Shadow report on the implementation of the Council of Europe Recommendation

Together with MHC, we continue monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Recommendation on the fight against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. In cooperation with ILGA, we shall prepare a Shadow Report, which shall be submitted to the Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe, before they consider the implementation of the Recommendation in March 2013.

 

Free legal aid

Together with the legal team of the MHC, we offer free legal aid in case of violations of people’s rights, which includes representation before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

 

Support groups

We work on activating support groups as part of the programme for community strengthening. More information in the section: Community

 

Training on transgender matters

The Centre, in cooperation with ILGA Europe and TGEU, has held several trainings for transgender people. On these trainings, there is also time for medical professionals of different fields, who are willing to learn more on the topic and sensitize themselves regarding the work with trans people, while providing health care services.

Kristian Randjelovic, activist from Gayten LGBT from Belgrade and board member of Transgender Europe, is a regular visiting lecturer on these trainings. He is often accompanied by different members of the medical team for trans people from Belgrade, who share their experiences and positive practices with medical professionals from Macedonia. All participants have an opportunity to ask questions from different aspects and facilitate their own path through the transition process.

In the evening hours after the trainings, the group members have an opportunity to socialize, which is a very important aspect for this group of people, due to the high degree of marginalization of trans people in our society.

Psychological support for LGBTI people

The essential role of the LGBTI Centre is providing services to LGBTI people who cannot access those services otherwise, or their access was being made more difficult in state medical institutions, due to which we have opened the psychological support program in cooperation with the Gestalt Institute. Every member of the LGBTI community may contact the Centre and be provided with

psychological help free of charge. Once per week, representatives of the Gestalt Institute have regular counselling sessions, which shall continue, and in case of a larger number of interested people, the sessions shall occur more frequently.

 

Oral history of LGBTI people in the Republic of Macedonia