The team participating in the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program from North Macedonia has completed its plan of an advocacy campaign to counter the blocking of social accounts.
In this country of the Balkan peninsula, unpaid fines, loans, debts on utility and other payments, can block a bank account. This situation often becomes a serious problem even for a person with a high salary, since many save money on the card, and for low-income citizens blocking their social accounts, in general, may lead to catastrophic consequences.
“It happens that families who have been provided with social assistance and thus survived can be left without income and means of subsistence in five months. They are forced to collect secondary raw materials or, worse, to undertake activities engaging deviant behavior. NGO KHAM-Delcevo has identified and helped more than 40 such families, yet we are seeking a systemic legislative and constitutional solution. This problem affects more than 10,000 families in North Macedonia, most of whom are representatives of the Roma community,” said Zoran Bikovski, KyivLEPP member, Coordinator of the health program at NGO KHAM-Delcevo.
Activists managed to sign a memorandum of cooperation between the Chamber of Financial Bailiffs and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. According to this memorandum, as well as the new Law on social guarantees in North Macedonia, the accounts of social assistance recipients must be protected. However, financial bailiffs cannot determine whether the account number is social, so they continue to block everything in a row. The second team from North Macedonia sought a solution to this problem during the design thinking course of the Kyiv Legal Empowerment Practical Program.
This month, the team, with the support of KyivLEPP mentor Iryna Chaika, has completed the action plan based on a prototype developed during the program. Their idea is to run an advocacy campaign to counter the blocking of social accounts. First of all, the team plans to draw public attention to this problem through social networks and media, as well as to inform vulnerable groups on their legal rights. At the same time, KyivLEPP graduates intend to enlist the support of the Roma Health Network and the Macedonian Anti-Poverty Platform. Next, data on cases of blocking the accounts of social assistance recipients are to be collected. The results of the campaign against non-compliance with the law on enforcement law and violation of the right to life of recipients of social income should be negotiations with state authorities to find a definitive solution to the problem.
The program is implemented by the Ukrainian School of Practical Knowledge on Access to Justice through the joint creation of colleagues from the Ukrainian Legal Aid Foundation, the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, the Legal Development Network, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Law Club PRAVOKATOR. Kyiv and with the expert and financial support of the Human Rights and Justice Program of the International Renaissance Foundation.