Disabilities in MK

The meeting with Polio Plus (only in MK, the EN page is not working) was a bit different than my other meetings. I recently met a Political Officer at the Embassy who has been giving me some more contacts with NGOs. She had a meeting scheduled with Polio Plus, who I had been trying to meet with for about 2 months, and invited me along. This made for some different observations and discussions that I usually had. They were more direct in asking the US government for help, specifically stating that “we” should help them lobby. At the same time, they were much more critical of the current government and their actions regarding people with disabilities than many NGOs I had visited. I was able to learn most of what I would by myself. I might try to email them a few more questions soon. As I was typing this up, I realized that I actually learned more about how disabilities are treated in MK than I did about Polio Plus, so this is more about that than the organization (thus the reason I am putting it on my travel blog and waiting to publish it on my research blog!).  

They had one of the larger offices that I had seen in Skopje. The had one large office room/entry way where there were three desks and a seating area set up, then there were two smaller rooms off to the side, with a conference room in the back. We met in the conference room.

They tend to focus on policy implementation and legislative changes, rather than services to the people. They do help those who are disabled fight for their legal rights. They do provide some services, such as mediation in the labor market, providing legal advice (such as how to make complaints), and helping them write business plans.

They are mainly funded from international organizations or embassies. The funds are small for NGOs in MK especially if you are focused solely on one issue. Even further, disability is lower on the funding tier in all locations, according to Polio Plus. Disabilities have received some funds from the state, roughly 2 million Euros, but it only goes to the older Union of Disabilities that was set up by the state. In the Union of Disabilities, there are 7 separate organizations that provide services to the disabled. The regulations, however, are from the Yugoslav era. The funding also only goes to the traditional organizations that use the medical approach.

Like in the US and elsewhere, disabilities still face harsh discrimination. Although in MK people with disabilities are almost all treated as if they are “crazy” or “have something wrong” or “aren’t normal and need to be excluded from daily life.” There is a law on discrimination that, according to Polio Plus, is actually discriminatory. In order to be hired as a manager or someone above the bottom level of employment, you have to be tested if you have a disability. The person with a disability, be it mental or physical, has to prove that they are mentally capable by going to a medical commission that examines their ability to work. All people with a disability are grouped together, in the guise of protecting those with mental disabilities.

There is no “gate-keeping” for disability status in MK. Almost any one can be declared disabled. The government then provides a subsidy for the disability (roughly 7,000 MKD/month minimum[$150]). However, with all of the “extras” that people might qualify for, they could end up getting 15-16,000 MKD/month [$318-340]. This is a decent salary in MK, and thus provides no incentive for them to go out and search for work on their own, especially if they are employed at all (even part time), they only get the lower 7,000 plus their salary.

Polio Plus submitted the first (and only so far) Citizen’s Initiative law to the MK parliament. It was essentially a law to retrofit all building to make them handicapped accessible. In order to do this, you have to get 10,000 signatures. To get these, you can’t just sign them with a notary, oh no, you have to go into your local governmental office with an official register and sign there after proving that you are who you say you are. They submitted this law a while ago, but there has been no movement on it in the Parliament. The word is that this law would be too expensive to implement, so they aren’t voting on it.

In the years that Polio Plus has been around (12), there has been a change in the attitudes of people towards those with disabilities, but it is slim to none. The example they gave, is that if in 1991 those with disabilities were considered at step 1 to the rest of society being at step 5, now they are at 5 while the rest of society is at 10.They were trying to show that while changes have been made, those with disabilities are still the last considered group of people. Many people here do not have a creative mentality, and they believe that change is taking too long to occur. While many work to solve the issues that people with disabilities face, no real progress is being made. There has been a shift from institutionalization to community based care, but not enough of one.

They claimed that almost no one is motivated to learn to work with those with disabilities because it takes too much work. There is some training available, but mostly it is in the medical approach. (which is a way of thinking about “what they can NOT do” rather than what the CAN do. According to BFI’s educational resources, the medical approach sees the disabled people as the problem. That the people who are disabled need to be adapted to fit in the world as it is, and if this isn’t possible, they need to be hidden. I had to look this up as I was not quite sure what she meant by the medical approach).

They have tried to work closely with different Members of Parliament, and different governmental bodies, but the others often do not want to work with those with disabilities (they don’t make as good of a picture story). Polio Plus isn’t sure how to change the system. They have to be extra cautious on how they try to change things.

There is also a group of companies called “Shelter Companies” (this lead to a bit of miscommunication in the beginning of the description), because they “shelter” those who are disabled. In these companies they must meet a few regulations: have a minimum of 10 people working, with 4 of them with disabilities. They must also keep the people with disabilities employed for 3 years, and in the second company where the person is hired, they have to be employed for 5 years. They get the following benefits as a way of getting companies to hire more people with disabilities:

• they don’t have to pay taxes for any of the people working for them
• The state can pay between 20-100% of the salaries in the form of a grant (less common)
• The companies do not pay the profit taxes.
• The customs fees are free
• they get reimbursed for 10,000 MKD for equipment.
• The social packages are covered by the government for all workers

The companies can request this after 9 months of employing the people with disabilities. Mainly the companies in graphics and printing take advantage of this program. However, there is a large scale abuse in this program. There is a commission that has to determine if you meet the standards for receiving this aid, and it is staffed by those who are connected. They often run the companies that are already receiving this aid and therefore have no desire to allow more companies into this special tax zone.

All 4 Fair Trials

Back in Skopje, after a few weeks off from interviews, but working on writing the blog post you have been (enjoying) reading, I meet with All 4 Fair Trials. They are located in Skopje, right in the heart of downtown.

They were founded in 2003 as a coalition of NGOs across the country to fight corruption simply by observing and reporting. Their main activity is to monitor the courts, and see how well they follow procedure in prosecuting cases. They focus on the corruption in courts. As part of this observation, they have a sub focus on journalistic cases that focus on defamation and libel. They also have some other smaller projects.

At their own offices, there are currently 10 people who mostly have a law background. One has a sociological background, as well as a webmaster. The Coalition also has an executive board of 7 people.

Their funding mostly comes through foreign donations. (The US Embassy is the most stable funding source). They get some money from the MK government, but it was only for the trafficking case.  It was the small (their word) amount of $7,000.

When asked if they work with the government, they stated that they do not work closely, due to their monitoring procedures. If they do work with some form of government, it is usually with judges or prosecutors who are active in the courtroom. They organize workshops for the people involved in court cases (not those being prosecuted.) They invite experts to lecture about international experience related to the law.

Since I do not know anything about the corruption or how bad it is in Macedonia, I asked them about corruption. They stated that after ethnic problems, corruption is the main problem. Especially for democracy, because corruption is deeply routed in all aspects of MK life. They gave examples of the emergency room, court, education, or university. All 4 Fair Trials follows all cases with a high level of possibility of corruption. They try to see how correctly the laws are followed.

They have 55 people who monitor cases on a voluntary basis. There is a questionnaire so that the monitoring is similar all across the country. They follow cases from day one in court to the final judgement. They specifically follow the case: what do the lawyers say? What are the other’s reactions? There are 75 questions to work with. They will then analyze the data and produce a report about the cases. They are currently producing a report on last year.

They (along with a lot of other NGOs) have given me some materials to read. If I have time (and I really hope I have time) I want to read these materials and analyze them for you all/myself.

Youth Forum Bitola

My next meeting in Bitola was with Youth Forum. I do not have as much information about this NGO mainly because they were mostly uncooperative in the interview, in fact insulting myself and my research technique. They barely volunteered any information outside of a direct answer to my broad question.

Youth Forum began in 1999 by young people to meet the needs of the disadvantaged youth without an ability to express themselves artistically. It was very difficult to get started (finding office space mainly). They want to give information to young people about culture, arts, and the protection of human rights. They wanted to be able to give information that people would need when they need it. They are a grassroots organization, and claim, that their people are very enthusiastic. It was very difficult for them to implement any changes in the beginning, but now things are different. Some things can’t be helped, but the majority of the problems are with a lack of enthusiasm.  Many people are depressed, and it is difficult to push for them to become more active. Especially with no cooperation from the municipal government.

They do most of their activism in Bitola, but some of there members also act as a journalist in other parts of MK. They began with a researching of problems in Bitola for the youth. The youth there are very diverse but many are interested in the same thing (such as theater and sports). Thus it became easy to direct them to create a play together, or play a game. And once you can bring them together, it is easier to share how similar people are. Some people still cause problems, but Youth Forum feels they are gaining ground.

Youth Forum sponsors shows, concerts and publishes a magazine. They have also completed two “docu-movies” about Bitola and the surrounding areas. They stated that it is very difficult to provide these services because the space for public theater is missing in Bitola. They want bigger support from foundations, donors, and other small NGOs.

There was more interest in the past, but now only a few connected people are interest. They feel like since there is no real violence going on now, no one is interested. Youth Forum likes to help the Roma, Albanian, and Turkish NGOs, but is afraid that they will collapse within the next few years. These NGOs need more support. There is really no ethnic violence now, there was violence in the past (particularly around 2001). According to Youth Forum, the Roma were really discriminated against with jobs that were really forbidden for them to enter. Some coffee bars refuse to serve the Roma. With no interest from the government, the discrimination continues.

They haven’t received national government funding but the municipality helps to cover the rent or electric bills. The Agency for Sports helps some, with $1000, but that allows some publications to be made. Mostly they receive foreign aid. Without this aid they wouldn’t be able to survive, some have been from local embassies.  

Youth Forum would like to be able to work in the schools, but they are unable to do so. They do promote the EVS volunteering at local universities. Youth Forum is both a sending and receiving organization.

They are working closely with a new program “Open Municipality” that aims to make the municipality more open to the public.They cover the meeting of the local city council. Then they investigate how they work and publish the findings. They claim that their coverage is different than the local newspapers. They claim that the newspapers often just say “There was a meeting.”

They host 2-3 events a month and a few annual activities. They are trying to gain a interest from the community. They are always open to the community to discuss their work and plans. They have a lot of ongoing projects, including conferences and seminars. They try to do everything to benefit the youth. They have more than 100 members, but only 15 are generally active at one time on a certain project.

They have faced many problems in their years. According to Youth Forum, there is no mentality on volunteering, or thinking it is ok (they want jobs, and therefore shouldn’t volunteer). There is an NGO forum of civil organizations, but it doesn’t work properly. They try to help with minority NGOs, such as including them in the documentaries. Youth Forum was told to be quiet before the election, and they would receive cash after the election. No one reacted to Youth Forum going public with this information.

They also fight against the perception that the NGOs are created to cause the problems in society. The real problem is that the people spending the money are not receiving truthful or good reports. There are some NGOs who didn’t use the money correctly. In the past it was easier to gain funding, due to the Kosovo crisis. Some NGOs didn’t use the money correctly. They fight the perceptions by being diligent. According to them, the difficult problems are with personal mistakes, but most people have an agenda. Be it political basis or even “trying to help.” There were more integration with the NGOs, there wouldn’t be as many problems.

Sfera, Voluntary Fire Fighters Association in Bitola

Bitola is a mid-sized town in southern MK about 10 km from the Greek border about three hours away by bus. I had arranged two interviews with NGOs there, so I spent the night before at Lizze’s (ETA Fulbright) who lives there.

Sefera Bitola is a voluntary firefighter organisation, the first of it’s kind in MK(others are in St. Nikola and ‘Polila’). They were formed in May of 2007 as a project started in another NGO in Bitola. It was the student’s intuitive to form a volunteer firefighting force to help spread awareness about fire prevention. They applied to foreign grants to make the youth fire brigade, and were granted the funds. In 2009, they separated from the original NGO and formed their own. They have partnerships with organizations in Sweden, Finland and Bosnia.

Sfera focuses more on the theory than the practical fighting of fires. They offer trainings in elementary schools about how kids should respond to a fire in their house or school. They have a (really cool-personal bias) new program for training in schools. They go in one week and pass out handouts about earthquakes, fires, etc and provide a “what to do training” for the kids and teachers. Then a few days later they go back in. But this time with fog machines- and do a fake fire “drill” complete with alarms and “smoke!” They say that even though the teachers know it is coming, some still freak out. However, in the first attempt of this sort they evacuated 450 students in 5 minutes! They call this a great success!They plan to do this in every high school in Bitola soon.

While there is teaching on fire safety, there are no free alarms. In fact, when Sfera tried to order a fire alarm it took them 3 months to find where you could buy one in Bitola. Alarms are not in hotels or shopping centers.

They have 110 members that have passed the basic fire training. They train with professional firefighters on fighting fires. Sfera and the professional fighters have an agreement to share equipment for training activities. When Sfera gets new equipment, they donate it to the professionals and then are able to use it when needed (if the professional aren’t using it at the moment). Sometimes they do go with the professionals to fight fires on the mountains, if they are 20 and up. (side note-- you have to be 18 to join the professional association.)

They also provide training on leadership development and democracy, since firefighter must lead. Their main training is a 2-3 day seminar with monthly followup meetings that they try to hold 2 times per year. Some of what they teach are the different styles of leadership. They also work with the Red Cross for first aid training.

They work with EVS, as both a sending and receiving location. They have gotten 4 volunteers and sent 5 outside of MK. They also participate in youth exchanges and trainings. The exchanges are more like camps, however, where people stay for either 6 or 14 days. There are a few regulations, but they are not strenuous. Sfera themselves, have put on 11 trainings in the past two months!

They are currently making a comic strip for kids that they will print in color to hand out. They will publish in both Macedonian and English, for now. On the local level, they promote volunteering and youth mobilization. They want to inspire the youth to mobilize around things they care about. They also help young artists put on shows. Recently they have done it for a singer and a painter.

They have also started a new project that helps raise money for a charity fund for young children with life threatening diseases (such as cancer). They help with providing free or reduced prices in surgery. Over 7,000 people attended their first charity concert for the fund. They are planning 2 other concerts now. They also raise money by completing Cocktails4Charity, with different VIPs from Bitola.

In the Bitola Summer Festival, which is for cultural events, NGOs can help sponsor/put on an event. They are allowed to last between 1-3 days, and are fully sponsored by the local government. The goal is to connect citizens to culture and let them enjoy some leisure time. The municipality provides projectors, help organizing the events, and advertising. But only 3-5 NGOs apply. Sfera has cooperation with other NGOs in Bitola. They help preform a street theater, presentations on EVS, Peace Corps, and even flash mobs!

However, when discussing cooperation with the government, they have none with the national government. The municipality, however, is a different story. The municipality helps them out with about 10% of the time, such as when using the trucks (for fuel and water) or supplies.

The municipality does have a fund for NGOs, but it is split equally between all who apply. There are 136 registered NGOs in Bitola, but, according to Sfera, only about 8 actually function- but they all apply in February! Sfera and a few others are trying to show that the others are not actually working. The fund, upon being split comes to about 350 Euros yearly. But Sfera pointed out that it would be about 13, 500 Euros if it was split between those who actually worked.

Sfera’s yearly budget comes from the following sources: 90% EU and their partners, 2% sponsors, 8% Macedonia. It is really hard for them to find a sponsor in Bitola, as most of the companies are located in Skopje. There are 5 companies that regularly help the NGOs in MK, but they are still mainly located in Skopje.

Sfera is hopeful for the future and believe they will continue to make a positive impact in Bitola.

Meeting with a Contact

While there are technically three guys who work at Florozon, I had only met one of them once at the workshop they hosted. I was able to set up a meeting with him to see his views of the NGO sector. He has worked since 1994 in the civil society sector, and since 1998 with NGOs specifically. Many of the views stated below are his, and just give another perspective to the  debate.

He said that the sector has changed in the last five years in a positive sense. In the post-conflict society, there was some activism, mostly in youth organizations. The organizations were mostly with sports, schools, labor unions. In the beginning of transnational period, there was additional input from external sources. They began activism with issues of the environment, humanitarian aid connected to the Balkan wars. After 2001, there were organizations who dealt with peace issues and human rights. During their unlucky circumstances, it developed positively.

The problem with civil society in Macedonia, according to him, is that they mainly lack activism. Most NGOs are not member based or financed well. The knowledge and skills of NGO workers are still in development. Many people are not involved in civil society due to their fear of the government. there were some attempts to work critically against the government, but they were often “neutralized immediately.” Some of the attempts were shut down discreetly by discrediting the organizations or threatening the people who work there with jail.

When I asked if there was cooperation with the government, and he commented that there is some. Int he transition, the government didn’t see the benefit of civil society. Soon they realized the power that civil society had and wanted to be involved. Sometimes it is called the 5th sector, and the government tries to discredit NGOs as working for foreign agencies as spies. The political party with power is dealing with establishing small satellites all over the country (the NGOGOs). However, cooperation exists with a lot of analysis on who and why. The EU is pushing for cooperation especially in UNDP. There are areas where the government has no experience, and he thinks that NGOs can help in this area.

My contact is currently working in the government helping them to implement affirmative action. “No matter what, the government should cooperate to better serve.”  He is helping the government to try to link projects to have a better impact. The municipalities have responded favorable to the linkage. They are trying a mediation in schools as well. He wants better cooperation so there is a better institutionalization of the cooperation. He has worked with ‘teaching the teacher’ to reteach for more mediation between different groups, if the government doesn’t like anything they can just forget.

Financially, there are some connections between the government and NGOs. There is funding from casinos and the lottery. There are yearly bases, but they only give money to ‘their’ NGOs. There are special funds for NGOs, but there is a lot of criticism. When the government changes (as in the party changes), the list of recipients changes. If cooperation doesn’t go well, they will loose the money. Many NGOs have never asked for money, because they don’t want the money from the government. Many feel that it lacks impartially. It is seen as corrupted if they take the money; however, if there was a separate organization, they feel it would be corrupted too. Money often comes from international organizations and bilateral agreements.

For cooperation with the municipality, it depends on the individual municipalities. Some municipalities still want NGOs to be obedient. If the municipalities see the NGOs as having some power- they want to work with them. The municipalities will also work closer if the NGO is connected internationally. Sometimes municipalities support small NGOs or smaller projects by NGOs.

The biggest organizations are focused in Skopje, where there is a higher concentration of money. A few have tried to decentralize from Skopje, but most are still there. There is rarely any high profile organizations or money in the non-capital cities.

The current NGOs focus mostly on peace building. They might be dealing with the past and conflict management or  the “burning issues” (more ad-hoc intervention, monuments, identity issues, etc.). Some of the more successful ones focus on youth leadership and identification of potential leaders. Since 2001, most have focused on inter-ethnic cooperation. Many have targeted secondary schools and the youth. Some do this by teaching the directors and teachers of schools other by reaching out to the students. Some organizations want to better teach the OFA an related issues, others focus more on the environment.

This meeting went very well for such a short meeting, he offered to give me some contact information to other NGOs.

Florozon Workshop, Day 1

The next research event that I attended was not a meeting but rather a workshop hosted by Florozon the week before I started volunteering there. I have tons of information both on sustainable culture in the Balkans as well as how Florozon worked with the government to put this workshop on. I want to provide you with all of that information in case you were curious. But first, the workshop was written about in the news (kind of- in websites related to the agencies): Florozon and MOEPP (well they did have it, but I can’t find it any more).

When you walked into the EU Info Center, where it was held, you were greeted and directed towards a table when you could get an information packet (pen, pad of paper, booklet, agenda). I counted over 50 people here. It was to start at 11:30, but I was told “Well you have CET [which MK is a part of] and then you have MK time, one hour later!” [This has since been repeated to me many different times.

They had someone translating the whole talk into English throughout the two days.

There were many important people there including the Ombudsman of the Environment. They are to receive complaints from people about the Environment. They asked people to write to them so they can look into the citizens concerns. Their goal is to inform and promote this discussion and the cooperate with institutions and NGOs. They even claimed that the NGO sector is “our partner.”

There were tons of people there for the first part, when the Minister of the Environment was there. One interesting cultural thing that we (the Fulbrighters) have noticed is that part of the way through a meeting or presentation that they are filming, they will leave and go set up for the press conference, rather than staying for the rest of the speech and then setting up. The Minister was the first person to speak at the workshop (after being introduced). He stated that they would like to work on adopting legislation on the environment so that MK is more aligned with the EU. However,  the implementation is not just the work of the government, it is the requirement of the whole country. He believes that there is good conditions for good access towards good governance. They have raised awareness of legal rights in the people. The main condition for success is the good cooperation between all the organs of the Republic of Macedonia (judicial, etc). There is a necessary cooperation between the organs of the state and NGOs. This will lead to the final goal of the protect of the environment.

Next was a video speech by the Chairman of the Transportation, Communication and Ecology in the Parliament. He stated that this conference will help with legal tights. The Ombudsman should act whenever there is environmental harm. The citizens should be able to believe in their government to protect their rights.

The Minister of Norway was there, they were a partial sponsor, and he gave a short speech. He talked about how MK has adopted adequate laws and regulations towards the environment. The important thing for MK to do, he suggested, was to focus on the actual implementation. Proper monitoring is needed- and civil society can be helpful in this. Together, the different sectors need to jointly build capacity.

There was a short press conference break at this point. The Important People talked to the media about the environment and what was needed. I stood in the background and watched. I even got in a few of the news pictures, but I can’t find that link for you. They provided some snacks and drinks for us as well. At this point, all the news crews left as did many of the people.

When we all went back into the room, the Deputy Ombudsman for the Environment spoke. He talked about how the environment is important, especially for human life. They want maintainable development without violating the rights of future citizens. The government, who I am assuming she was referring to when she used “we,” wants regulations with compensation for the cost. They want the cost to be proportional to their ability to pay. There is a need for development and protection of the environment. MK should undertake protection before the damage i done, rather than try to restore the environment. The current laws aim to prevent risk/damage and mitigate them. There is a need for significance of raising public awareness for the protection of the environment. They need to provide information to kids and their family through schools and NGOs. The Prime Minister  believes that social country and a healthy environment equals a fundamental human right.  The right to access justice can be harmed everyday. There are Inspectorates for the Environment and Forest, and these people are allowed to make suggestions. They expect the NGO sector to be the press Representatives and address the ombudsman (who should be an independent expert and institution). They will then provide a general protection of legal rights. There was a law passed in 2008 about the procedure for Ombudsman. They are supposed to protect legal rights, on behalf of constitutional laws and ratified international agreements. Right now, there is a normative plan, most regulate the area with environmental law . It is relatively new, but regulated. He told us what to do when these rights are violated in MK. First, you should file a complain based upon facts, evidence, and your rights. Specifically who violated those rights. You can initiate those proceedings by yourself or in a group/NGO. There are very few complaints filed annually, and most of those that are filed are on individual rights.

Next,  Csaba Kiss an environmental law expert who manages the Environmental Management and Law Association (EMLA) in Hungary, spoke about the “EU Acquis, methods and practices with the EU Ombudsman.” He mentioned that there was a great number of won cases in Hungary. EMLA works to provide free legal aid to the citizens of the EU. They want to help create an agenda for the Rio conference. Their activities range from capacity building, input into policy making. You can’t expect the environmental agency to be the only protector. The Ombudsman is supposed to act for the people’s rights, but if there is no specific law, then they can not act.In the EU there is an incredible amount of environmental legislation. One way to have legislation is to empower citizens and NGOs. EU organizations have 3 months to respond to complaints against them.

Then Jadranka Ivanova, the Head od the Sector for the EU at the Ministry for Environment. There are 34 chapters for rights in the environment with 10 sub chapters. The EU completes progress monitoring by the EU and there is a timetable of implementation. They have to fulfill questionnaires. The Ministry prepares reports that can be seen at their website. The EU keeps updating their laws, which makes it harder for MK to keep up. In MK, the public can address the ministry and individual sectors. They prepare reports for all projects and how it will effect the environment. When an individual submits a law suit or complaint, the administration court can tell the ministry what they have violated. There are 3 categories of criminal offenses in MK for rights violations, but she didn’t go into detail.

Next, Kiss from EMLA came back to discuss environmental regulation in Hungary/the EU. Some countries never had environmental laws until the EU forced them to. Ireland was the only EU country to not ratify the Aarhus convention. Before the EU, Hungary followed international trends. They were good in certain issues but missing in others. Sometimes the laws were not implemented correctly across the different EU countries. There are many different social concerns for balancing the environmental optimization, but it is better not to compromise. They should let people have access, information and justice. Kiss believes that there should be free access for the people. In Hungary, lawyers can only bring cases, but they don’t pay the court fees, but they do pay 1% of other fees. Court cases must be held in a timely manner. within the first 4-9 months they must hold the first hearing. The first 60 days there must be an hearing in an administration case. There must be legal aid, with a free attorney. There is a limit for the time spent on the case. When EMLA provided training for judges, many didn’t know what the different conventions or laws were.

The Office of the Ombudsman presented about environmental court cases in MK. The different ones that they had presided over, and the different ones that others in the room were involved in. She went really fast while talking and presenting, and the translator could not keep up. So I am not 100% of everything that was discussed.

After her presentation, Kiss came back and presented about a few court cases they had worked in Hungary. In Hungary's new constitution, natural resources are considered heritage; access to healthy food and environments are also important. According to the new constitution there is no human right to a safe environment. And if there is no right, then lawyers or the ombudsman can’t respond. Currently the ombudsman can call the polluters to stop and challenge them in court. They are able to monitor international treaties and the national plan. But this law has recently changed, and stripped them of all their powers. The new law, only allows them to call attention to the problems, participate in the inquiry, and suggest court cases but they can not prosecute.

Then they closed the day and they were going to start up the next day.

Florozon

The next day they they started off my recapping the previous day a bit, then presented the booklet that Florozon had made about your legal rights in MK in regards to environmental legislation. The power had gone out, so it was a really short presentation.

There is some protection of human rights (such as against loud noise), and some NGOs can start the procedures. But there is limited use of the Ombudsman, they can’t stop the purchase of land, only the development of it. People have protested the falling of the lake or other small cases (logging on reserves). They also presented a few other cases:

• the lady who lived on the ground floor of an apartment building. They put a park bench in front of her window, where teenagers were loud and drinking every night. She successfully complained and got the bench moved to another part of the park. However, it required 213 interventions, or a really long time.
• The Vardar waste. It comes from a dump, and went to where the waste was thrown into the river. The waste is from the fast construction of a building near the dump. There needs to be better places for waste. They imitated public debates to move the waste to a better location, however, it was never moved.

There is a lack of citizen’s awareness about their rights. There is also a lack of awareness by the institutions. The most frequent example is noise protection.

There was a bit of a debate between the attendees between the different things that had been done in MK. They were discussing the classical infringement of law with trash. It was hard to follow, because there was a problem with the translators.

The event when on for a bit longer, but I had to go to another meeting that I had set up before learning about the workshop. So I am not sure exactly what it was that they talked about.