Femicide in North Macedonia: Romani women’s network condemns state’s failure to protect
08 May 2025
Outrage continues to mount following the femicide of Ramajana Asan. Following the ERRC letter and complaint submitted to the Equality Body against the Ministry of Interior, a joint message was sent by the Network for Support of Romani Women Ramajana to North Macedonian authorities on 6 May, condemning police failures to act on the victim’s multiple reports of domestic violence as yet another instance of systemic neglect.
Ramajana Asan, a 36-year-old Romani Woman from Šuto Orizari was murdered by her partner in front of her five-year-old daughter in her home on 3 May 2025. The signatories – over 60 Romani women and 24 organisations from different corners of Europe – stated that the case was emblematic of broader structural failures in the prevention of gender-based violence: “Romani women are among the most affected by violence and the least protected. In 2024 alone, 142 cases of domestic violence against Romani women were registered in North Macedonia.”
Despite multiple reports of domestic violence made by Ramajana—including in the presence of her father and other witnesses—authorities failed to file a formal criminal complaint or implement protective measures. Police officers allegedly dismissed her complaints, reassuring her that she would ‘reconcile’ with her abuser, rather than conducting risk assessments or pursuing legal action. Despite standard police protocols requiring officers to assess risk levels, gather evidence such as visible injuries, and make arrests when there is probable cause to believe a family offense has been committed.
“It appears that these procedures were not properly adhered to in Ramajana's case”, according to the Romani women’s network, which described the police response as a significant deviation from established practice for domestic violence cases, which “include treating all reports with seriousness, conducting private interviews in appropriate settings, documentingevidence, and taking immediate action when danger is present.”
The signatories to the letter, (addressed to the ministers for internal affairs, social policy, demography and youth; the Public Prosecutor; the Ombudsman; and the President of the Commission for Prevention and Protection against Discrimination) described the pattern of inaction as a failure of the State to fulfil its obligations under the law on domestic violence, as well as the Istanbul Convention: “The lack of a prompt, thorough, and victim-centred institutional response – including from the police, social services, and judiciary – signals systemic neglect that must be addressed with urgency.”
The letter cites studies and date which reveal the scale of domestic violence in North Macedonia, and which indicate that in the majority of femicide cases, victims had previously reported incidents of violence to authorities without receiving sufficient protection. The Center for the Support of Women Victims of Gender-Based and Domestic Violence ISI ARKA, located in Šuto Orizari, has documented numerous cases indicating that Romani women encounter significant barriers when reporting domestic violence, exacerbated by multiple forms of discrimination. Women from this community consistently express feelings of abandonment by institutional entities, citing sluggish and inadequate responses to their complaints. The deadly consequences of this systemic neglect became all too evident in the case of Ramajana Asan.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
