Today, June 15, Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) member organization, Eco Kos Women (EKW), with the support of KWN, organized a roundtable discussion “Menstrual products a necessity, not a luxury”.

Representatives of government institutions, as well as both local and international organizations discussed and shared their experiences regarding menstrual hygiene managment of women in Kosovo.

During this meeting, participants discussed the achievements, challenges and necessary advocacy needed to remove/deduct VAT from menstrual hygiene products for women, and categorize these products as essential.

EKW Executive Director, Magbule Hyseni, started the meeting by mentioning the importance of menstrual hygine.

“Menstrual hygiene management is essential and is related to women’s right to health, education and work. In Kosovo, women face difficulties in managing menstrual hygiene, which prevents them from enjoying basic rights. Therefore, the best practices of gender budgeting highlight the responsibilities of the state to implement funds in an equal and efficient way “, she said.

Hyseni invited all participants to join the work to give their contributions to this issue.

Next, Igballe Rogova, Executive Director, KWN, greeted institutions that are pushing further this advocacy started from EKW.

“KWN has been working towards gender responsive budgeting for years by organizing trainings in Ministries and Municipalities. We also advocated with the Minister of Finance, Avdullah Hoti, for gender responsive budgeting to be mandatory for and properly implemented by the government. Kosovo emerged as an example of success, as it managed to have gender responsive budgeting as part of the government. Of course we thank all supporters, including those within parliament,” said Rogova.

Ermira Gashi, representative from the Ministry of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade (MIET), congratulated EKW for the initiative, emphasizing that it welcomes the recommendations of the roundtable.

“State institutions and ministries should take into account all the recommendations and start practicing them, in order to achieve basic human rights; as is health care “, she said.

Fatmire Mulhaxha-Kollçaku, Chairwoman of the Committee on Health in the Assembly of Kosovo, said that she appreciates the work of EKW and with great pleasure contributed to the finalization of the project.

“Menstrual hygiene is not a matter of luxury. It has to do with the health of women, so it is imperative that we approach to this issue in the right way,” she said.

Natasa Dokovska, Director of the NGO Journalists for Human Rights, gave a presentation on “Cost Analysis on Menstrual Poverty in Northern Macedonia – Menstrual Products Less Available to Women in Northern Macedonia”.

Finally, Flutra Bektashi, Project Manager presented the findings from the research.

Some of the key recommendations include:

• Menstrual hygiene products should be classified as essential products because they are necessary for girls and women to realize their human rights, in health, education and labour.
• Change Law no. 05 / L-037 on Value Added Tax as well as the Administrative Instructions on how to implement this law, so menstrual hygiene products are exempt from all customs and VAT taxes.

Gender analysis suggests that this will benefit low-income families and contribute to furthering equality in state revenue collection by removing this discriminatory tax. Moreover, it can contribute to improving women and girls’ access to adequate health and hygiene management, education, and labour. 

This roundtable is funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida).

Read HERE to learn more about this initiative.