A string of femicides in North Macedonia (a small landlocked country in the western Balkans) has intensified pressure on authorities to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete action against domestic violence. The killing of Ajnet Vejsel, a 31-year-old mother of four stabbed to death by her estranged partner in the city of Bitola on May 14, was the fifth such case reported this year. The deaths follow a high-profile March incident in which a young mother and her daughter leapt from a balcony in the capital, Skopje, after years of abuse — a case that resulted in a 12-year prison sentence for the perpetrator in May.