PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE OMBUDSMAN ON THE PROBLEM WITH UNREGISTERED PERSONS IN THE CIVIL REGISTRY

11.02.2025, SKOPJE

The Ombudsman, Mr. Nasser Ziberi, held a press conference at which he raised the issue/problem with unregistered persons in the civil registry, which mostly affects the so-called vulnerable categories of citizens, and which, as he said, has never been finally resolved.

"I assume that almost all of you are well aware that the problem of unregistered persons in the civil registry has been a long-standing one and that a special Law on Unregistered Persons in the Civil Registry was adopted to resolve it, which in the meantime was amended to extend the deadline for submitting requests and ensuring the appropriate rights. Non-governmental organizations were also involved in this process, which helped resolve the problem of registering persons and helping with their identification. The parliament even organized a supervisory hearing. However, the institution continues to receive complaints in this area, which indicates that there are still persons who are visible to the system," said, among other things, the Ombudsman, Mr. Nasser Ziberi.

At the press conference, he illustrated this situation with the example of a child born in 2012, who until January of this year, for almost 13 years, had the status of an unregistered person in the birth registry, and during all these years, could not exercise the same rights as all other children.

"After the child's mother submitted a request to the Ministry of Justice - Civil Registry Office for additional registration in the birth registry and did not receive it within the legal deadline, last 2024, the case was reported to the Ombudsman (OP), who, as I said above, successfully resolved it at the beginning of this 2025.

That is why, as the Ombudsman, I am using this opportunity to call on all citizens facing such problems to contact our office to receive appropriate assistance. I also announce that in 2025, as in 2021, we will return to this topic and try to see if there are still and how many people who, due to the lack of a civil registry extract, are invisible to the system," emphasized the Ombudsman, Mr. Nasser Ziberi.