VI. Advocacy and partnerships
mobile teams to identify and assist people not listed in personal registries.
The mobile teams comprise a wide range of stakeholders, including regional
offices of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice’s Directorate,
local centres for social work, Roma Information Centres and Roma NGOs.
In addition, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Macedonian
Young Lawyers Association (MYLA, an NGO providing legal aid) signed
a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2012 formalizing their cooperation through the Roma Information Centres. Because the Roma Information Centres have direct contact with people of concern, more new cases
are identified, more people are able to access legal assistance, and overlaps
between the various stakeholders providing assistance can be avoided.
In June 2014, the Government adopted 21 conclusions relating to activities and proposed measures for resolving problems of unregistered births.
In the conclusions, the Government provides instructions to each Ministry to undertake specific measures to address this issue. The proposed
measures were submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Labour
and Social Policy as chair of the working group on undocumented persons
where UNHCR and its legal partner MYLA actively participate.
See HCNM-European Commission-UNHCR commissioned Report on Access to Civil
Documentation and Registration in South Eastern Europe: Progress and Remaining
Challenges since the 2011 Zagreb Declaration, 2013, Report based on research by
Stephanie Woldenberg, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/5280c5ab4.html,
and UNHCR, Submission for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’
Compilation Report – Universal Periodic Review: The former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, June 2013, available at: http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/51c945134.pdf
Bolstering partnerships: recent initiatives by other
international and regional organizations
In November 2015, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Parliament
of South Africa and UNHCR co-organized the conference Ensuring Everyone’s Right to Nationality: The Role of Parliaments in Preventing and Ending
Statelessness in Cape Town, South Africa129. Almost 100 Members of Par85
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents