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Judiciary Reform – 2003

According to the American Bar Association report, out of 633 judges, 561 (88.7%) are Macedonians and 41 (6.5%) were Albanians. The report states that “across the judiciary as a whole, ethnic Macedonians and Vlachs are overrepresented, and the other ethnic communities are underrepresented. However, the situation varies from court to court. In the Supreme Court, for example, 6 of the 22 presently sitting judges (27.2%) are ethnic Albanians, as are 5 of 19 judges (26.3%) in the Gostivar Basic Court, and 4 of 17 judges (23.5%) in the Kicevo Basic Court—close to their percentage in the population at large. In some courts, particularly in western Macedonia, there are even higher percentages of ethnic Albanian judges. For example, 11 of 28 judges (39.3%) in the Tetovo Basic Court and 3 of 5 judges (60%) in the Debar Basic Court are ethnic Albanians. Nevertheless, to achieve the Constitution’s goal of fair representation of citizens of all communities, more needs to be done.”¹

1. “Judicial reform Index for Macedonia (Volume II),” American Bar Association, November 2003, 9, accessed March 9, 2010, http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UNTC/UNPAN017582.pdf.