19.06.2015, Under the People to People component, from 9-11 June 2015, organized by TACSO Macedonia the president of CED, Mr. Metin Muaremi participated on a study visit on Fundamental freedoms and anti-discrimination to EU Institutions and CSOs based in Brussels together with 11 Macedonian CSOs active in the area of fundamental freedoms and anti-discrimination. Participants met representatives of relevant institutions and organizations including DG NEAR, DG JUST, Council of Europe, OHCHR, European Court of Human Rights, European Network of Equality Bodies etc.
The general objectives of this project are to strengthen the overall capacities and accountability of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) within the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) beneficiaries and to guarantee the quality of services of CSOs and a sustainable role of the CSOs in the democratic process. Fundamental rights and anti-discrimination study visit has objective to provide the participants with possibility to explore the issues of fundamental rights (freedom of assembly, association and expression) and anti-discrimination (equal opportunities, rights of marginalized groups) from the perspective of legal basis, institutional frame and practices and harmonization with international and EU policies and standards.
“Having in mind my previous experience, first of all as participant on different activities and projects, and later leader of a CSO and trainer on several projects in the country I think that I could contribute a lot. Something that I believe could contribute to this event, are the positive experiences from a micro level the cooperation that we have with the children Foundation Pestalozzi and exchanges that we implement within the country, but also in macro level these examples might be use as positive experiences in a national and international level.”… says Mr.Muaremi.
One of the three stands of the Civil Society Facility (CSF), a strategy towards civil society by the Directorate General European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) that foresees support both at the national and multi-country level, is the TACSO P2P Component.
The topics of fundamental rights and anti-discrimination resulted as country priorities from the P2P on-line consultations with CSOs at the end of 2014. It is also confirmed by the latest EU Progress report for the country. Thus, Macedonian TACSO office in cooperation with Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation – TACSO Resource Centre is organizing study visit to relevant EU and international institutions and CSOs based in Brussels.