Statelessness

Since 2011, as a partner of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Macedonian Young Lawyers Association provides free legal aid and legal assistance to persons without registered civil status and persons at risk of statelessness in North Macedonia. Through partnerships and with many other international organizations , we have implemented many projects in this area.

Resolving the status of unregistered persons in the birth certificate registry office, more info at the following link

STATELESSNESS IN MACEDONIA

On November 1, 2018, the public call of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Home Registry Office ended, according to which 700 people who do not own personal documents were identified.

See how much time has passed ever since:

During which time, “0” cases have been solved.

Statelessness and the lack of registered civil status and personal documents is a serious problem in the exercise of basic social and economic rights for many people living in Macedonia. For most of these people, poverty, marginalization and discrimination are a “standard” part of everyday life. Most affected are stateless children who grow up believing that fundamental rights are a luxury reserved for children other than themselves. Learn more about statelessness in Macedonia here.

Our activities

MYLA provides legal assistance to stateless persons and persons at risk of becoming stateless, with a focus on persons who have not registered their birth and personal name before the Home Registry Office of the Ministry of Justice. We cooperate with the Department for Foreigners and Readmission and the Department for Citizenship on all issues related to the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Citizenship. MYLA actively participates in the development and contributes to the improvement of the legislation in this area through research and analyses, and holds annuall conferences, trainings, workshops, and round tables.

The MYLA office in Suto Orizari is open every working day from 08:30 to 16:30 at the following location.

Regional cooperation

Since 2011 MYLA has been a part of the WeBLAN regional network.

WeBLAN activities include assistance with civil registration procedures and the provision of documentation in the region, cooperation on various cases and issues related to cross-border cooperation, exchange of information on legal and administrative frameworks and procedures in the region regarding civil registration, joint lobbying, and giving recommendations to the countries in the region for preventing citizenship and access to fundamental rights, sharing best practices and seeking solutions to identified problems, promoting WeBLAN among relevant local, national, regional and international institutions.

MYLA is also part of the European Network on Statelessness initiative where data on the statelessness situation throughout Europe are updated every year:

Implemented projects on statelessness:

2011 – 2020 Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Macedonia (UNHCR)

2012 – 2013 Julia Taft Refugee Fund Project for Documenting Refugees (US Embassy)

2017 – 2019 Statelessness index update (ENS)