The Inter-party Parliamentary Group for improvement of the rights of LGBTI people was constituted

A constituent session of the Inter-party parliamentary group to work on improving the rights of LGBTI people was held today in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. The event was attended by MPs, ambassadors and representatives of the National Network Against Homophobia and Transphobia. For the first time in the history of Macedonia, MPs in the Parliament clearly and loudly showed that they are representatives of all citizens regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

At this first meeting, the Parliamentary Group elected MP Maja Moracanin as coordinator and Pavle Bogoevski as deputy coordinator. MP Morachani made a retrospective of the difficult conditions with the rights of LGBTI people and voiced hope that this group is making an important step towards improving the situation with human rights and democracy.

“Today is not the day when this state provides protection for people with different sexual orientation and gender identity equal to other citizens. But today is the day when we first enter a structured debate based on evidence in the institutions of our system. Do not be mistaken, this is the day when we write history and when we make the first step towards making LGBTI people equal with other citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, “said MP Pavle Bogoevski in his welcoming speech.

MP Branko Manoilovski, who is a member of the Parliamentary Group, urged other lawmakers to deal with the current gaps in the society, not to live in the past.

The group consists of 13 members of the existing parliamentary composition of various political parties, including Liljana Popovska (DOM), Maja Morachanin (DOM), Branko Manoilovski (DUI), Pavle Bogoevski (independent MP), Ivana Tufegdzic (independent MP), Irena Stefoska (LDP), Nikica Korubin (LDP), Petar Atanasov (SDSM), Jagoda Shahpaska (SDSM), Sonja Mirakovska (NSDP), Slavica Shumanska Miteva (SDSM) and Aleksandar Kiracovski (SDSM).

At the meeting, Dragana Drndarevska presented the analysis “Assessment of the knowledge, attitudes, practices and needs of the MPs in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia regarding the human rights of LGBTI people and protection against discrimination”, conducted by members of the National Network for Combating Homophobia and Transphobia in 2017 within the framework of the project “Parliament and local self-government in the promotion of the rights of LGBTI” with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Macedonia. One of the conclusions of the analysis is that: “MPs from the parliamentary majority and most of the MPs from Albanian political parties give support for protection against discrimination, violence and hate speech towards LGBTI people.”

The mission of the Inter-party Parliamentary Group is to advocate for the improvement of the rights of LGBTI people using the available mechanisms of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia in order to build a society in which sexual orientation and gender identity will not constitute an obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights and freedoms .

The National Network for the Fight against Homophobia and Transphobia welcomes and supports this process and invites other MPs representing human rights and freedoms to join their colleagues and colleagues in the Inter-party Parliamentary Group for the improvement of the rights of LGBTI people.

To justice, to freedom!

National network for combating homophobia and transphobia