NVO LIL INTRUDCTIONS
LIL is an
association of educators founded in 2005 with the primary objective to protect
rights of women and children. LIL actively works and acts in the municipalities
of Gjorche Petrov, Karposh and Saraj. The main target group is the marginalized
Romani population and the association’s activities are directed towards it with
an aim to provide enjoyment of basic rights and interests granted with the
Constitution and laws of the Republic of Macedonia, and international acts
ratified in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.
The primary
objective of LIL is protection of women’s and children’s rights, and in its
implementation it has the role of mediator between the Romani community and
authorized state bodies and institutions in the Republic of Macedonia.
LIL works with
Romani families whose status is not recognized in the Republic of Macedonia and
have no identity legal papers that on another hand are the main reasons for not
having health insurance and health protection. LIL undertakes wide range of
activities such as providing free legal and financial assistance, vaccination
of children, mediation between state institutions and Romani people as well as
advocacy and lobby.
Identified
problems of Romani population,
As one of the most marginalized ethnic groups in
Macedonia that faces with low incomes and low level of education, Romani people
also face with the problem of regulation of their stay in the Republic of
Macedonia. Based on the work conducted on field and the several researches
mentioned above, LIL concluded the existence of the following problems that
people from Roma ethnicity face with:
1.
Registration in the Register of births and
registration of child’s personal name
2.
Common appearance of under-age marriages
3.
No access to health care and no healthcare insurance
coverage
4.
Unregulated status in the Republic of Macedonia
5.
No citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia
6.
Lack of finances to cover taxes, no possession of
valid identity papers as well as ignorance of the procedure are among the main
reasons due to which most parents do not lodge a request to report their
child’s personal name. By not reporting a child, it is denied the child a right
to acquire Macedonian citizenship, to be part of the regular process of
vaccination, education and, in future, to enjoy its rights by law.
7.
Many Roma women living in illegitimate union with
Macedonian citizens have not regulated their stay in Macedonia and as a
consequence, they have no health insurance. Due to that they are forced to give
birth in home conditions and as a consequence of that their children are not
reported i.e. they formally do not exist in the registration system.
8.
Under-age marriages are another reason for
non-registration of newborn babies in Register of births and non-reporting of
their name. In these cases, both parents who are under-age most often do not
have valid identity papers and cannot report their child or child’s personal
name. Great influence in this case has lack of information about the
possibility to appoint a guardian, with help of the Social Services Center, who
can report a birth of a newborn baby and its personal name.
Case 1: Under-age mother and her
unreported child
The person A.A. at the age of 17
is a single under-age mother. Due to her minor age, A.A. faced with
difficulties to report her child’s birth. A.A. is a Macedonian citizen who
could not provide key identification papers out of financial reasons. Her
family was identified as a family under social risk and it was paid attention
and offered assistance to the very same.
Measures undertaken
Within its project activities and
related to the above-mentioned case LIL obtained identification papers for the
under-age mother. LIL started a procedure for registration of her child’s birth
when the documents were completed. According to the new practice of the
Ministry of Interior Affairs for under-age parents to report their children
through a guardian appointed by Social Services Center, LIL within five working
days provided a resolution that appoints the mother of the under-age A.A. for a
guardian to register the child in the Register of births. The child was
successfully registered after the activities undertaken by LIL. When the person
A.A. turned 18 and became major she fulfilled the condition to register herself
with the Employment Service Agency and provided health insurance for her and
her child. At the same time, documents for permanent financial aid for the
person A.A. and her child were completed on initiative of NGO “LIL”.
Providing the
citizens of the settlement Topaana of Skopje
The citizens of the settlement
Topaana of Skopje, in particular those living in the streets of No. 365, No. 377,
No. 383, No. 364, No. 200, Topaanska St. and Joakim Krchovski St., have been
complaining for months about not receiving health care by the Skopje Emergency
Service. These citizens have been saying over and over again that most often
they do not receive an emergency medical help since the ambulance cannot respond
to their calls and come to the right location of a patient due to a poor
infrastructure in the settlement.
Upon the citizens’ petition
submitted to the Association for protection of women’s and children’s rights
LIL from Skopje, the Association made a formal request to the PHI Healthcare
Home Skopje – OU Emergency Department for them to make efforts for offering an
emergency medical help with an ambulance on a spot suitable for the staff to
walk to a patient, all of this irrelevant of the poor infrastructure or
impossibility to park a vehicle on the right location and aimed at giving a first
aid to the patient on time.
The Service’s reply is that
39 interventions were made during the months of March, April and May 2013 on
demand of the citizens living in the above-mentioned streets who complained
about not receiving emergency medical help. Hence, that speaks about the qualitative
and continuous health care offered by the Service within the systems of health
care and health insurance.
This situation of two
different statements arises the need of a further cooperation between the
citizens of Topaana and the Emergency Service to build a bridge across the two
sides that will help these citizens to get more information about the services offered
by this Service.
Due to that,
representatives of the Service are to increase their actions according to the
Association for protection of women’s and children’s rights LIL from Skopje and
their task shall be to inform about all services offered to citizens through
meetings and workshops that shall help in not having cases of misunderstanding
when the Service provides health care. Due to that, according to the
Association for protection of women’s and children’s rights LIL from Skopje,
the representatives of the Service are to increase their actions and, through
meetings and workshops, to inform in field about all the services offered to the
citizens, so in that way to stop cases of misunderstandings on the health care
offered by the Service.
The poor always gets the worst of a bargain
Roma people in this country
are the most vulnerable group because of the extreme poverty which is their
everyday life. Many of them very often cannot enjoy certain fundamental rights
or basic health services because of the lack of finances for everyday life.
There are cases of Roma patients getting appropriate health care, but cannot
pay for it.
One of those cases is the
case of a patient from Skopje
The Association for
protection of women’s and children’s rights LIL from Skopje Skopje
The result of this case is issued
discharge papers that enable further patient’s treatment, but he / she has a debt
at the hospital that prevents his / her further hospitalization in it. Without
resolving this issue at a higher institutional level and finding appropriate
compensation, accusations from both sides shall be a two way process since both
side have right.
Release from a participation for
provided health services
Beneficiaries of a pension
below 10,870 denars are released from paying participation for provided health
services according to the Programme for raising finances for a hospital
treatment without participation of retired persons whose pension is lower than the
average in the Republic
of Macedonia
But, despite this, there
are cases of activities in our country that are opposite to this Programme. One
of those cases, in which the Association for protection of women’s and
children’s rights LIL from Skopje made efforts, is the case of a retired woman
from Skopje whose monthly pension is lower than the average pension in the
Republic of Macedonia and who paid 1,700 denars for her hospitalization in the
City General Hospital 8mi Septemvri Skopje in the month of March.
LIL lodged a complaint to
the Ombudsman on the irregularities in this case, upon which the Ombudsman
pointed out that the mentioned person fulfils the Programme criteria and asked
for her to be released from participation, in fact, to be returned the money
for a participation paid on no grounds.
All citizens eager to learn
more about people released from paying participation and on which grounds can
do that on the following link: