Deciding on a complaint filed by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Commission for Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination found that the Public Transportation Enterprise – JSP Skopje conducted direct discrimination on the basis of his ethnicity and skin color. against the person with initials S.U. who was kicked out of a bus owned and operated by the enterprise.
The complaint submitted to the CPPD states that in February, S.U. was insulted, harassed and attacked by the controllers of bus number 45 of JSP, which was traveling from Madzari to Avtokomanda. Although S.U. possessed an annual ticket, he was insulted on the basis of ethnicity and skin color after which he was kicked off the bus.
A request for a statement on the said complaint was sent to the Public Transport Enterprise – JSP Skopje in May, but no response was received.
Guided by international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Commission has identified the existence of direct discrimination in the case at hand.
The CPD recommends to JSP in the future to provide unhindered and equal access to the goods and services of all citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia, regardless of their ethnicity and race. The Commission also recommends JSP Skopje to conduct training to raise the awareness of its employees on how to work with marginalized groups of citizens.
In accordance with the legal competencies, the Commission will monitor the implementation of the opinions and recommendations, until their fulfilment. If the subject to whom the recommendation is addressed does not act upon it, the Commission has the legal competence to submit a request for initiating a misdemeanour procedure before a competent court.