Kosovo Women's Network

KWN, KGSC and Women’s Association for Human Rights are informed of the Austrian legal framework for the prevention of violence against women

01.10.2017

Organized by Kvinna Till Kvinna, three organizations from Kosovo were given the opportunity to get closely acquainted, from 18 to 21 September, with the legal framework of Austria regarding the fight against and protection from violence against women.
In the framework of this visit, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and its member organizations–Kosovo Gender Studies Center (KGSC) and Women’s Association for Human Rights, were given the opportunity to pay visits for three days to institutions and meet with representatives of various Austrian institutions, the goal of which is to provide aid to women and girls who experienced violence.
Participants from Kosovo had the opportunity to closely see the work done by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Centers, Counseling Centers for Violent Men, Women Against Violence Network, shelters, Agency for Fundamental Rights, OSCE, Ministry of Health and Women, District Court, Department for Women’s Affairs, and Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The fact that in Austria the interest in preventing and fighting against the violence against women was one of the local government priorities was extremely important to the participants. The Department for Women’s Affairs informed the participants that the budget allocated for women is one of the highest budget lines of the Austrian Government, and is one of the lines which, unlike other lines, never decreases.
Besides participants from Kosovo, participants to this study visit included representatives of women’s organizations from the region—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Albania.

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Women in the Municipality of Obiliq learn how to draft a business plan

01.10.2017

Education Code Organization organized a three-day workshop in the framework of the project “Women entrepreneurs”, in the Municipality of Obiliq. The general goal of this project is the economic empowerment of Kosovo women entrepreneurs and building their capacities in the domain of business and entrepreneurship.
            Education Code organize this workshop considering the extremely low number of women involved in business, particularly those in rural areas; based on the statistics obtained by the Gender Equality Agency in the Office of the Prime Minister, it turns out that, “Only one-ninth of businesses in Kosovo are owned by women.” Furthermore, referring to the same source, “Women in Kosovo own 11% of businesses. Therefore, 99.9% of businesses owned by women are micro-enterprises, having from 1 to 9 workers. Because of the lack of consultancy, trainings and capacity building for women in business, most of women-led businesses are forced to stop their activities after a short time.”
            During the first day of the workshop, it was discussed about the goal of the project and what will be done during this workshop; during the second day, the topic “Establishment and development of micro-enterprises” was dealt with.
            On the third day, the topic discussed in the workshop was “Creating a business plan”, with 14 women participating. On the third day of training, a KWN representative participated to demonstrate support to the participants and to closely monitor the progress of the project. On this day, the participants were explained in details how a business plan in prepared; what risks should be taken into account; what a business plan must contain; and that we must pay great attention to the market analysis because our demands in the business plan must be real and in compliance with the market prices.
            The participants were very pleased with this training, because most of them deal with some kind of activity that they exercise in the form of “crafts”, such as embroidery, tailoring, and bee-keeping, and they aim at expanding their business thus making it possible to employ other women.
                Director of Education Code Organization, Ms. Mimoza Statovci, had prepared for the participants a list containing published calls to support women with grants or various subsidies. One of the participants emphasized that she had learnt a lot from this workshop and that, “Starting from the next year, I will apply for subsidies to various donors.” She also stressed that this workshop “[…] has motivated me to work more and not quit regardless of potential rejections by donors.”
            Women expressed their gratitude because “now we know whom to address themselves to for our ideas”. In addition, one of the women who did embroideries, but how had never participated in a fair and who had not even heard of them, was put in contact by KWN with two KWN member organizations so that she can send her works to these two organizations and participate in fairs that they organize.
            This project was supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and funded by the European Union Office in Kosovo.

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“ATO” informs and encourages women to register their property in their name

01.10.2017

On 22 Sep., Women’s Center ATO organized an information meeting in the elementary school of Smrekonica village in the framework of the project titled “My right to property”. This meeting was attended by representatives of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), lawyer Mrs. Ermira Musliu Hyseni, and 15 women benefiting from the project.
Based on the research report published by the Kosovo Center for Legal Studies which reads that besides the existence of the legal infrastructure, Kosovo faces with a poor application of the law on inheritance, in the context of women’s rights to inheritance, and unwritten laws that continue to exist. Therefore, most of women respondents think that although regulated by the law, inherited property is registered in accordance with the tradition and customs related to inheritance division. Although the applicable law acknowledges the full equality in inheritance, legal practices show that when reviewing the inheritance, and particularly when a woman has the status of testator’s child, she waives her right to inheritance during the trial.
Based the data collected from villages and the analysis carried out, it is shown that women, particularly those from rural areas, are not informed of their rights pertaining to inheritance. Therefore, Women’s Center ATO Organization took the initiative to inform women, who have a lower access to this information, of their rights to inheritance.
Given that the number of women who have registered their property is, up until now, extremely low, the organization held the meeting to raise the women’s awareness to register their property, enabling them to contact notaries and informing them of the procedures and steps they should take to register the properties. Apart from living in a patriarchal society, another reason for such a low number of women who have property registered in their name is that women voluntarily waive their rights to own property in their own name.
One of the women participants emphasized that she had decided to leave all her property in her brother’s name despite the fact that her brother had waived his right to inheritance; not only did he not accept the entire property, but he also allocated her a share even greater than the one she had previously thought. However, there are numerous cases where, in order not to degrade the relations with their family members, women waive their rights, which are guaranteed by legal provisions.
At the end of the meeting, one of the women decided to immediately initiate the procedure to register the property; she will ask other women to do the same thing.
This project was supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) of the Kosovo Women’s Network and funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

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Agency for Gender Equality launches Commentary on Gender Equality Law

29.09.2017

On the 14 Sep., the Agency for Gender Equality (AGE) launched its Commentary on the Law for Gender Equality. This commentary is of utmost importance as it will guide women and men on the proper implementation and use of the Law. The aim of the Commentary is to clarify, promote and simplify the implementation of the law, and ensure that women and men fully enjoy their rights pursuant to Kosovo legislation.

The opening speech of the launch was given by Kosovo’s new Prime Minister, Mr. Ramush Haradinaj, who noted that there is yet work to be done toward ensuring gender equality in Kosovo. He was followed by Ms. Selvete Gërxhaliu – Krasniqi, from the Constitutional Court who provided for a historical view on the adoption of the older Gender Equality Law and Mr. Nehat Idrizi from the Kosovo Judicial Council re-affirmed the importance of such Commentary being launched.

On behalf of AGE, Chief Executive Edi Gusia thanked everyone who participated, stating that the need for a commentary had emerged years before, in 2004, when the first Law on Gender Equality came into effect. She also noted that, although Kosovo’s laws have advanced, implementation still remains a challenge.

Mr. Hilmi Jashari, the Ombudsperson, emphasised the need to harmonize Kosovo legislation. Currently the Law on Gender Equality foresees equal representation of women, at all levels, as being 50%, which is not compatible with the Law on General Elections and the Law on Local Elections which both foresee a quota of only 30% as prescribing equal representation.

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KWN part of the gender equality panel at DokuFest 2017

05.09.2017

With a rich artistic diversity, at the same time touching the concerns and the current issues in the country and in the region, this year with the motto ‘the future’, DokuFest Festival for the 16th time once again gave a different spirit to Prizren, respectively all citizens of Kosovo.

Enriched with films, events and discussion panels on August 10, a panel discussion on gender equality and women’s rights in Kosovo was organized by UN Women in cooperation with Dokufest.

By sharing personal experiences, and during the activism for gender equality, the power relations between women and men in Kosovo, women’s rights and education of the younger generation to these issues, the panel was composed by speakers from various profiles such as: Flora Macula, Head of the UN Women Office in Kosovo; Igballe Rogova, Executive Director of Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN); Besnik Leka, an activist for the rights of women, minorities, youth and children; Daniëlle Bremer, director of the movie "The Lord of the House"; Gjejrane Lokaj, director of "Women’s Initiative" in Dragash; Ruken Tekes, human rights activist in Turkey; and Valdete Idrizi, Executive Director of the CiviKos Platform.

During her speech, Rogova shared with attendants the activism of the 1990s when the "Motrat Qiriazi" association went and advocated for the education of girls as the most important tool of an equal society. She reminded that "To reach our goals we have always met with men, either on the street, or on a bus or school", emphasizing that gender equality can only be reached when working together.

Meanwhile, for the importance of education spoke also Gjejrane Lokaj, otherwise the protagonist of the film "The Lord of the House" directed by Daniëlle Bremer and produced by Edon Rizvanolli, who appeared in the framework of DokuKino, after the panel. Gjejrane was the brave girl who in the 1970s fled from her home late at night to pursue her dream, to be educated.

"The Lord of the House," referring to the head of the family who decided when the girls should stop the school and when she should get married, brings all the hard road that Gjejrane had to pass only to become an example for many girls and women, including her sisters, who later finished their education and with much admiration called her now "the lady of the house".

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Albanian and Serbian women discuss about participation of women in decision-making processes

05.09.2017

On 8 August in Prishtina, “Open Door” organized a training on empowering community women activists to further women’s rights and gender equality, which was attended by 15 Albanian women from Prishtina, Bardhosh and Hajvalia. The same training was organized on 18 August by “Ruka Ruci” in Dobrotin village of the Municipality of Graçanica, attended by 17 Serbian women. These two trainings, provided by these two Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) member organizations, were organized in the framework of the Empowering Women Community Activists to Further Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equality through Participation, Information and Social Media Project.
The Project aims to empower and actively engage women in decision-making processes as well as in sustainable development of communities where they live. In addition, “Open Door” and “Ruka Ruci”, through this project, aim to enhance inter-ethnic dialog by uniting Albanian and Serbian community women, organizing joint project activities and sharing experiences.
“Raising the awareness of women on the importance of participation in decision-making processes and informing them of the mechanisms related to the decision-making process at the municipal level is the only way for women to understand the importance of advocacy and active participation”, Nevenka Rikalo, representative of “Ruka Ruci” organization, said. She further noted the fact that the problems faced by the women in the Municipality of Prishtina and in the Municipality of Graçanica are similar and that she believes that sharing experiences will positively affect the inter-ethnic dialog of these communities. “After sharing experiences and establishing advocacy strategies, women will have the opportunity together with us to participate in advocacy meetings in their respective municipalities”, Belgjyzare Muharremi, representative of the “Open Door” organization, said. She further mentioned the fact that participation of women in advocacy meetings will have a direct impact in empowering women and in their active engagement in decision-making processes.
The attendants expressed their gratitude for this project, leaving satisfied with all the knowledge gained. One of the women said, “I look forward to the meeting where women of the two communities would sit together and discuss about the problems in the communities in which we live”.
This project is supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF), and funded by the European Union Office in Kosovo.

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CBWK advocates for blind women and their rights

05.09.2017

On 15 August, the Committee of Blind Women of Kosovo (CBWK) held in Pristina a training on blind women’s empowerment in the framework of the project titled “More rights for blind women”, attended by 15 blind women, men and children from the Municipalities of Pristina, Gjilan, and Ferizaj, and representatives of CBWK and Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN).

The project aims to advocate at the Ministry of Education to create better conditions for the education of women and blind persons in general. Through this project, CBWK also aims to raise the awareness of the greatest possible number of blind persons, their family members, and representatives of various institutions concerning the blind persons’ rights to education.

CBWK Director Bajramshahe Jetullahu opened the training emphasizing that, “The number of blind persons studying in universities is considerably higher compared to previous years; however, the lack of Braille-written literature is still a great challenge as it prevents students from progressing thus leading to them putting a stop to their education”.

Trainer Halil Kurmehaj informed the attendees, among others, of Law no. 04/L-092 and the rights guaranteed by this law. “Although not accurately known, the number of blind and visually impaired persons in Kosovo is estimated to be somewhere around 2500. Lack of accurate data on the number of blind persons demonstrates the lack of interest of local government institutions in dealing with this highly sensitive category of people. For this reason, I believe that it is the obligation of all of us to raise our voice and demand the rights that the law guarantees to us”.

The blind persons requested that more work be done by the institutions and the society so that this category is provided with a better life and higher living standards.

"Every day, from sunset to evening, the blind persons face with numerous difficulties such as lack of pavements, Braille-written books, etc. A very small number of blind persons are employed, and this also has an impact on their economic and social situation”, one of the attendees said.

This project is supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) of the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and funded by the EU Office in Kosovo.

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OPMDK seeks a better approach to health care for persons with muscular dystrophy

05.09.2017

On 17 August, Organization of Persons with Muscular Dystrophy of Kosovo (OPMDK) held an informative meeting with persons with muscular dystrophy and their family members. Director Antigona Shestan informed the attendees of the purpose of the project and activities they will carry out during the 5 months of project implementation.

The project titled “Healthcare is better when it is accessible by everyone” focuses on improving the health care for women and girls with special needs and for persons with muscular dystrophy in general. In addition, this project aims at rising the awareness of municipal and health institutions to provide women and girls with easier access to quality services.

In Prizren Municipality, there are 34 persons with muscular dystrophy, of which 24 are women and girls in wheelchairs. The greatest challenge is the health of these women and girls with special needs, which are, in most cases, taken care of by their mothers and sisters who have very limited knowledge on how to provide health care. On top of this, there is stigma in family, society and institutions. Because of their physical situation, women and girls with special needs are highly disposed to suffer from various communicable diseases, so the lack or delays of health care provision might have severe consequences for their lives.

One of the attending women said that, “There are numerous cases where even doctors, mainly dentists, do not accept children with special needs because of fearing that their situation might worsen and this makes us ask private doctors for help who also usually reject us”.

The attendees were given a questionnaire containing questions for persons with muscular dystrophy and their family members who take care of them. Most of responses pointed out that mothers and sisters were those who took care the most because fathers are, in most cases, at work. Meanwhile, when it comes to pain, the responses indicated that, “they try to endure pain until it becomes unendurable”.

Resma, a member of the organization and a person with muscular dystrophy, stated that, “usually, her father says that she is the one who bears the pain better than all of us”, because girls feel free to discuss about their menstrual cycles only with their mothers or sisters. “Parents overreact so much to a health concern, no matter how small it is, that “they exaggerate the care”, another attending girl said.

By discussing like this, numerous problems faced by persons with muscular dystrophy and their family members hope that more work will be done for with this social category so that they are integrated in the society in the best way possible while putting a special emphasis on employment and education.

This project is supported by the Kosovo Women’s Fund (KWF) and funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

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Justice for Zejnepe: Increased sentence to 17 years in prison for Zejnepes murderer

05.09.2017

Organised by Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), on Friday Aug. 4, starting from 10:00, around 50 activists, civil society organization representatives and citizens organized to peacefully protest in front of Justice Palace, to demand maximum sentence for Nebih Berisha, killer of Zejnepe Berisha domestic violence act victim.
       Since the justice institutions were not responding appropriately, after numerous reactions, including the April 14 protest (#drejtësipërzejnepen), KWN engaged lawyer Fehmira Gashi Bytyqi to represent Zejnepes family. As a result, following appeal by Zejnepes family representative, the Appeals Court in Pristina has decided to hold a hearing on August 4 at 10:00.
After Zejnepe was killed, with the decision of the Basic Court of Prizren on Apr. 12, the killer of the victim of domestic violence was sentenced to only 12 years in prison. The Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo, in Article 179 on Serious Murder states that "A punishment of not less than ten (10) years of imprisonment or life imprisonment shall be punishable by a person who: … 1.3. Deprives family member of life ". Taking into account the circumstances of the murder, the weight of the offense and systematic violence the victim had experienced, KWN had considered this decision as not propitious to the offense, therefore deciding to engage above-mentioned lawyer.
       Taking into account all the circumstances, the Court of Appeals approved the appeal of the prosecution and the representative of the injured party, amending the decision on the punishment. This court, the assassin of Zejnepe Berisha, sentenced to 17 years in prison for "Serious Murder" under Article 179 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo and "Light Body Injury" by Article 188 of the same code.
       KWN believes that with fair decisions, justice can influence the reduction of violence, respectively crime, considering that domestic violence is a crime!

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Teuta Changes her Family Tradition

04.09.2017

Teuta worked hard ever since she was a little girl. Being an independent woman who wanted to make a change in her community, she decided to pursue a career in education. For 30 years now, she has worked as a teacher in Gjakova.
      Teuta continued to work after she was married, unlike many women of her generation who chose to leave their jobs. She became the sole breadwinner in the 1990’s after her husband was laid off and continued to support her family for the next two decades. She paid the bills and invested in the family house, but she never felt entitled to ask her husband to register their house as a shared property, fearing her community or family would judge her.
      One day she came across an event that a women’s group had organized in her town to raise awareness about property rights. Teuta noted that Femrat Aktive të Gjakovës (FAGj),a member organization of the Kosovo Women’s Network, gave her the courage she lacked her whole life. “Suddenly I felt I needed to raise my voice for what is mine, and I decided, I don’t care what others think, I’m going to talk to my husband about our house,” said Teuta.
     They filed a request to register their property in the name of the both spouses which is now in its final phase. Thinking back about her case, Teuta says she feels frustrated no one had ever talked to her about her rights. Maybe if they had, she would have started the process sooner.
      “I will never make the same mistake with my two sons and their wives,” she promises. “I will talk to all of them, make sure they exercise their rights granted by law, as I am doing now after 25 years.”
Teuta is one of the 15 womenFAGJhelped reclaim their rights to property and inheritance since January 2017. In total, 150 women have received legal help about their property from the Kosovo Women’s Network, which began its efforts in May 2016 with funding by PPSE Swiss Contact.

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