18/09/2022
From September 14 to 18, 2022, a national training for human rights education with young people was held at the Capri Hotel in Bitola, organized by the Center for Human Rights "AMOS", with the support of the Council of Europe. The training followed the official promotion of the Macedonian edition of "Compass", a human rights education manual for young people, which thanks to the AMOS team is now available in Macedonian and on the official website of the Council of Europe. Twenty candidates from all over the country participated in the trainings, and Ivona Jankova, an associate member of our association and manager of the "Alter Trip" project, participated as a representative of "Mobility Bitola". In addition to the educators from the AMOS team, the professor from the Faculty of Law from Bitola, prof. Dr. Elena Temelkovska Anevska attended the event as a guest lecturer, and explained in detail the legal procedures from local to international level - to the Court of Human Rights in Stasburg. Particular attention was paid here to the states that signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but do not implement it, that is, do not fulfill their obligation and continue to discriminate against their citizens. It is disappointing that the only penalty in such cases is only monetary and there is no other mechanism or sanction that would force the state to take action to overcome the (in this case) physical barriers that most of our members face. Namely, the professor explained that an independent person or a non-governmental organization on behalf of a certain person can sue the state for violation of rights, but even if they win at all instances, the result would only be a fine paid by the state to the plaintiff, while the actual situation will remain the same. However, the bright side of these trainings is the conclusion that if human rights education is started as early as possible, young people from the earliest age will become familiar with their own rights, but also with the rights of all their fellow citizens and will be aware of the discrimination on any basis. Thus, within the framework of the training, the participants had the task of writing projects whose target group will be young people, and which will contribute to a better acquaintance with human rights, making them new allies in our struggle to achieve the program and statutory goals. The project of our representative - educational workshops in the primary schools of the three municipalities that comprise our association, with the participation of our members – was met with positive criticism from the team of trainers, with interest in support and cooperation during its eventual realization. The idea remains to be worked out and with the hope that we will receive support from the relevant local and national institutions, we hope that we will be able to realize this activity of ours and that it will bear fruit. The only remark about the overall organization was the insufficient accessibility of the facility, which was emphasized on several occasions. Apart from the access ramp at the entrance of the building, most of it is inaccessible, the toilets are narrow and inaccessible, and the 3-story hotel itself has only few sets of stairs and no elevator. All this was pointed out to the organizers, as well as to the owners and employees, to keep in mind in the future when organizing other such events that are of interest to our members. Activities continue.
