North Macedonia/ Chaos with personal documents

2024-02-14 14:16:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Chaos at the counters: Based on the Prespa Agreement, the personal documents of citizens of North Macedonia with the old name "Republic of Macedonia" became invalid for entering and leaving the country from February 12.

The Prespa Agreement between Skopje and Athens on changing the name of the state, which was reached on 17 June 2018, entered into force in February 2019 and had a period of five years to implement its obligations, including the exchange of documents personal.

Great flow for extracting personal documents

According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 650,000 citizens out of 1.8 million in North Macedonia have not yet managed to replace their personal documents with the new name of the state. For the chaos in front of the counters that issue personal documents, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Pançe Toshkovski, has accused the former minister Oliver Spasovski, inviting the prosecution bodies to act for legal violations and for failure to act in time. For the chaos created in front of the counters, the institutions also blamed the citizens, who, according to them, waited for the last moment to replace the documents even though they had enough time. But the citizens are revolted. "I feel like I'm trapped in a big prison, in the country I live in," says Katerina Goceva.

"Why can't I travel abroad, this is not right, although I only took out my passport two years ago and its term has not expired. This is not right at all", says Gëzime Jashari.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujar Osmani, has said that citizens who are abroad after February 12 and who have old travel documents, will be able to return to the country with a travel document, which is issued at the diplomatic office and consular missions.

Associations react: Citizens are innocent

The Association of Young Lawyers says that citizens who feel that their personal rights have been harmed or violated will have to prove that the state has acted illegally by issuing personal documents under the old name of the state, although since January 2019, the constitutional changes were made, and with this the name of the state was changed. "These citizens in practice may face a challenge in proving this circumstance. The constitutional law of January 2019 foresees the obligation of the state to 'harmonize' the documents with the new name, without providing a clear date by which they can be issued personal documents with the old name of the state. Citizens, although legally they could demand responsibility from the state, in practice they would face problems and an uncertain conclusion of the procedure", says the Association of Young Lawyers.

Even the Helsinki Committee has emphasized that one million citizens of North Macedonia, due to not having new personal documents with the new name of the state, North Macedonia, will not be able to enjoy their constitutional and fundamental right human for free movement. "Some are trapped in their country and others will not be able to return. Such disorganization affects thousands of fellow citizens and leads to basic violations of citizens' rights", it is emphasized in the reaction of the Helsinki Committee in Skopje.

After numerous reactions from the citizens, the Assembly of North Macedonia has quickly approved the amendments and additions to two laws on traffic safety, which extend the validity of the driver's license with the name of the Republic of Macedonia until the end of 2024. Their use is valid only within the territory of North Macedonia./ DW