Age Discrimination in the Republic of Macedonia and the Approach of the Constitutional Court

Abstract

The Constitutional court of the Republic of Macedonia has a jurisdiction to deal with cases of alleged inter alia age discrimination. This jurisdiction derives directly from the Constitution, which makes the Constitutional court the highest court deciding on cases of human rights violations, including discrimination. In it’s jurisdiction, the Constitutional court has dealt with issues of age distinctions, such as the mandatory retirement or the use of age as a criterion in access to different benefits. The paper focuses on the approach of the Constitutional court of the Republic of Macedonia towards the concept of age discrimination. Namely, in its jurisdiction when dealing with such cases the Constitutional Court doesn’t apply the test of proportionality. Wrongly, the Court accepts age as being objective criterion in employment or education. In this way, the Constitutional Court even contradicts with Macedonia’s international obligations and the case-law of the main international jurisdictions, such as the Court of Justice of the European Union. The paper points out the national legal framework, as well as international standards, on protection from age discrimination.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n2p241