Ohrid Agreement Implementation*

Securing Implementation of the Ohrid Agreement through Concrete Policy Action

Project description

The signing of the Framework Agreement in Ohrid on 13 August 2001 presented Macedonia as well as the international community with a unique opportunity to put an end to an ethnic conflict that threatened to destroy the country. Thus far, however, implementation of the Agreement has been limited to the largely hesitant adoption of legislation in parliament. At this stage, the population of Macedonia as a whole has yet to be convinced that holding to the terms of the Ohrid Agreement yields benefits for all of Macedonia's ethnic communities.

This project seeks to promote the transformation of Macedonia into a civic, multiethnic state as outlined in the Framework Agreement. By establishing a standing and fully interethnic forum for dialogue and the development of practical policies related to the requirements of the Agreement, the project will establish routine cooperation among civil society organizations, local independent experts, and political parties reflecting a wide range of views and ethnic communities. This cooperation will serve in turn to ensure that the Agreement is implemented in such a way as to bring direct and concrete benefits to disenfranchised communities.

Although this is a new project, it builds on ECMI's activities in Macedonia to date (see ECMI's "NGO Network for the Improvement of Interethnic Relations in the Republic of Macedonia") and shares the central aims of those activities:

To demonstrate the benefits of interethnic cooperation;
To enhance the standing, competence, and influence of the NGO sector; and
To encourage cooperation between NGOs and the organs of local-government.

Project activities

Toward realization of the changes outlined in the Framework Agreement, ECMI will establish four Implementation Committees organized around the following topics:

Education and Youth;
Health;
Human Rights, Police, and Justice; and
Economic Development and Equal Opportunities.

The Implementation Committees will be multiethnic in composition and will consist largely of prominent experts from Macedonia's NGO sector. At the same time, the current project moves beyond ECMI's earlier work in Macedonia by seeking to establish an ongoing dialogue with the central government.

Composed of 10-15 persons each, the Implementation Committees will bring together:

Specialized domestic NGOs representing Macedonia's various ethnic communities;
Prominent figures from Macedonian academic and professional institutions;
State-level representatives of Macedonia's major political parties; and
Officials from relevant state offices.

Through the work of the Implementation Committees, the project will forge a self-sustaining, interethnic, and interdisciplinary network which will serve as a resource for state and local authorities concerned with the same issues. The additional presence of international experts on the Implementation Committees will further contribute to the sustainability of the project by ensuring a transfer of knowledge to domestic actors.
During the main phase of the project, each Implementation Committee will meet on a regular basis. Following each meeting, the Implementation Committee in question will produce a recommendation paper for presentation to parliamentary committees, political parties, pressure groups, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral donors, government institutions, and representatives of local government.

Ongoing contacts among members of the Implementation Committees as well as between the Implementation Committees and the regular recipients of their recommendations will be maintained through electronic mailing lists. Additionally, a project website will serve as a tri-lingual (Albanian, English, and Macedonian) resource for members of the Implementation Committees, as well as for those interested in the Implementation Committees' work.

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