From Risk Recognition to Prevention: Perceptions of Femicide and Institutional Response in North Macedonia

Femicide, as the most severe manifestation of gender-based violence, has received increasing legal, institutional, and societal attention in the Republic of North Macedonia in recent years. A particularly significant development was the 2023 amendment to the Criminal Code, which further aligned the national criminal-law framework with the standards of the Istanbul Convention and recognised the killing of a woman or girl in the context of gender-based violence. Nevertheless, normative progress alone does not address the full complexity of the problem. Domestic analyses of judicial practice, as well as GREVIO assessments, point to the need for further improvement in practical implementation, institutional coordination, victim protection, and the timely recognition of risk.
Of particular importance to femicide prevention is the understanding that a fatal outcome is often the culmination of prior and ongoing violence, meaning that opportunities for prevention should be identified well before the final act of violence occurs. The occurrence of femicide cases in North Macedonia in recent years has highlighted the need for their systematic monitoring and analysis in order to facilitate the timely recognition of risk patterns, identify institutional shortcomings, and develop more effective prevention mechanisms. Femicide should therefore be approached not only as a matter requiring an appropriate criminal justice response after the offence has occurred, but primarily as a matter of recognising the escalation of violence in a timely manner and ensuring that institutions are capable of preventing a fatal outcome.
Against this background, the presentation will show contemporary challenges in the recognition and prevention of femicide in North Macedonia, with particular attention to risk assessment and institutional response. To complement this analysis, selected findings from an empirical study examining perceptions of femicide risk among different categories of respondents will also be presented. The findings are used to address the broader questions of whether danger is recognised sufficiently early, which warning indicators have the strongest influence on perceptions of risk, and at what point the need for more intensive institutional intervention is recognised.
Authors proceed from the premise that effective femicide prevention requires a shift from responding to individual incidents towards dynamic and cumulative risk assessment, followed by timely, coordinated, and proportionate institutional intervention.