As an member of the official governmental working group drafting the new Law on Gender Equality, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) had the opportunity to review and provide detailed comments on several versions of the draft law. The process, which began in late 2015, has since concluded. From the more than 20 comments that KWN made on the most recent draft of the Law, seven were reflected in the new Law on Gender Equality (No. 05/L -020), adopted on 28 May 2015. It was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Kosovo on 26 June and already has entered into force.
Among the comments provided by KWN that have been successfully reflected in the new Law include:
- Article 5.1.8: All institutions should collect gender-disaggregated data and submit it to the Agency of Statistics of Kosovo (ASK)
- Article 8.1.9 and 8.12: Analyses of the status of gender equality in Kosovo together with a report on the implementation of the law should be published and made publicly available
- KWN, among other key stakeholders such as the Agency for Gender Equality and GIZ also advocated successfully for the Law to require all institutions in Kosovo to carry out gender budgeting.
While we are happy that our advocacy was successful and some of the recommendations brought forth by KWN were taken into consideration, the still has several shortcomings. For further information about these, please read our latest article: “Kosovo’s New Law on Gender Equality: The Good, The Bad, The Questionable”. Even so, we hope that the proper implementation of this Law will contribute to furthering gender equality in Kosovo. For more information, click here to see the new Law on Gender Equality. If you have any comments or suggestions please share them with us.
