ECMI Minorities Blog. Legislative Reforms: A Turning Point in Ending Roma Statelessness in North Macedonia – But What’s Still Missing?

*** The blog posts are prepared by the authors in their personal capacity. The views expressed in the blog posts are the sole responsibility of the authors concerned and do not necessarily reflect the view of the European Centre for Minority Issues. ***

Author: Eugenia Ricciotti I https://doi.org/10.53779/JPJP0808

* Eugenia Ricciotti is a law graduate from the University of Trento, Italy, and is currently pursuing a second Master’s degree in Human Rights and Sustainability. Her first Master’s thesis examined the legal and social challenges faced by transnational minorities and Indigenous peoples, with a comparative focus on Roma and Sámi communities. As part of her research, she conducted field interviews in North Macedonia to assess regulatory gaps and the role of civil society in advancing minority rights in Europe. She aspires to build a career as a human rights advocate and researcher.

Statelessness in the Western Balkans

For thousands of Roma in the Western Balkans, being stateless means living a life excluded from the very systems designed to protect their dignity and fundamental rights. This blog post focuses on the situation of stateless Roma in North Macedonia. It examines the historical and structural causes of statelessness, reviews the country’s recent legal reforms, and evaluates their impact on Roma communities. Through policy analysis and expert interviews, this post explores both the progress made and the persistent gaps in addressing statelessness among marginalized communities.

When examining the issue of statelessness – which refers to the condition of not being considered a national by any state under the operation of its laws – it is important to recognize that it can result from various legal, political, or administrative reasons, and it manifests in two key forms: in situ and migratory.

In situ statelessness affects individuals who have deep-rooted ties to the territory they live in but have never been legally recognized by the state. Migratory statelessness, on the other hand, involves people who are migrants (or have a recent migratory background) and lack any effective nationality. While protection status like asylum might be appropriate for the latter, in situ statelessness – as experienced by Roma communities in the Western Balkans – requires solutions focused on access to documentation, civil registration, and ultimately, nationality.

Achieving these outcomes, however, is not possible without first identifying who is stateless. This is where formal Statelessness Determination Procedures (SDPs) become essential. Yet such mechanisms remain scarce across the region. To date, Kosovo is the sole Balkan country to have implemented a formal SDP. The absence of these procedures in other Western Balkan countries, including North Macedonia, leaves stateless individuals without a clear, institutional path to recognition. The problem is compounded by systemic issues like poverty, language barriers, lack of legal aid, and discriminatory practices in government offices. These challenges affect different groups, but Roma communities are disproportionately impacted.

In many cases, statelessness is used to justify discrimination. Roma are denied services not just because they lack documents, but because their lack of documents is framed as proof that they “are not from here.” But this logic is deeply flawed. The Roma have lived in the Western Balkans for centuries. What keeps them excluded is not a question of origin, but a persistent failure by states to recognize and uphold their rights.

Interviews with activists and civil servants have highlighted the persistence of a damaging narrative: that Roma individuals are unaware of their status or rights. While it is true that legal literacy can be low in marginalized communities, many Roma are fully aware of their lack of documentation and its consequences. What they lack is equal access to the legal remedies that would allow them to resolve their status. As one interviewee from an international organization working closely with stateless individuals in the region explained: “If you are stateless and someone rejects your claim, you have no legal appeal option because you have no legal capacity as you lack identity in front of the state.”

However, progress is possible, as shown by Serbia’s example: in 2012, after years of civil society advocacy, public official training, and awareness campaigns, it amended the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure (Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure, the Official Gazette of RS, 85/2012), allowing people without birth certificates to petition the courts to establish their date and place of birth. This enabled many previously undocumented individuals to gain legal recognition. North Macedonia’s path has been more complex, but not without hope. Legal reforms are underway, and Roma political representation has helped keep the issue on the agenda, though significant challenges remain.

Stateless Roma in North Macedonia

Statelessness in North Macedonia has persisted for decades. A striking example comes from the story of 93-year-old Ruža, who only recently obtained legal documents for the first time. Her experience suggests that statelessness has existed in the country for at least as long.

Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, many residents of the new Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (renamed as the Republic of North Macedonia in 2019) were left with outdated Yugoslav documents. Without timely information or access to legal assistance, they missed the window to register as Macedonian citizens. This group, diverse in ethnicity and background, formed the first major wave of stateless persons in the country.

The second-largest group was shaped primarily by discriminatory registration practices. Many Roma children were never registered at birth. This sometimes happened because the birth took place at home; at other times, even when the birth occurred in a hospital, the hospital failed to follow up and register the child. Roma women report that their children were disproportionately left unregistered, a form of discrimination rarely encountered by women from other ethnic groups in the country.

Today, the majority of in situ stateless persons in North Macedonia belong to the Roma community. A census conducted in 2002 identified over 17,000 stateless individuals, and while many cases have since been resolved, almost all of the unresolved cases involve Roma (figure provided by an interviewee from an international organization with direct experience working on statelessness). More recent data from the Macedonia Young Lawyers Association (hereinafter MYLA) suggests that around 700 people remain at risk of statelessness, and nearly 70% of them are Roma. The 2021 census listed 584 stateless persons, but experts agree that the real figure is much higher.

The human impact of these numbers comes into sharp focus through stories like that of BB, a Roma woman living in North Macedonia, who has spent her life without documents. As a result, she was unable to register any of her six children. Denied access to education, healthcare, and social services, she described her children as “invisible in the system.” Similarly Zulfija, a 55-year-old Roma woman born in Skopje, has lived most of her life without an ID. She has never visited a doctor, never held a job, and was forced to beg in order to survive. It was not until 2024 that she finally received a birth certificate.

These stories are not anomalies. They reflect a broader pattern of systemic neglect. However, in recent years, efforts to change this reality have begun to take shape.

A shifting landscape: Legal reforms in North Macedonia

While North Macedonia does not yet have a Statelessness Determination Procedure in place, recent legislative reforms represent a turning point. Much of this momentum came after the tragic deaths of Toni Sali and Memet Kamber, two young Roma men who were denied basic healthcare because they lacked identification. Their stories sparked public outrage and led to renewed advocacy efforts from Roma communities and civil society organizations. In Toni’s case, the Supreme Court of North Macedonia intervened, exposing institutional failures and calling the authorities to act.

In August 2021, North Macedonia introduced significant amendments to its Law on Citizenship, aimed at addressing long-standing cases of statelessness, particularly those stemming from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Under Article 7 of the Transitional and Final Provisions, a simplified naturalization process was established for individuals who could prove uninterrupted residence in the country since 8 September 1991. Applicants were required to provide at least one official document issued by Macedonian institutions from that period and were exempted from several of the standard requirements typically imposed on other foreigners. This reform, effective until August 2024, was designed to complement the country’s existing provisions for the naturalization of stateless individuals and recognized refugees. As a result, 273 people acquired Macedonian citizenship, most through this simplified procedure and others through marriage or related routes under Article 7a. However, despite this progress, the law still lacks a comprehensive safeguard to prevent new cases of childhood statelessness and provides no clear mechanism to identify children who would otherwise be stateless at or after birth registration.

In June 2023, Parliament adopted new amendments to the Law on Civil Registry. The centrepiece of this reform is Article 4a, which mandates that every child born in North Macedonia must be registered, “regardless of the nationality and personal status of their parents.” This provision represents a shift toward inclusive and proactive birth registration policies, aimed especially at preventing the generational statelessness that has disproportionately affected Roma. As researcher Ivana Spirovska explains, this phrasing is crucial because it avoids requiring a formal statelessness determination of the parents before a child can be registered, an especially important safeguard given that North Macedonia still lacks an official SDP. This choice of language helps to close a procedural gap that might otherwise delay or deny documentation to children born to undocumented or stateless parents. Article 9 of the amendments provides an additional safeguard: if parents fail to register their child within 45 days of birth, the responsibility automatically shifts to a legal guardian appointed by the Centre for Social Work, ensuring that children are not left unregistered due to parental barriers. The Registry Office and the Centre for Social Work have begun implementing this new framework which, if fully operational, could significantly improve access to legal identity for hundreds of children annually.

Efforts to measure the effectiveness of the law are currently underway. According to the UNHCR, approximately 700 babies born in 2024 and 2025 were identified as being at risk of statelessness. Of these, about 400 were successfully registered by the state or through intervention by the Centre for Social Work – an encouraging development, though still only slightly above 50%. The UNHCR is now advocating for birth certificates to be issued within 48 hours of delivery, ensuring that every mother leaves the hospital with legal documentation for her child, free of charge.

Field experience shared by Romalitico also highlights how Roma-led outreach has filled critical gaps left by the state. Through local hubs and community coordinators, they were able to locate individuals without documents, many of whom the government had been unable to trace. Yet, as they noted, this work was heavily reliant on donor-funded projects, and the withdrawal of flexible funding now threatens to stall progress on unresolved cases.

More progress came in October 2023, when new amendments simplified the process for registering residence and obtaining identification. For the first time, homeless individuals, people residing in health or social institutions, and those living in informal settlements could use their place of stay as their legal residence. This reform is particularly important for Roma families who have lived in informal housing for a long time and were previously unable to prove residency. The reform allows social workers or municipal officers to verify informal residence, paving the way for legal recognition that had previously been blocked by rigid address requirements. As Spirovska argues, “the law should adapt to the reality” and not just the other way around, emphasizing that legal frameworks must account for cultural practices rather than force Roma communities to conform to rigid administrative norms that exclude them.

However, several challenges persist. First, the authorities tasked with enforcing the law still lack adequate training to navigate complex situations, particularly when a mother lacks valid identification herself. Delays have also been reported from the Centre for Social Work, especially in cases where the parents’ address has changed or is unclear, making it harder to deliver the initial birth certificate. For children born before these amendments came into force, there is no streamlined process for late registration, leaving many still unaccounted for in the system. Another layer of complexity arises when hospitals report births; while this is a positive step, parents are still required to appear in person at the civil registration office within two months and present proof of their identity and civil status. Unfortunately, the legislation does not specify exactly how such proof should be presented, leaving decisions largely to the discretion of officials, which can result in inconsistent application and further bureaucratic obstacles.

Despite these positive changes, MYLA reported identifying at least 20 new unregistered persons in the first half of 2025 alone. As of July 2025, 168 stateless persons are still waiting to resolve their status and navigating the process to secure citizenship, reminding us that meaningful implementation often remains a long and difficult road.

Moreover, as Marija Sulejmanova (Programme Manager) and Suad Skenderi (Executive Director) of Romalitico point out, there are still no clear guidelines on how municipalities should process applications from individuals without a permanent address. So, while the law allows municipalities to assign an address, in practice this rarely happens due to institutional hesitation and unclear procedures.

Persistent barriers and the road ahead

While legislative progress is encouraging, implementation remains uneven. One of the biggest obstacles is systemic discrimination. Statelessness is still used as an excuse to deny Roma access to services and to justify their exclusion from society. Bureaucratic hurdles, untrained civil servants, and poorly-coordinated outreach efforts mean that even legally eligible individuals often face practical barriers.

Many Roma now understand the importance of documentation and are actively seeking to resolve their status. But fear remains. Being undocumented often means risking detention or police harassment. Some people avoid contact with authorities altogether. Others remain in a legal grey zone, finding it easier to stay hidden than to navigate an unfamiliar and often hostile system. As one expert noted, while outreach has improved, many still hesitate to engage with institutions due to lack of trust – a problem made worse when legal procedures drag on for years without resolution.

Institutional inertia further slows implementation, not only because state officials are often unfamiliar with new procedures, but also because shifting longstanding practices takes time. Even when training is provided, adapting to new approaches is a gradual process. Many officials have followed the same routines for decades, and meaningful change rarely happens overnight.

Clearly, North Macedonia has taken meaningful steps toward ending statelessness: the government’s commitment to addressing historical injustices and the recent legal reforms are commendable. Yet the work is far from done.

Roma communities continue to face the highest barriers to legal identity and inclusion. Without sustained implementation, proper training of public officials, and continuous outreach, especially by Roma-led organizations, even the strongest legal frameworks risk falling short. To move forward, it is essential to fully implement existing reforms, establish an SDP, ensure universal birth registration at the time of delivery, and invest in community-driven advocacy. Ultimately, addressing statelessness is not just a legal obligation; it is a matter of dignity, belonging, and justice, as no one should remain stateless in the country they call home.