Anti-propaganda laws | -5/10 | No evidence of applicable anti-discrimination legislation: 0/10 | Anti-discrimination legislation covers one protected characteristic: 5/10 | Two grounds of discrimination: 7.5/10 | Three grounds of discrimination: 10/10
There have been important legislative changes in North Macedonia since 2022. In October 2020, the parliament adopted the Law on Prevention of and Protection against Discrimination (LPPD), which includes the grounds of SOGI. The law was previously adopted in 2019, but had been repealed by the Constitutional Court in May 2020 on procedural grounds. The LPPD does not cover sex characteristics.
The Law on Primary Education (2019) also prohibits discrimination on SOGI grounds and makes it mandatory for schools to report anti-LGBT incidents. The prohibition on discrimination on SOGI grounds is broad and applies to students, their parents, staff and the curricula. The Law provides for a procedure for prevention and protection against violence that needs to be regulated with a by-law (guidelines). The failure of the school to abide by the provisions could result in an administrative fine for the school and the principal or director.
The Ministry of Education and Science, which is part of the new right-wing Government elected June 2024, proposed amendments to the Law on Primary Education and a new Law on Secondary Education. These proposed amendments controversially removed “sexual orientation,” “gender,” and “gender identity” as recognised grounds for discrimination. This exclusion directly contradicted the Law on Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination and North Macedonia’s constitutional principles of equality and human rights. It also undermined international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women.
The amendments provoked a strong backlash from civil society organisations, including Coalition Margins as part of the Network Against Discrimination, which through advocacy both nationally and internationally emphasised the dangers of such legislative changes.
As a result of civil society pressure, two key amendments were accepted which replace the term “equal opportunities” with “gender equality” in Article 48, reinforcing a commitment to scientific knowledge, human rights, and diversity; and clarifying the concept of “equality” to encompass availability, accessibility, and inclusiveness, thereby safeguarding equal rights for all students.
Nevertheless, out of over ten amendments submitted by civil society, only three were accepted. Notably an amendment which aimed to expand the Procedure for Reporting and Protecting Student Victims to include mandatory reporting of violence, abuse, or neglect by any student, parent, teacher, or school employee—was rejected. This rejection risks invalidating the existing Guidelines for Reporting and Protecting Student Victims, developed through joint efforts by Margins and the Bureau for Education Development. Furthermore, an amendment which aimed to prohibit all forms of discrimination in primary education on the basis of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, and other grounds, was also not accepted.
The Law on Secondary Education is currently being revised. The law prohibits discrimination, but has to date not included SOGIGESC grounds. The Law on Secondary Education was temporarily withdrawn by the Ministry of Education and Science in 2024, but not due to opposition on SOGIGESC-related issues.
