What is Human Rights Support Project?

Aim of the Human Rights Support Project (HRSP) is to provide free legal counseling of the alleged victims of police misbehaviour seeking assistance for lodging official complaints via various available administrative and legal mechanisms.

In 2004 the following three nongovernmental organisations implemented the project: Civil Society Informative Center (CSIC), Skopje, Center for Democratic Development (CDD), Tetovo, and Roma Rights Forum – ARKA, Kumanovo. The project was implemented in the Tetovo, Skopje and Kumanovo regions.

The implementation of HRSP continued in 2005. Currently, the Skopje region is covered by the Coalition all for fair trials, and there are two new organisations involved in the project – Centre for civic initiative, Prilep, and IZBOR, Strumica. Unlike 2004 when the project covered only north and northwest Macedonia, in 2005 the HRSP has completely covered the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. The project is financed and supported by OSCE spillover monitor mission to Skopje and Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM).

The project emerges as a result of current observation of local NGOs and international organisations that follow citizens’ complaints for violation of human rights. The organisations noted that very often the victims consider complaints’ procedures as terrifying, complicated, intimidating, slow, frustrating, expensive, and sometimes unsuccessful.

Aims and objectives of the Project

• To provide justice for the victims of police misuse and inappropriate police behaviour;

• To provide responsibility and transparency in the work of state institutions that receive complaints for alleged violation of human rights;

• To increase capacities of state institutions that receive complaints for alleged violation of human rights;

• To contribute towards enhancing public approach and trust to these state institutions;

• To increase capacities of local legal NGOs that acts in the sphere of human rights;

• To increase relation between civic society and state institutions that receive complaints for alleged violation of human rights;

• To organise press conference at the end of 2005 for public presentation of analytical report for 2004-2005, that, among other things, will contain proposals for suitable political and judicial reforms based on information gathered by the project;

• To enhance and strengthen working relation between organisations that participate in the project and state institutions through presentation of concrete cases to relevant state stakeholders, usual coordinative meetings and information campaigns.

Free legal counseling for alleged victims of police misuse

Within free legal counseling legal counselors involved in the project undertake the following activities:

• Interviewing and documenting the outcomes;

• Taking pictures of injuries and other evidences;

• Assistance to injured people to receive necessary medical treatment and appropriate documentation for the injuries;

• Completing the additional accompanying documentation;

• Providing advices for legal instruments available to alleged victims, including lodging complaints to the Internal control and professional standards sector within Ministry of Interior, Ombudsman, Public prosecutor’s office, as well as private proceedings;

• Helping alleged victims in writing letters and complaints to the abovementioned institutions;

• Accompanying and/or representation of the alleged victims at meetings with state officials;

• Providing finances for socially deprived people to cover expenses for medical notes.

Objective of the NGOs involved in the project is to follow potential subjects via the public media and provided they discover violation of human rights to react promptly and to undertake necessary steps.