the report, most of the complaints were submitted for discrimination on the grounds of national or ethnic belonging (27%), followed by other grounds, other beliefs, personal property and social status, political beliefs, education and sex, and other grounds.

Women were more likely to report discrimination on the grounds of sex, gender, education, age and family or marital situation, while men were more likely to submit complaints over discrimination on the basis of skin color, origin, sexual orientation, belonging to a marginalized group, nationality, and disability.

In terms of areas, most complaints were submitted in relation to protection against discrimination in the workplace (39%), membership in trade unions and other organizations, public information and media, education, science and sport and others, access to goods and services, judiciary, and other areas. 

At the presentation, President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said the figures in the report are concerning and should be seen a warning.

“The scariest aspect is that the most significant and common discrimination is in the public sector. So, the public sector is acting like the private sector. This says something else, it is not only that public resources and funds are usurped, but the public good is being treated as personal good, and then the attitude of the people is as if they are not employed in state or public institutions, but in private ones,” Siljanovska-Davkova said.

Speaking at the event, Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi expressed his support for the work of Parliament’s Standing Inquiry Committee on Protection of Civil Freedoms and Rights. 

“I feel a strong moral responsibility to promote the cause for harmony, equality and peace between the different social structures. In a society like ours, with a rich cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, it is crucial to ensure that no one is discriminated against on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion or other belonging. Only through a joint commitment by the state, civil society, media, can we build a society in which discrimination will be in the past. Equality isn’t only an empirical goal to reduce the cases of discrimination, but a principle that should guarantee that no one should be judged or limited because of some characteristic,” Gashi said.

In 2024, the CPPD held 24 sessions, during which it adopted 316 decisions in cases related to the protection against discrimination, 48% of which were opinions following a launched procedure to determine discrimination, while 52% were conclusions for the dismissal of the complaint.

Of the cases in which a procedure was launched, discrimination was determined in 56 cases or 47%, and no discrimination was determined in 96 cases or 63%. 

As in the year before, the most common places where discrimination occurs are the institutions of the public sector (37 cases or 66%), social networks and the media (10 cases or 18%), as well as the private sector (9 cases or 16%). 

Photo/Video: MIA