President Iliana Iotova briefed UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on violations of the rights of Bulgarians in the Republic of North Macedonia. At a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the general political debate during the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, she said that systematic institutional pressure and discriminatory treatment based on ethnic origin continue to be exercised in North Macedonia, the President’s Press Secretariat said.

“It is unacceptable for us, in the 21st century, that people should lose their jobs or be denied access to university because of their origin, or beaten because of their Bulgarian origin. A law with retroactive effect will also come into force in North Macedonia, which will violate their freedom of association,” the head of State said.

Iliana Iotova briefed Volker Turk on the case of Iva Mihaylova – a 23-year-old woman holding dual citizenship of the Republic of North Macedonia and Bulgaria, who has not been allowed to receive medical treatment in Bulgaria because she is facing legal proceedings in Kocani, Republic of North Macedonia. The President said that Bulgaria had offered either for Iva to be treated in Bulgaria or for a medical team from Bulgaria to be sent for a consultation, but Skopje had not agreed.

Earlier in September, Iliana Iotova presented Iva Mihaylova’s case to Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset, the President’s Press Secretariat recalled.

On Monday, Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova told Bulgarian journalists that no bilateral meeting with the Macedonian delegation was planned during the participation of the Bulgarian delegation in the general political debate at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

President Iotova congratulated Volker Turk on his active work to protect human rights.

“Human rights cannot be taken for granted and we must constantly fight for them, especially in the context of the conflicts of recent years. Unfortunately, we are abandoning documents that have already been adopted to protect them,” the head of state stressed. She also raised the issue of protecting human rights in the age of artificial intelligence, stressing that alongside the development of technology, adequate policies must also be developed.

Bulgaria is an example of a good ethnic model in Europe, Iliana Iotova said, as quoted by her Press Secretariat.