TRANSNATIONAL MEETING 2 - KUMANOVO 16.10.2020

RIGHTS


The main focus of the roundtable was to explore the reality of North Macedonia regarding sports fans, prevention, and statistics on violence on stadiums as well as intercultural dialogue and hate speech. Besides the honorable guests invited by CID, the meeting was attended by representatives of partner organisations “The Gentlemen” and FC “Lokomotiva” from Belgrade, A.S.T.E.R.I Association from Salonika and hosts CID Kumanovo. CID executive director Nami Isaki opened the roundtable by welcoming the guests with a short presentation of CID vision, mission, and activities of the organization. The CID Project Coordinator Andrijana Taševska continued moderating the meeting. On the agenda, there was a presentation of OSCE Mission to Skopje’s campaign against hate speech and hate crimes at sports events where there were short videos presented under the motto “Hate doesn’t play on our field! Let’s exclude it from the stands too!” Violeta Bogdanovska, the head of the regional Police prevention department provided the insights and statistics regarding stadium violence and preventive measures taken by the Police in the country Northeastern region. A positive note was that the disturbances of public order at sports matches are declining, and crime events are even non-existent. The Local councils of prevention are composed of representatives from different institutions, the NGO sector as well as the Police, and every one of them is working to the same aim: to enjoy cheering for the favourite teams without insults and violence events. Florim Rexhepi was the last speaker at the roundtable. He talked about the impact that CID youth center MultiКулти has on young people in overcoming extreme nationalism in the multi-ethnic society that we live in. He also talked about the No Hate Speech Movement that CID was part of and the annual School against hate speech that CID organizes, as well as the annual race Born2Run and how such athletic races events are making the youth of North Macedonia more inclusive. Unfortunately, the presentation from the Football Federation of North Macedonia which has been scheduled on the agenda could not be provided. Mr Imran Saqipi, the CID collaborator and contact from FFNM died of COVID-19.