North Macedonia

The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia has strengthened institutional responses toward gender-responsive governance with government policies and measures to shift the socio-economic landscape for rural women, addressing one of the most persistent gender inequalities in the region. The State Audit Office of North Macedonia led the first-ever regional cooperative audit on Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality), in collaboration with the Supreme Audit Institutions of Kosovo and Albania. This regional audit was a result of the longstanding commitment and strategic engagement of UN WOMEN with key stakeholders, including the State Audit Office and Supreme Audit Institutions of neighbouring countries. The audit thematically focused on inclusion of rural women on the labour market. Findings from this ground-breaking gender performance audit were presented to and reviewed by the Parliamentary Committee for Equal Opportunities, elevating gender-responsive budgeting and planning to the highest levels of governance. As a direct result of this audit and parliamentary review, the Government committed to a series of transformative actions to improve the socio-economic status of rural women:

Enhanced agricultural policies to provide targeted financial support for rural women;


A national action plan to boost employment opportunities for rural women and formally recognize unpaid care work, with a pathway toward securing pension rights


Expanded access to essential public services, including health, education, and economic support;


And Amendments to the Health Insurance Law, ensuring maternity leave and sick leave for registered women farmers.

Women and girl survivors of gender-based violence can now benefit from an amended Criminal Code which defines and criminalizes most forms of violence against women, harmonized with the standards of the Istanbul Convention. Five years after the adoption of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the Istanbul Convention (2018-2023), in February 2023 the Parliament of North Macedonia adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code harmonizing it with the standards of the Istanbul Convention. The Code now defines gender-based violence against women and victims of gender-based violence (GBV); it criminalizes stalking, female genital mutilation, sexual harassment including in the online space. The definition of rape is now based on consent, and it incriminates rape of a current or previous spouse or intimate partner. The Code also criminalizes the murder of women and girls within GBV (i.e. femicide) and includes economic and psychological violence as types of domestic violence. Additional crimes were amended to include stricter penalties if they are committed as a part of, or are consequence, of GBV.
UN Women supported the process by participating in technical working meetings, providing expert advice, organizing discussions with civil society organizations, and by supporting an awareness-raising campaign for the public on the Istanbul Convention’s provisions and the urgent need to amend the Criminal Code.?Moreover, the background work in amending the Criminal Code included a gap analysis of the country’s commitments under the Istanbul Convention and the provisions of its Criminal Code, and subsequent advocacy and expert-level dialogue with the Government and Parliament to amend existing legislation in the field of gender-based violence and gender-based discrimination, in line with the Istanbul Convention. These were collaborative efforts between UN Women and CSO partners Centre for Research and Policy Making, the National Network on Ending Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, and the Macedonian Women’s Lobby.
The result contributes towards the achievement of SDG 5 targets 5.2 and 5.9, and UNSDCF Outcome 2.?
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