During the annual Brussels Advocacy Week 2025, determined women’s rights activists from Kosovo, and the region, are calling for the European Union (EU) to support the rights and security of women at home. Today, they asked the European Commission (EC) for stronger political support and more focus on gender equality in the forthcoming EC Kosovo Report, which is being prepared by the Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST). 

Vetone Veliu from the Mitrovica Women Association for Human Rights (MWAHR) focused on the political and security situation in northern Kosovo, particularly the lack of safety for women amid growing political tensions. “When the Dialogue stops, the tensions grow,” she said, referring to the frozen EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue. She emphasised that women’s voices remain left out of peace talks between Kosovo and Serbia. The Government of Kosovo’s closing of Serb-run institutions, with insufficient prior notice to the local population, has contributed to difficulties for people, particularly for the elderly who struggle to access their pensions and medicine, she said.  

Indeed, research by the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) also has shown that due to economic inequalities among women and men, minority women face added barriers accessing transportation and thus pensions, healthcare, and medicine.  

Dafina Prekazi Pallaska from the Kosovar Gender Studies Centre (KGSC) expressed concern over continued delays in forming the Government of Kosovo after the February elections. She noted the urgent need to amend electoral laws prior to forthcoming elections, ensuring equal representation of women and men at 50%, as defined by the Law on Gender Equality. She mentioned several laws that the Government has delayed and which the EU should encourage them to adopt urgently with inclusive public consultation processes, including the Labour Law and the Civil Code. She emphasised that the Government must listen to women’s groups when making new laws and be more transparent. 

Nicole Farnsworth, KWN Deputy Director and Lead Researcher, spoke about the need to protect women from violence. While praising the Government’s progress on related legislative reforms, she highlighted the need for the EC to focus on implementation, as a Rule of Law issue. She asked the EU to call upon the Government to amend the Criminal Code to include clearer provisions on technology-facilitated gender-based cyberviolence, to establish the Rape Crisis Centre, to establish clear protocols for relevant institutions based on the new legal framework and institutionalise training for them, to improve operations of municipal coordination mechanisms and to budget adequately for social services, all as per the existing legal framework. 

Activists also raised concerns regarding the continuing EU measures against Kosovo. “We implore the EU to continue the dialogue,” they said, explaining how discontinuing the political dialogue has undermined progress towards EU Accession. Specifically, this has resulted in civil society, including women’s groups, losing the opportunity to dialogue with the EU and Government via Stabilisation Association Agreement (SAA) Committee and Subcommittee meetings, they said. This hampers civil society monitoring and pressure for progress on reforms, undermining inclusive democratic discussion around reforms. It also leaves space for narratives counter to EU Accession to gain footing, as people have fewer opportunities to see progress via these dialogues, or to see how it is affecting their lives, as civil society used to be able to demonstrate during prior dialogues.  

“The solution is to dialogue” and not to discontinue it, they said. Activists warned that without continued political dialogue, the risk exists of growing narratives counter to EU Accession and even conflict. They called on the EU to urgently reinstate the political dialogue with Kosovo, inclusive of diverse civil society organisations.  

This advocacy trip was made possible with support from the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). KWN has participated in this advocacy work since 2010, MWAHR since 2012 and KGSC since 2012. 

As Nicole, Vetone and Dafina reminded actors in Brussels, progress towards EU Accession can only take place with the full engagement of diverse women.  

For more information about the issues that they are raising in Brussels this week, see their brief, here: 

https://womensnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FINAL_DG-ENEST-Kosovo-input-2025.pdf