On 15-17 February, a Macedonian delegation led by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Mr. Xhelal Bajrami, visited the Netherlands as part of the project “Strengthening National Capacities to Prevent Domestic Violence 2008-2011”. The delegation consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Institute for Social Affairs, Ministry of Interior, civil society, UNDP and Netherlands Embassy in Skopje. The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the way domestic violence is dealt with in the Netherlands.

The visit started with a meeting with the Minister of Justice Hirsh Ballin. The two ministers exchanged information on how the two governments deal with the problem of domestic violence, and the delegation was given a presentation of the central government policy approach of the Netherlands. The visit then proceeded with a meeting at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, where they were informed about the code of reporting of domestic violence, but also about some specific cases of domestic violence such as honor killing and genital mutilation.

The delegation also paid a visit to the regional police Haaglanden and was informed about the police role in dealing with domestic violence. Here, the delegation found the presentation on the temporary restraint order of the perpetrators which was introduced in 2009 particularly interesting. Work with the perpetrators was also discussed at De Waag organization.

The mission included a visit to the municipality of Groningen and the police force there. Since the cooperation between the Macedonian and the Dutch Ministry of Interior has intensified after signing of an MoU at the end of 2009, the Groningen police is the one that will work with the Macedonian police most directly.

The visit ended with a day-long stay in Venlo, where the delegation was introduced first hand to the decentralized way of working with domestic violence at a municipal level. The safe house in Venlo was visited, but also a day care centre for homeless and drug users, as well as Mutsaersstichting.