North Macedonia Action Plan Review 2021-2023

This product consists of an IRM review of North Macedonia’s 2021–2023 action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen.... The action plan is made up of 40 commitments that the IRM has filtered and clustered into 36. This review emphasizes its analysis on the strength of the action plan to contribute to implementation and results. For the commitment-by-commitment data, see Annex 1. For details regarding the methodology and indicators used by the IRM for this action plan review, see Section IV: Methodology and IRM Indicators.

Overview of the 2021–2023 Action Plan

North Macedonia’s fifth action plan exceeds the ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... of previous plans, particularly in public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, public-service delivery, and access to justiceAccessible justice systems – both formal and informal – ensure that individuals and communities with legal needs know where to go for help, obtain the help they need, and move through a system tha... More for vulnerable groups. Full implementation could position North Macedonia as a regional leader in the Western Balkans in key open government areas and address priorities in the EU accession process. Given the large scale and scope of the action plan, close collaboration between public institutions and civil society is needed for strong results.

The commitments in North Macedonia’s fifth action plan are organised under five themes: transparency, anti-corruption, public-service delivery, access to justice, and environment and climate action.[1] The commitments cover numerous topics, including public procurement, monitoring public officials’ asset declarations, integrating citizen priorities in public-service delivery, and strengthening access to free legal aidMore and better information about aid helps partner countries and donor institutions plan and manage aid resources more effectively, parliaments and civil society to hold governments accountable for t.... North Macedonia will also implement its second Open Parliament action plan, as well as its first Open Justice action plan on improving judicial transparency.

Commitments on access to justice cover a range of vulnerable groups, including victims of human trafficking, victims of domestic violence, and welfare beneficiaries. Furthermore, CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 4.4 could expand access to free legal aid, building on a commitment from the previous plan. It will be important for implementing institutions and CSOs to ensure that these commitments lead to tangible results in legal protection for vulnerable groups and more citizens requesting free legal aid. The action plan could also transform how citizens shape the delivery of two key public services: employment and health. Meanwhile, the commitments on publishing public procurement data in open formats and disclosing the beneficial owners of companies that win public tenders could improve transparency in government spending and allow stakeholders to flag possible corruption in public procurement.

The fifth action plan saw a robust co-creation process with active collaboration from the OGP CSO Network (created in 2020).[2] The OGP CSO Network and the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) organised numerous online meetings and thematic workshops. Civil society actively helped shape the scope of the commitments, particularly around public-service delivery and access to justice.[3] The number of thematic workshops exceeded previous processes, despite being held online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Action plan visibility was further bolstered by a meeting between the then Prime Minister of North Macedonia and OGP’s CEO in April 2021, during a session of the Cabinet of Ministers.[4] Civil society stakeholders pointed out that additional human and financial resources may be needed in public institutions to fully implement the commitments.

The second Open Parliament action plan, implemented by the Assembly of North Macedonia, had a separate co-creation. The process involved working groups of CSOs and the Assembly and there were active consultations for prioritising the commitments.[5] Overall, this second action plan has a larger scope compared to the first. It includes activities that could make the Assembly more transparent and accessible, such as creating an open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... portal, opening its e-archive, and automating transcription of plenary and committee sessions from text to audio format. However, like for the first action plan, the IRM recommends specifying the concrete steps to be carried out and the intended results from implementation.

The first Open Justice action plan is led by the Supreme Court. The co-creation process involved discussions and round tables between the judicial sector and civil society,[6] resulting in the creation of an Open Justice Council.[7] The commitments aim to improve and standardise information on judicial institutions and courts. Future open justice commitments could go further by improving transparency in the appointment, promotion, and dismissal of judges and in case assignment among judges. The IRM also recommends integrating the co-creation and implementation of open justice commitments with those on access to justice to produce commitments that are holistic and complimentary. The Open Justice Council could coordinate with CSOs and public institutions working on access to justice to find synergies in their respective work.

Promising Commitments in North Macedonia’s 2021–2023 Action Plan

The following review looks at the four commitments that the IRM identified as having the potential to realize the most promising results. This review will inform the IRM’s research approach to assess implementation in the results report. The IRM results report will build on the early identification of potential results from this review to contrast with the outcomes at the end of the implementation period of the action plan. This review also analyses challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to contribute to the learning and implementation process of this action plan.

The IRM selected the commitments for further review based on the degree of support from civil society during implementation, their relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to the open government context in North Macedonia, and their potential to achieve strong results and comprehensive changes in their policy areas. The IRM has reviewed several commitments as clusters because they address different aspects of the same policy areas.

Transparency, accountability, proactivity, and inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More (Commitments 1.1–1.7)

This first theme includes six commitments. Commitments 1.1 and 1.3 are reviewed in more detail as part of a cluster on transparent public procurement. Commitment 1.1 will make free of charge publicly available information on the beneficial owners of companies that win state procurement bids, which will increase beneficial ownership transparency. Commitment 1.3 will create tabs on public institutions’ webpages for all information related to their public procurement. While this improves accessibility of this information, the information is already available by the Public Procurement Bureau (PPB), so changes to transparency are likely limited.

Commitment 1.2 continues past efforts for public institutions to proactively publish information and report their compliance with the Law on Free Access to Information. Although the commitment calls for all institutions to report their compliance, the milestones only set a target for 50% of institutional compliance. Commitment 1.4 continues efforts by local self-government units (LSGUs) to publish open data. While positive, the IRM recommends going beyond the targets of 30 LSGUs and five datasets per LSGU. Commitment 1.5 seeks to publish data on local CSOs in open format and in one place. The IRM recommends using the information published for this commitment to improve efficiency in the distribution of funds so that CSOs can operate better. Lastly, Commitment 1.6 continues to improve transparency in the budget process of LSGUs. Success of this commitment will largely depend on sustainability of the budget dashboards implemented by LSGUs during previous action plans.[8] The commitment also calls for a participation mechanism for decision making and priority setting in 20 municipalities, with an emphasis on vulnerable groups. North Macedonia has room to improve participatory budgeting, according to findings by the International Budget Partnership, so this activity is important.[9] Going forward, North Macedonia could require municipalities to consult CSOs that represent marginalised groups during the local budgetary process and publish all budget-related documents and final statements from the past five years in open format.[10] The European Commission also recommended that North Macedonia focus on strengthening public finance management capacities and internal auditing at the local level.[11]

Anti-corruption and promotion of good governance (Commitments 2.1–2.3)

This theme contains three commitments. Commitment 2.1 is assessed in more detail as part of the cluster on public procurement transparency. The PPB aims to publish data on public procurement in an open format. This commitment could allow civil society and researchers more detailed analysis on procurement and reduce the time spent sorting data. Its success will largely depend on the amount of procurement data that the PPB publishes in open format. Commitment 2.2 seeks to establish a tool to verify asset declarations of elected and appointed officials. It responds to a recommendation for the State Commission for Corruption Prevention (SCPC) by the Group of States against Corruption in its fifth evaluation of North Macedonia’s political integrity framework.[12] Although the SCPC was provided greater financial and human resources to carry out this task, it is too early to determine the potential effectiveness of this commitment. The SCPC could model its verification on Commitment 9 from Georgia’s 2014–2016 action plan; this commitment had the Civil Service Bureau select declarations randomly through a unified electronic system and investigate reports from external stakeholders on suspicious declarations.[13] The SCPC could also create an independent commission (with experts from civil society, academia, and media) to assist with the verification. Commitment 2.3 aims to publish information on the selection and appointment of managers and directors at public institutions. This information could help civil society and journalists assess the competencies of those working in the public administration and flag possible cases of nepotism, cronyism, or political influence. Going forward, North Macedonia could also increase the transparency around the reasoning and processes for promotions and dismissals of managers and directors.

Promote delivery of public services (Commitments 3.1–3.8)

This theme has eight commitments. Commitments 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 are assessed in more detail as a cluster on strengthening citizen monitoring and involvement in public-service delivery. Commitments 3.1 and 3.2 focus on employment and health, respectively. These commitments establish coordination bodies for civil society and government representatives to monitor and implement policies in these areas. CSOs from four pilot municipalities will also help familiarize citizens from vulnerable groups about their rights under employment and health policies and services. These commitments could fundamentally change how civil society and citizens are able to shape the design and implementation of key public services, and ultimately lead to services that more closely respond to citizens’ needs. Commitment 3.3 addresses educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ..., but it focuses primarily on improving access to information. The IRM recommends adopting similar coordination bodies and cooperation with CSOs as under Commitments 3.1 and 3.2 when designing and implementing education policies and services.

Commitment 3.4 builds on previous efforts to allow citizen input in creating and budgeting local services.[14] The IRM recommends clarifying what mechanism will be adopted for citizens to make proposals and to institutionalise the municipal forums from the previous action plan.[15] Commitment 3.5 promotes the use of e-services and digital skills among rural populations. The IRM recommends monitoring how these e-services are used by rural populations and to assess if trainings for digital skills are leading to more efficient processing of services.

Commitment 3.6 seeks to improve protection to victims of human trafficking. Currently, there remain no key decisions on the scope of the milestones. The government established a National Unit for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration to improve inter-institutional cooperation in combating these crimes, and is planning to create mobile teams to identify and protect victims.^[16] However, stakeholders have not yet discussed the content of the database on initiated actions and identified cases of online exploitation of children, or who will collect the data.^[17] Relevant institutions are already required to publish and update a variety of data on cases of human trafficking.[18] Furthermore, North Macedonia’s legal framework already provides a possibility for remuneration of child victims if the perpetrator is unable to cover damages. It is unclear how this commitment will change the right to renumeration for child victims of human trafficking. It also remains to be seen what new solutions will emerge in the upcoming law for compensating victims of criminal acts, particularly regarding the waiting times for compensation. The Council of Europe noted that enforcing court decisions to compensate victims remains a challenge in North Macedonia, with obstacles being the processing or selling of seized and confiscated criminal assets, as well as the length, cost, and complexity of the civil compensation procedures.[19] The IRM recommends investigating the impact of the waiting period on child victims and if there is a need to provide compensation to victims sooner.

Commitment 3.7 aims to improve protection against harassment in the workplace. It involves disseminating information to employees about their rights, selecting independent mediators to resolve harassment cases, and consulting practitioners to finalize the Draft Law on Protection Against Harassment in the Workplace. While not in a milestone, the commitment calls for establishing a system for reporting and monitoring the status of harassment proceedings. The IRM recommends ensuring a wide uptake of the reporting system by workplaces countrywide. North Macedonia could also establish sexual harassment committees for ministries and public- sector workplaces. Commitment 3.8 will facilitate access to healthcare and rehabilitation for persons who use drugs after they serve prison sentences. While this commitment could improve access to health services for persons who use drugs, the activities largely focus on improving cooperation among treatment centres and sensitisation training for medical staff on how to handle such cases. The Ministry of Health could explore ways to increase public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in the treatment and rehabilitation of drug users. This could involve proactively consulting rehabilitated drug users when designing trainings for medical staff and treatment policies.

Access to justice (Commitments 4.1–4.4)

This theme has four commitments. The IRM has analysed commitments 4.3 and 4.4 in greater detail. Commitment 4.3 seeks to strengthen access to justice for women who are victims of domestic violence. It involves synchronising domestic violence data collection and publication among public institutions, courts, police, and social work centres to enhance the efficiency of how these cases are processed and handled. This commitment could help civil society and social workers advocate for better solutions for victims based on the trends identified from the data. Commitment 4.4 strengthens the right to free legal aid under the Law on Free Legal Aid (LFLA). It calls for amending the LFLA to provide more comprehensive protection and access to free secondary aid throughout the entire criminal procedure. Importantly, the commitment also would create a publicly available registry of individuals and institutions licensed in forensics who can serve as expert witnesses for cases involving free legal aid.

Commitment 4.1 improves the protection of human rights for sex workers and persons who use drugs, largely by improving the professionalisation of police and prison staff when dealing with such cases. The European Commission noted that the healthcare and treatment for drug addictions in North Macedonian prisons remains a serious concern.[20] The activities mostly focus on internal professionalisation of police and prison staff. Going forward, the Directorate for the Execution of Sanctions of the Ministry of Justice could disclose in one place information on prison management, prison practices, actual living conditions, and compliance with of audit recommendations.[21] The ministry could also work with civil society to investigate possible corruption and mistreatment in prisons and detention centres, particularly regarding the treatment of socially vulnerable detainees. Lastly, the ministry could disclose anonymised demographic information about prisoners, with a focus on socially vulnerable groups. This could include information about prisoners’ genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More, age, race, ethnicity, disabilities, and mental and physical healthcare needs.

This commitment also would mandate audio and video recordings during interrogations at police stations so that attorneys and clients may access them to prove human rights violations. Nine police stations around Skopje are equipped with video recording spaces, of which five are in operation.^[22] Video surveillance systems are also being installed in police stations in seven municipalities.[23] However, adding audio recording depends on the ministry’s budget for 2023. This commitment is important; the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture notes that ill-treatment often occurs after a suspect is brought under control or inside a police establishment for the purpose of extracting a confession.[24] The IRM recommends ensuring that as many police stations as possible are equipped with adequate recording devices. In addition to police stations, the IRM also recommends establishing audio and video recordings for judicial hearings in courtrooms, as Uruguay did in its 2018–2020 action plan.[25]

Commitment 4.2 promotes access to justice for welfare beneficiaries and citizens at social risk. It includes developing internal guidelines concerning data collection on material, financial, and property statuses of households and family members. CSOs will create a database of persons who have had their legal rights violated due to blocked social numbers. The commitment also calls for solutions to prevent the withholding of funds intended for bank accounts of social welfare beneficiaries. The IRM recommends that the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy publish more information on how decisions impact social welfare and create sufficient opportunities for persons to appeal social welfare decisions. North Macedonia could also establish legal mechanisms to prevent funds being taken or blocked, as the time between freezing funds to receiving an appeal outcome can be detrimental for those that receive such aid.

Environment and climate action (Commitment 5.1 and 5.2)

There are two commitments under this theme. Commitment 5.1 increases rural populations’ access to information about the negative effects of climate change and pollution and promotes good agricultural practices. This commitment lacks details on these planned activities, making it difficult to assess its potential for results. Commitment 5.2 provides comprehensive, reliable information on air pollution in North Macedonia, including a mobile application with air quality data. Air pollution remains a problem in North Macedonia, particularly in Skopje, so this commitment could be important. The IRM recommends ensuring that data on air quality on the mobile application is kept current so that users can access real-time data.

Open Parliament (Commitments 1.1–3.3)

The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia will implement 11 commitments in a separate Open Parliament action plan. This Open Parliament action plan covers more topics compared to the first and the commitments could make the Assembly more transparent and accessible for citizens. However, the commitments generally lack specific milestones. As a general recommendation, these commitments should be improved by specifying concrete steps to be carried out and the intended results from implementation.

Commitment 1.1 creates an open data portal for the Assembly. The IRM recommends specifying what datasets will be published on the portal and making it interoperable with North Macedonia’s national open data portal. Commitment 1.2 develops a platform for citizens to submit suggestions to MPs and to inform them about public parliamentary events. The action plan mentions that the Assembly’s website already offers citizens an opportunity for direct communication with MPs. Thus, the IRM recommends improving existing opportunities for citizen engagement in the legislative process. Commitment 1.3 will allow electronic signatures by MPs and parliament services in case they are unable to physically attend plenary and working committee sessions. The focus of this commitment is on MPs, and it does not contribute directly to OGP values of transparency, civic participation, or public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More.

Commitments 2.1 and 2.2 are carried forward from the previous action plan and aim to re-design the Assembly’s website and develop a television channel for the Assembly. The IRM recommends designing the new website so that it’s easily accessible for visually impaired persons and ensuring that the television channel offers options for the hearing impaired. Under Commitment 2.3, the Assembly will procure software so that the public can follow, in real time, the stages of proposed legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., and allow browsing by proposed law. The IRM recommends allowing users to easily search for legislation by key words and policy area. The IRM also recommends ensuring that citizens can track all amendments and see who proposed them. Commitment 2.4 will open the Assembly’s e-archive to the public. Given the volume of documents on the archive, this commitment could be of interest to researchers and citizens. The IRM recommends ensuring that documents on the archive are easily searchable. Under Commitment 2.5, the Assembly will procure equipment for online streaming of parliamentary sessions. Though online streaming would improve transparency, the IRM recommends archiving all streams on the Assembly’s website.

Commitment 3.1 aims to produce news reports and familiarize the public with the contact offices of MPs. The IRM recommends monitoring the commitment to see how it impacts citizens and MPs. For Commitment 3.2, the Assembly will promote its participation in OGP. The IRM recommends using the planned events to provide updates on the Assembly’s progress in implementing the commitments in the Open Parliament action plan. Finally, Commitment 3.3 involves procuring software to automate transcription of plenary and committee sessions from text to audio format. This could be important for maintaining historical records and for making records accessible to persons with visual impairments. During implementation, the IRM recommends ensuring that the texts are recordings are accurate in relation to the original audio recordings.

Open Justice (Commitments 1.1–2.3)

There are six commitments in a separate Open Justice action plan. These commitments are a good starting point toward increasing public accessibility to information on the judicial system and court operations. Future commitments could go further by improving transparency in the appointment, promotion, and dismissal of judges, in line with the new draft Law on the Academy for Judges and Prosecutors. In addition, North Macedonia could increase transparency of the country’s electronic system for randomly assigning new cases to judges. Also, the government’s 2019–2024 strategy for the justice sector’s information-communication technology will ensure “online access to all justice related information, offering web services such as information on state of court proceeding, court decisions, communication realised through e-filing of briefs and lawsuits.”[26] It may be beneficial to transpose some of these plans into specific commitments in future action plans.

Under Commitment 1.1, the Supreme Court will standardise court information on the http://www.sud.mk portal and make the portal accessible for visually impaired persons. The IRM recommends ensuring that courts share information on asset declarations of judges, linking this commitment to Commitment 2.3 in the national action plan. Commitment 1.2 improves the court communications through a five-year transparency strategy; the IRM recommends making this strategy binding for all courts. The IRM also recommends following the Global Judicial Integrity Network’s guidelines on judicial officials’ use of social media when developing the public relations strategy for courts.[27] Commitment 1.3 increases the availability and quality of information on the website of the Judicial Council, including information on the Judicial Council’s performance. The Judicial Council will also develop a tool for citizens’ complaints and appeals. The IRM recommends publishing data on the number of complaints that citizens lodge, as well as the steps taken to resolve the complaints. The IRM also recommends improving the transparency of the recruitment and selection of members of the Judicial Council. For example, the Judicial Council could publish notes and decisions from meetings when making hiring, promotion, and dismissal choices and publish the biographies of judges and Council members.

Under Commitment 2.1, the Judicial Council will monitor transparency of court presidents and court websites. Once the Judicial Council has developed an assessment, the IRM recommends ensuring that all courts across different jurisdictions and levels collect the same information to allow for cross-comparison. Commitment 2.2 unifies court reports and ensures they provide quantitative and qualitative information on court performance. The IRM recommends including information about how many cases judicial officials are assigned, how quickly they process the cases on their docket, how many cases they complete in a year, how they decide cases, and how frequently their rulings are overturned on appeal. Finally, Commitment 2.3 involves ensuring easy access to materials for professional advancement of judges and continuous training of judges through a modern e-library and e-archive. The IRM recommends making sure that information and training materials are also accessible and understandable to everyone, including to non-specialists. The IRM also recommends extending trainings to cover court staff, such as clerks and judicial assistants, so that they can properly manage and handle cases.

Table 1. Promising commitments

[1] Macedonian Min. of Inf. Soc’y and Admin., Open Government Partnership National Action Plan2021–2023 (Oct. 2021), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/North-Macedonia_Action-Plan_2021-2023_EN.pdf.

[2] The OGP Network includes 77 organisations working with different groups: women, youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More, Roma and other non-majority communities, people with disabilitiesA government is not open unless it is accessible to all, and governments are working to ensure people with disabilities are afforded equitable services and opportunities to participate. Technical spec..., and other groups. They focus on various topics: anti-corruption, transparency, information technology, gender equality, youth policies, support for vulnerable groups, environment, rural development, human rightsAn essential part of open government includes protecting the sacred freedoms and rights of all citizens, including the most vulnerable groups, and holding those who violate human rights accountable. T..., judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati..., European integration, public finance, socio-economic development, health and social protection, culture etc. They operate in different places (Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo, Bitola, Prilep, Kavadarci, Strumica, Stip, Veles, Delchevo, St. Nikole) as well as in rural communities.

[3] Ivona Stalevska and Hristina Vasilevska (FOSM), written correspondence with the IRM, 18 Mar. 2022.

[4] OGP, “OGP CEO Sanjay Pradhan Meets with North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev” (13 Apr. 2021), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/news/ogp-ceo-sanjay-pradhan-meets-with-north-macedonias-prime-minister-zoran-zaev/.

[5] For example, the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association and the National Democratic Institute were involved in the prioritisation. Dimitrovska, interview.

[6] Center for Legal Research and Analysis, “НАЦРТ АКЦИСКИ ПЛАН ЗА ОТВОРЕНО СУДСТВО 2021 – 2023” ГОДИНА [Draft Action Plan For The Open Judiciary 2021–2023] (5 Jul. 2021), https://cpia.mk/mk/%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%86%d1%80%d1%82-%d0%b0%d0%ba%d1%86%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%ba%d0%b8-%d0%bf%d0%bb%d0%b0%d0%bd-%d0%b7%d0%b0-%d0%be%d1%82%d0%b2%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%be-%d1%81%d1%83%d0%b4%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b2/.

[7] Stakeholders involved in co-creating the first Open Justice action plan included court presidents, judges, judicial representatives from all courts, representatives of the Judicial Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, representatives of civil society (monitoring organisations), and other experts.

[8] OGP, “North Macedonia: Establishment of New Tools to Improve Financial Transparency and Accountability of Local Self-Government Units (MK0109)” (2016), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/north-macedonia/commitments/MK0109/; OGP, “North Macedonia: Financial Transparency Tools (MK0132)” (2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/north-macedonia/commitments/MK0132/.

[9] Open Budget Survey, “Open Budget Survey 2019: North Macedonia” (2019), https://www.internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey/country-results/2019/macedonia.

[10] Dragan Tevdovski et al., Improving local budget processes: from inclusion and transparency to equity and quality Policy Brief, no. 18 (Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy, 2021), 9, https://icld.se/app/uploads/2021/10/ICLD_PolicyBrief_18_web.pdf.

[11] Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, North Macedonia Report 2021 (European Commission, 19 Oct. 2021), 11, https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/north-macedonia-report-2021_en.

[12] GRECO, Fifth Evaluation Round Preventing corruption and promoting integrity in

central governments…North Macedonia (27 Apr. 2021), 8, https://rm.coe.int/fifth-evaluation-round-preventing-corruption-and-promoting-integrity-i/1680a2278b.

[13] OGP, “Georgia: Introduction of the Public Officials’ Asset Declarations Monitoring System (GE0050)” (2016), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/georgia/commitments/GE0050/.

[14] OGP, “North Macedonia: Inclusive Local Decision-Making (MK0134)” (2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/north-macedonia/commitments/MK0134/.

[15] OGP, “North Macedonia: Financial Transparency Tools (MK0132)” (2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/north-macedonia/commitments/MK0132/.

^[16] Susana Novakovska (Police Adviser, Ministry of Interior), correspondence to the IRM, 14 Mar. 2022.

^[17] Susana Novakovska (Police Adviser, Ministry of Interior), phone conversation with the IRM, 14 Mar. 2022. Novakovska confirmed that the displayed performance indicators will be publicly available in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection and the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data.

[18] Data on human trafficking cases that is currently publicly available includes: data on committed criminal offences under Articles 418-a through 418-d of the Criminal Code of North Macedonia (trafficking in human beings, smuggling migrants, trafficking in minors); data on victims according to official statistics on identifying victims of trafficking; data on persons detected when smuggling migrants under Article 418-b; data on persons (victims or migrants) detected under Article 418-c (trafficking in human beings, trafficking in minors, and smuggling migrants); data on human-trafficking victims and potential victims, housed in a Reception Center for Foreigners and; data on the number of persons accommodated in the Reception Center for Foreigners.

[19] Council of Europe and European Union, “News on ensuring justice: Victim of human trafficking receives compensation in North Macedonia” (5 Nov. 2020), https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/horizontal-facility/news-on-ensuring-justice/-/asset_publisher/VUQpjPpnZFTi/content/victim-of-human-trafficking-receives-compensation-in-north-macedonia?inheritRedirect=false&redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fpjp-eu.coe.int%2Fen%2Fweb%2Fhorizontal-facility%2Fnews-on-ensuring-justice%3Fp_p_id%3D101_INSTANCE_VUQpjPpnZFTi%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-4%26p_p_col_count%3D1.

[20] Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, North Macedonia Report 2021, 27.

[21]See OGP, “Argentina: Publication of Audit Recommendations in Argentine Prisons (AR0050)” (2017), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/argentina/commitments/AR0050/.

^[22] Novakovska, correspondence.

[23] Gostivar, Kumanovo, Strumica, Gevgelija, Prilep, Stip, and Radovish.

[24] Council of Europe, Report to the Government of North Macedonia on the visit to North Macedonia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 7 to 9 December 2020 (29 Jul. 2021), 19, https://rm.coe.int/1680a359cb.

[25] OGP, “Uruguay: Public Hearings on Video (UY0112)” (2018), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/members/uruguay/commitments/UY0112/.

[26] North Macedonian Ministry of Justice, Strategy For Information Communication Technology Of Justice Sector For 2019 – 2024 (Revised Strategy) (Feb. 2019), https://www.pravda.gov.mk/Upload/Documents/Strategy-ICT-2019-2024%20.pdf.

[27] UNODC, “The Use of Social Media by Judges” (accessed May 2022), https://www.unodc.org/ji/en/knowledge-products/social-media-use.html.