KWN Welcomes Activists from the Balkans: Together Combating Gender-Based Violence

Three days in a row (October 19-21), the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) hosted a regional meeting held between partner organizations in the “Institutionalizing Quality Rehabilitation and Reintegration Services for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence” initiative.

The organizations participating in this workshop were; Autonomous Women’s Centre from Serbia, National Network Against Violence against Women from North Macedonia, Women’s Rights Centre from Macedonia, Gender Alliance for Development Centre, Albanian Women’s Empowerment Network from Albania and Foundation United Women from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting was opened by KWN Executive Director Igballe Rogova, who stressed the importance of joint meetings between women in the Western Balkans.

“We are very happy that for these three days we will be together and we will discuss more about services, rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors of gender-based violence. During these days, we will have the pleasure to have you in our KWN offices as well, in order to have a more comfortable environment and to work together,” she said.

Rogova also stressed that meetings with partners are always important for KWN, so that experiences can be shared and opportunities for further cooperation seen in the future.

After the opening, the partners conversed more about the advocacy opportunities for creating social housing for victims of gender-based violence.

“In addition to victims of gender-based violence, we need to include victims of wartime violence in these areas,” said Alexandra Nestorov from the Autonomous Women’s Center.

Further, in the meeting femicide was discussed as a topic. The partners spoke on cases of femicide in each state, and creating a joint video for the six states in order to reflect the femicide in each state, as well as its treatment by the responsible institutions.

Furthermore, the partners shared their experiences from anti-feminist protests in the respective states, as well as the treatment of femicide in court proceedings.

The partners also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the increase in cases of gender-based violence, their treatment by institutions and the sheltering of women in shelters during home isolation measures.

This three-day workshop was supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), through the three-year initiative “Institutionalizing Quality rehabilitation and reintegration Services for Violence Survivors”.