GENEVA (13 July 2023) – A UN expert today welcomed the substantial efforts made by Germany and North Macedonia to address the complex situation of their citizens returning from conflict zones, in particular the Syrian Arab Republic, through repatriation, reintegration and prosecution. “Countries such as Germany and North Macedonia have shown that repatriation is both practical and possible,” said Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, at the end of a 10-day visit to Germany and North Macedonia. Ní Aoláin highlighted the dire conditions of mass arbitrary detention in the camps and prisons of North-East Syria, stressing the particularly heinous consequences for vulnerable children who remain detained without access to education, health care, security and other fundamental rights. “I welcome Germany’s efforts to promote a vibrant and expert civil society engagement in disengagement, deradicalization and reintegration processes, demonstrating the importance of a ‘whole of society’ approach to return and providing a route to human rights compliant, holistic and non-stigmatising reintegration into society,” she said. The Special Rapporteur noted that North Macedonia has started to develop a model of community-based reintegration based on multidisciplinary expertise, involving social workers, clinical psychologists and security actors, to meaningfully reintegrate families, especially women and children, into their communities. The expert underlined the importance of prosecutions in accordance with the rule of law for the devastating international crimes committed by ISIL in Syria and Iraq. She welcomed the innovative and unique approach taken by Germany to address core international crimes and the country's apparent willingness to close the immense impunity gap for crimes committed by ISIL. “I expressly call for the repatriation of men and women from both Germany and North Macedonia to ensure that the return and accountability efforts continue,” she said. Ní Aoláin said that both countries must continue to be vigilant to ensure that countering violent extremism policies and practices related to return and reintegration are truly human rights compliant.  She expressed concern that some reintegration efforts may, in practice, create rather than prevent stigma and exclusion. “The prosecution and trial of returnees must meet international standards of due process and fairness, sentences must be proportionate and prison conditions must be adequate to ensure that returnees have an equal opportunity for rehabilitation and reintegration into society,” the UN expert said. The Special Rapporteur welcomed the proactive approach of both Governments to this challenging legal and political issue, which provides a valuable example to other States on how to facilitate the return and reintegration of their citizens from conflict zones, including Syria.   ENDS Ms. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin was appointed as Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism by the United Nations Human Rights Council. She took up her functions on 1 August 2017. Ms. Ní Aoláin is concurrently Regents Professor and Robina Professor of Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and Professor of Law at the Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her mandate covers all countries and has most recently been renewed by Human Rights Council resolution 49/10. The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. UN Human Rights country page: Germany and North Macedonia For more information and media requests please contact: Ms. Karen Reyes Tolosa (+41 76 342 3400; karen.reyestolosa@un.org) For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org). Follow news related to the UN's independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts Concerned about the world we live in?
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 The members of the Joint Steering Committee discussed the 2022 UN annual results, the opportunities and challenges facing the country, and endorsed the 2023 Joint Workplans. “Only with joint efforts we can protect humanity and nature, especially if we are committed to the achievement of Agenda 2030, nationally and globally. Full implementation of the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework is the pathway towards achieving tangible change for people in North Macedonia, resulting in better legal, more efficient and more responsible institutions and greater future for everyone”, said Fatmire Isaki, Deputy Minister of foreign Affairs.  SDCF is a key strategic document that guides the work of UN in North Macedonia and represents the UN development system’s collective offer to support the country in achieving sustainable development goals. To ensure that it reflects the interest and priorities of all people in the country, the SDCF has been developed through a participatory and consultative process, starting with the analysis of the country’s development context, strategic prioritization and its operationalization through annual workplans of UN entities and stakeholders. “The context has evolved significantly since SDCF’s inception in 2020. COVID-19 and its immediate and long-term socio-economic impact, followed by the current energy, food security and finance crises – all shaped by the war in Ukraine – have put a significant strain on the Government to continue prioritizing reform processes and structural changes as the fiscal space has been shrinking and vulnerabilities increasing,” says Rossana Dudziak, UN Resident Coordinator in North Macedonia. “Targeted and focused expert advice and support, underpinned by the focus on leaving no one behind will remain the key pinnacle of UN work in North Macedonia in 2023 and beyond.” The 2021-2025 UN SDCF also reflects the UN Secretary General’s plea for accelerated action to implement Agenda 2030 through a Decade of Action.

Skopje, December 21, 2022. - At the conference entitled "Look further", which was held today in Skopje in the organization of the United Nations, representatives of several UN agencies together with international experts and representatives of the government discussed the key measures that the Republic of North Macedonia is taking and should take plans in the future in order to overcome the challenges in the food and energy crisis. "The current crisis is in many ways unprecedented. However, the root causes and drivers are neither new nor surprising and reflect our inability to prioritize the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Policy solutions are complex. We need to respond to the immediate needs to lift people out of poverty, but we also need to support businesses in order to save jobs, with concrete measures to ensure the best possible results with the available resources. Most importantly, policies should be systemic, sustainable and visionary to ensure that, despite the challenges, we remain strongly focused on sustainable growth and development. That requires timely and accurate data, cooperation and coordination," said the UN Resident Coordinator, Rossana Dudziak, at the opening of the conference. During the panel, the Vice Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Fatmir Bytyqi, emphasized that the problems should be solved systematically. "If they are not solved systematically, the problems increase. For example, we have been talking about digitization for years, but it was only superficial and not essential. Digitization requires a fundamental change in the behavior of stakeholders and citizens. We have not entered any segment to solve the problem in the way we should solve it", says Bytyqi. "Regarding the energy crisis, we understand that production is important, but we knew that we are 35 percent dependent on energy imports. It was nice because the price was good. As soon as a crisis comes, everyone asks why the problem is not solved. That problem is not solved overnight. The problem is again systemic. It should have started to be solved 10 years ago, and that in the field of alternative energies. Green energy. We are now trying to get old timers back into traffic with little intervention. But that is not a solution. The solution is green energy, a transition to green energy," added the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. The deputy representative of UNICEF, Artur Ayvazov, pointed out that shocks from price growth disproportionately affect households with more children and poorer families, due to their lower incomes and the greater share of food and energy consumption in their household budgets. Rising food prices leave these families with very little means to meet other basic needs. Ayvazov indicated that the Government should consider additional measures to reduce the burden on children and other vulnerable groups, including by expanding the access and volume of existing cash transfers and to ensure that the budget crisis does not disrupt basic health care services. , social protection and education. Addressing the conference, the Deputy Regional Representative of FAO for Europe and Central Asia, Nabil Gangi, emphasized that from a long-term perspective, it is important to consider the structural causes of the food crisis, and in order to have a better approach to solving this problem, distinguishes between issues affecting access to food and issues affecting food availability. In terms of access to food, the situation is multidimensional and reflects the complex interrelationship between food, energy and financial crises. According to Gangi, addressing food security challenges caused by current crises requires an "agri-food systems" approach, which FAO promotes to act outside the usual sectoral frameworks. It is a systematic combination of policies, investments and solutions focused on sustainable improvements in productivity and efficiency, greater resilience and ensuring enough healthy food for all. "Empirical research shows that a well-developed financial system can increase growth by up to 1 percent, and more importantly, reduce poverty. Financial systems contribute to encouraging savings and channeling them into investments, which are important for increasing the volume of capital and productivity, which in turn are the main determinants of long-term growth," said the Governor of National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, Anita Angelovska - Bezhoska. "The importance of finance is especially great in these crisis circumstances that emphasize structural weaknesses and the need for a green and digital transformation of the economy. It is positive for us that credit support for green transformation is growing, i.e. loans for this purpose in the past three years have recorded an increase of 80%", says Angelovska - Bezhoska. According to the Permanent Representative of the UNDP, Armen Grigoryan, the crisis will probably continue in 2023 and it is difficult to predict in which direction things will develop. "UNDP and other UN agencies in the country, together with other development partners, are here to support institutions and citizens and contribute to public dialogue and consensus building around specific policies and other measures that will contribute to addressing current development challenges and the impact of the global crisis. However, we now have a better understanding of the vulnerabilities and root causes of the crisis, internal and external factors, and propose systemic pathways in response to the crisis. One of the things that should be paid attention to is the gray economy, which, according to research, amounts to somewhere around 35 percent entering the system, to pay taxes. The second thing is the encouragement of small and medium-sized enterprises and regional cooperation," Grigoryan said. The Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, emphasized that the past three years, which have been marked by crisis, have moved the mid-term framework of the planned fiscal targets, aimed at the consolidation of public finances and their long-term sustainability. "But at the same time, the policy makers give us the opportunity and show us where in the system we need changes. That's why we think it's good to implement the reform agenda in crisis episodes." He added that this year, contrary to expectations, was not a year suitable for fiscal consolidation, and there was a need for measures to support citizens, the economy and for greater production of electricity from domestic capacities to deal with the energy and price crisis. "In these conditions, the Government successfully resorted to rationalization of the expenditure side of the Budget, with which the achieved deficit is largely kept within the framework of the fiscal targets, which by 2027 should be reduced to 2.8% of the GDP budget deficit and public debt below 60%", said Besimi. The goal of the United Nations agencies, UNDP, FAO and UNICEF, together with national and international partners, is to find sustainable and long-term solutions that will respond to the needs of vulnerable groups and at the same time support growth and development, in conditions of high inflation. and modest financial resources.    

"SDGs are not just an additional plan for the world but are a shared vision and therefore we must embrace their transformation and implementation. In order to achieve the 2030 Agenda, North Macedonia remains fully committed to the development of institutions and partnerships that will enable sustainability for present and future generations", underlined the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani. The report focuses on the results that have been achieved and the lessons learned during 2021, the first year of implementation of the joint UN-Government 2021-2025 Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (SDCF). “COVID-19 crisis reminded the whole world that we are all interconnected and that we need to work together towards sustainable development and that no one is left behind”, says Rossana Dudziak, UN Resident Coordinator in North Macedonia. “This report showcases how working together can contribute to achieving better results with our collective efforts.” Following the priorities identified in the 2021-2025 SDCF, the report records progress in the areas of inclusive prosperity, quality services for all, healthy environment, and good governance. Among many others, some of the results highlighted in the report are the 6,822 new jobs for young people that were created, more than 500 companies that received advisory and digitalized services, the consolidation of 1,078 hectares of agricultural land, the economic revival, and the return to in-person education. Also, the employment picked up, especially for women, who suffered the most during the pandemic, but less so for youth, which remains of concern. A total of 24 UN entities worked closely with over 130 partners in North Macedonia and their work is aligned with the country’s national development and strategic priorities, its international human rights and gender equality obligations, as well as commitments towards achieving Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Online version of the report is available in three languages, English, Macedonian and Albanian at the following link.