North Macedonia

Macedonia: IRZ newsletter on ECtHR case law

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Published: June 27, 2017

Newsletter on ECtHR case law in Macedonian and Albanian

The latest edition of the newsletter on case law at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), published by the IRZ together with the Macedonian government agent at the Strasbourg Court, is hot off the press.

This newsletter is specifically targeted at fulfilling the requirements of Macedonian legal practice. Therefore, in addition to summaries of the decisions taken against Macedonia, it also includes information about judgements against other countries on topics that are also highly significant in Macedonia. As well as in Macedonian, the newsletter is also published in the language of the Albanian minority population.

The newsletter is distributed in print format by the Macedonian government agent at the ECHR, as project partner, so that all Macedonian judges receive the newsletter in their own mother tongue.

In its HUDOC Internet database, the ECHR also supplies summaries of the judgements in both languages for download, with specific reference to the IRZ.

This means that the content of the newsletter is also accessible to people who keep themselves informed on the ECHR website in Macedonian or Albanian.

As the newsletter is already in its third year, it has become very well known amongst Macedonian law professionals.

The ECHR has already emphasised the cooperation with the IRZ in the "Information Note on the Court's case-law/ Note d'information sur la jurisprudence de la Cour” in an extensive report, citing it as a good example of joint activities.

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New Macedonian PIL act helps with EU harmonisation

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Published: May 12, 2017

A view of the seminar room

A view of the seminar room

A seminar on “Responsibilities and applicable law according to the new act on Private International Law”, which was organised jointly by the IRZ and the Macedonian Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors, was held in Skopje on 27 April 2017.

The speakers at the seminar were Professor Dr. Toni Desoski, Skopje, one of the co-authors of the new PIL act, and Professor Dr. Slavko Djordjevic, of the Law Faculty in Kragujevac, a member of the Serbian commission of experts working on the new PIL act in Serbia.

Attending the seminar were judges from the civil law departments of various courts, lawyers and representatives of the Young Lawyers Association. Several case examples were presented at the event, illustrating some of the practical applications of the partly new regulations of the Macedonian law.

The seminar was organised on the occasion of the adoption of the new Macedonian PIL act. This complies with consistent EU harmonisation and convergence with international standards, including the Hague Convention. The new law replaces previous solutions dating from the socialist era.

Macedonian students discuss Hans Litten

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Published: April 3, 2017

A view of the meeting room: Dr. Stefan Pürner, IRZ; lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov, Faculty of Law in Skopje; Miroslava Dzadzeva, el§a, during the discussions (head end, left to right)

A view of the meeting room: Dr. Stefan Pürner, IRZ; lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov, Faculty of Law in Skopje; Miroslava Dzadzeva, el§a, during the discussions (head end, left to right)

The persecution of Jewish lawyers during the National Socialist era in Germany, and particularly the fate of Hans Litten, were the subjects of a lecture held on 28 March 2017 by the IRZ, in partnership with the Skopje section of the European Law Students Association (EL§A).

The event was opened by Miroslava Dzadzeva, President of the Skopje EL§A group and by the lecturer Dr. Aleksandar Spasov. Following the lecture, during which excerpts from a BBC TV documentary about Hans Litten were also shown, a lively discussion took place.

This event follows on from lectures on the abuse of civil law to discriminate against Jews during the National Socialist era, which have taken place over the past two years at various faculties in south-eastern European partner states of the IRZ and are due to continue in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Kragujevac, Serbia. Events have already taken place in the following locations:  

•    University of Belgrade Law Faculty, Serbia,
•    University of Nis Law Faculty, Serbia
•    University of Podgorica Law Faculty, Montenegro
•    University of Sarajevo Law Faculty, Bosnia and Herzegovina
•    University of Zenica Law Faculty, Bosnia and Herzegovina
•    Centre of German Studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia.

At these events, the general mechanisms used to abuse the law in authoritarian systems and the rocky road taken by Germany to overcome its own legal history are also discussed. These topics should also be part of the corresponding discussions in the south-eastern European partner states. This series of lectures is linked with other IRZ activities on “Coming to terms with the past”.