MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Decisions

CM/Del/Dec(2024)1514/H46-27

5 December 2024

1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH)   H46-27 Elmazova and Others v. North Macedonia (Application No. 11811/20) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments   Reference documents CM/Notes/1514/H46-27

 

Decisions

The Deputies

1.         recalled that this case concerns discrimination of Roma[1] pupils due to their segregation in two State-run primary schools in Bitola and Shtip which were attended predominantly by Roma children and with Roma-only classes; recalled further that the European Court indicated that the measures to be taken must ensure the end of the segregation of Roma pupils in the two State-run primary schools, as recommended by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the National Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and the Ombudsman;

As regards individual measures

2.         noted with concern that most of the applicant pupils still enrolled in the two schools in Bitola and Shtip continue to be subject to school segregation; recalled that the individual measures in this case are closely linked to the general measures and the ending of segregation in the two schools; invited the authorities to clarify if they will, in the meantime, seek the applicant pupils’ enrolment in other schools or consider taking any other specific interim desegregation measures for them;

As regards general measures

3.         welcoming the authorities’ active engagement in relevant co-operation activities and projects within the Council of Europe as well as their consultations with the Secretariat on the implementation of this case, encouraged them to sustain the dialogue with the Council of Europe aimed at ending segregation in education;

4.         stressing the need for concrete and decisive measures to rapidly end the segregation of Roma pupils in education, noted with interest the measures undertaken or envisaged by the authorities, including the formation of the working group coordinating the execution process, the preparation of amendments to the Law on Primary Education, the preparation of draft desegregation plan, and the planned analysis of school segregation across the country; underlined that in all of these actions the authorities should be guided by recommendations of European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the Commission on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and the Ombudsman;

5.         encouraged the authorities to intensify their efforts and, if possible, speed up the adoption of all of the foreseen measures, while pursuing an effective dialogue with all stakeholders including from across communities with a view to promoting inclusive education and combating prejudices;

6.         encouraged the authorities to further pursue their close cooperation with the Secretariat while finalising (and then implementing) the legislation and the desegregation plan to address any outstanding issues identified in its analysis and to keep them regularly updated of all developments in this respect, including on the most recent statistics concerning the distribution of pupils in classes in the two schools, as well as those concerning the entire country within the context of the planned analysisof school segregation across the country;

7.         decided to resume consideration of this case at the 1545^th meeting (December 2025) (DH) at the latest.