DUI Raises Alarm Over Representation in Interior Ministry: Fewer Than 40 Albanians Among 549 New Police Officers and Only One Among 30 Honorees

The Democratic Union for Integration has raised concerns over the level of Albanian representation in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the party, the latest data point to a serious reversal of the principle of fair and adequate representation in the police force.

Of the 549 new police officers hired by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, fewer than 40 are Albanian, DUI said. This figure represents around 7 percent of all those hired.

The party claims that the disparity was also evident during the Police Day ceremony. Of the 30 police officers decorated as the best performers, only one was Albanian. According to DUI, these figures cannot be considered isolated cases but instead indicate the direction that staffing policy at the Ministry of Internal Affairs has taken.

The statement said the same disproportionate ratio was also evident during the Police Day commemoration, when only one Albanian was included among the 30 police officers who received decorations. DUI said this fact, together with the number of Albanians hired as part of the group of 549 new police officers, paints a clear picture of the Interior Ministry’s current staffing policies.

The Democratic Union for Integration recalled that the police were among the key institutions in which the Ohrid Framework Agreement brought profound changes to the representation of Albanians in state structures. The party stressed that fair and adequate representation was established as a constitutional standard to ensure that state institutions reflect North Macedonia’s multiethnic character and the composition of the country’s population.

According to DUI, the major change brought about by the Ohrid Agreement in the police force centered precisely on the representation of Albanians. Enshrining this principle at the constitutional level was intended to ensure that the structure of state institutions was consistent with the country’s multiethnic character.

The party noted that, 25 years after the signing of the Ohrid Agreement, the latest figures from the Ministry of Internal Affairs signal a reversal in the process of Albanian representation.

DUI reiterated that fewer than 40 Albanians among the 549 new police officers, as well as only one Albanian among the 30 decorated officers, are concrete evidence of the Interior Ministry’s current staffing policy. According to the party, these results, recorded 25 years after the Ohrid Agreement, show that the process is moving in the opposite direction.

Concluding its statement, the Democratic Union for Integration warned that it would continuously monitor every recruitment process, promotion and appointment at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as at other state institutions. The party said it would publicize every case in which the principle of fair and adequate representation is violated.