Today, on February 20th, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) in cooperation with the shelter “Center for Shelter of Women and Children” in Prizren, concluded the series of trainings on the State Protocol for Treatment of Sexual Violence Cases.

The Executive Director of this center, Jubilea Kabashi, thanked KWN for their continuous support in dealing with cases of gender-based violence during the opening of the meeting.

Besarta Breznica, the Program Officer for Addressing Gender-Based Violence in KWN, said that the series of training for the State Protocol for Treatment of Sexual Violence Cases is closing today. She described it as quite effective, considering the number of participants who have benefited from the training.

The Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, was present at the meeting and expressed deep gratitude for the continuous work of the KWN in addressing gender-based violence. She further stated that justice institutions should be more committed to eradicating this problem.

“During the past year, 60 percent of the cases of violence have been addressed or are being addressed, but it should be noted that we also need power from the prosecutorial and judicial council. The percentage of implementation for one year is optimistic,” Haxhiu said.

Vlora Tuzi Nushi, the head of the UN Women Office in Kosovo, also thanked the Ministry of Justice and the KWN for taking this important step in the fight against sexual violence, through a multi-sectoral approach as required by the Istanbul Convention.

“I must also emphasize that the drafting of the protocol is the result of a long-term investment of the European Union in aligning the institutional response against violence against women and girls (VAWG) with the international standards defined in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Istanbul Convention (IC), which was made possible through the Regional Program implemented in the Western Balkans and Turkey since 2017,” Nushi said.

Officials from the Municipal Coordinating Mechanisms and local institutions were trained by trainer Monica Kocaqi on the State Protocol for Treatment of Sexual Violence cases, its purpose, the management of cases of sexual violence, institutional responsibilities and prevention. Concrete cases of sexual violence were also discussed during this training.

Officials from the municipalities of Prizren, Suhareka, Dragash, and Mamusha participated in today’s training. Meanwhile, the trainings on this protocol were also held in Pristina, Ferizaj, Gjilan, Novobërde, Mitrovica, Pejë, and Gjakovë.

The State Protocol for the Treatment of Cases of Sexual Violence was launched on December 5th, 2022 by the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

This initiative is supported by UN Women Kosovo through European Union funds.