Respected,

Today is 18 December, a day when the world celebrates the International Migrants Day, a day when we, the human rights defenders express particular support and solidarity to all those persons with status of migrants. In a time when we witness war conflicts and economic crises, when the number of migrants constantly increases, discrimination over these persons grows too, thus we call for respect, tolerance and fairness towards all those registered as persons without status.

Having in mind that in the Republic of Macedonia the number of illegal migrants and asylum seekers has increased, the Ombudsman urges all institutions to treat these persons in a human manner i.e. not to restrict their right to seek asylum, to secure them with equal health, psychological and legal protection, and with adequate accommodation in accordance with the required standards, in particular towards children and women.

At the same time the Ombudsman points at the recommendations given by the international bodies for protection of children that require the sojourn of children migrants to be in adequate conditions, with adequate social, medical and psychological assistance. Having said this, I would like to emphasize the commitment of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which encourages alternative models of sojourn for children in accordance with their best interest and prevention from deprivation of liberty of children illegal migrants. At the same time I would like to stress the respect of the international rules applied to women, in particular pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding not to be deprived of liberty. In case the deprivation cannot be avoided, their specific needs should be always taken into consideration.

Only with an equal treatment towards everyone, no matter their status, we will prove to be a developed, democratic and human society prepared to respect the rights of everyone in every occasion.

                                                                 THE OMBUDSMAN