Kosovo Women's Network

AUK Students Learn About Gender Mainstreaming

29.05.2018

Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) has been advocating for an improved gender perspective in national laws, public policies, strategies and national and local budgets for several years now. This included working directly with relevant representatives of Kosovo’s institutions in training and mentoring them to gender mainstream these types of documents. However, how does one translate this somewhat technical language to students?
Sara Nicole Baxley, faculty staff at the American University of Kosovo (AUK), invited Iliriana Banjska, Gender Analyst at KWN, to hold a lecture on this topic on the 3^rd of April of 2018. This was the second time KWN was invited to do so. During the fall semester in 2017, KWN’s Program Manager and Lead Researcher, Nicole Farnsworth, held a similar lecture for a group of AUK students. Because of its big success and student’s appreciation of it, AUK wanted to repeat it.
This time around students were informed about Kosovo’s legal framework pertaining to gender equality and provisions which oblige public institutions to implement gender mainstreaming in policy making and implementation. Iliriana proceeded by giving a practical explanation of the methodology KWN uses in its work related to gender mainstreaming. With very clear examples, students became familiarised with how to meaningfully integrate a gender perspective in public policies.
Finally, in order to really get a feel of what it means to amend policies in order for them to be more gender sensitive, students were split up in groups of five and were given an existing policy to review and comment on from a gender perspective. This practical exercise proved to be very effective as students discussed together and presented back to the group which, together with Iliriana, provided feed-back on their work. The creativity the students showed gave room for positive outlook on the future of gender mainstreaming, as this generation will potentially be the new policy makers of Kosovo who at a young age took a step towards understanding the importance and value of considering diverse women’s, men’s, girls’ and boy’s needs in policy making.

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Lawyer Bytyqi requests the recusal of Judge Shabani

22.05.2018

Antigona Morina died six years ago due to constant bleeding, three days after her marriage. Her husband, Hilmi Zena, in addition to not providing medical assistance, has worsened her condition by continuing sexual intercourse with her.

On 18 March 2018, the Koha media reported about the next scandal of the justice authorities regarding the treatment of cases of violence against women in Kosovo. The case was characterized by the disappearance of the official documents of the complaint by the Prosecutor for the case of Antigona Morina. If the media pressure of reporting did not exist, but also of the family, this victim would be forgotten by Kosovar justice.

Following the reaction of the media, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) on 23 March organized a protest # Justice For Antigona before the Court building in Rahovec urgently requesting an adequate response of justice, where it was suspected that the appeal made by the Prosecution was disappeared by the Court in Rahovec following the decision that found the main accused, Hilmi Zeka, innocent. The KWN also requested to address the flaws in this case as soon as possible as the destruction of official documents does not constitute only disciplinary responsibility but is a serious offense.

The Court of Appeals further decided to remand the case for retrial. To ensure that the family of the deceased will be represented fairly, the KWN, with the support of the Austrian Development Agency, again engaged the lawyer Fehmije Gashi Bytyqi, as a representative of the injured family of Bislim Morina.

As the next hearing was scheduled on 4 June, lawyer Bytyqi sent on 17 May to the Basic Court in Gjakova, the branch in Rahovec, the request for recusal of Judge Mizahir Shabani from the criminal case against Hilmi Zena. The Referral is based on reasonable doubts, if not the objectivity and impartiality that the Judge has caused in relation to the case.

Establishing institutional responsibility when dealing with gender-based violence will increase the reporting of these cases by ensuring justice, protection and rehabilitation in cases of gender-based violence. By punishing violence through meritorious punishments for perpetrators of criminal offenses, the justice institutions give a proper message that there will be zero tolerance against domestic violence and that such macabre crimes will receive the deserved punishment.

Therefore, through this article, the KWN again calls on justice institutions to take the right decisions so that the case can be fairly adjudicated and citizens’ confidence on these institutions increases. The KWN believes that only by fair decisions the justice authorities can influence the reduction of violence, namely the crime

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Government Seeks to Improve Gender Mainstreaming in IPA Programming

07.05.2018

On Friday, May 4, the Ministry of European Integration held a workshop on “improving the process and practice of mainstreaming gender in IPA projects”, in which the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) presented on “how to better mainstream gender in IPA projects: methodology and practical examples”. The Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) is important because it provides financing from the European Union (EU) to support the government in Kosovo in making progress towards fulfilling the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and thus towards joining the EU.
In accordance with Kosovo’s Law on Gender Equality, all laws, policies and programs should undergo review and reflect a gender perspective. Since IPA programming supports the implementation of existing laws and governmental strategies, it should support addressing needs that already have been identified within existing government strategies. However, some laws and strategies in Kosovo, particularly in relation to specific sectors, are “gender blind”: they have not sufficiently considered the different needs and interests of diverse women and men, girls and boys.
Meanwhile, in 2015, the European Commission and European External Action Service adopted the Gender Action Plan II (GAP II). This document calls upon the EU to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in its external spending. Therefore, the EU Office needs to ensure that gender equality is considered in the programs it funds, particularly if the government has failed to sufficiently consider issues related to gender equality in its strategies. GAP II also calls for the inclusion of women’s civil society organizations (WCSOs) and national gender equality mechanisms (NGEMs), like gender equality officers, in planning IPA programs.
Despite several attempts since 2015 and official instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office requesting involvement of NGEMs in all processes, WCSOs and NGEMs have been little involved in IPA programming, to date. An exception, KWN, as a WCSO, has reviewed and commented on all IPA programs from a gender perspective since IPA 2015, through a contract with the EU Office, and thus has contributed to supporting the inclusion of gender analysis and women’s civil society perspectives in programming. This good practice has been recognized by the EU in Brussels. However, despite requests to participate in programming earlier, KWN has been invited only to review the final IPA programming documents.
“It’s a challenge to include gender late in the programming process,” noted Florim Canolli, Director of the Department of Development Assistance in the Ministry of European Integration.
All relevant actors participating in the workshop agreed that it is problematic to try to include gender analysis and actions towards gender equality after the program has already been designed. Rather, gender analysis needs to be conducted in very beginning of the design phase and then used to inform the actual design of the program.
This workshop convened representatives from ministries, including gender equality officers; the Agency for Gender Equality; the EU Office; and KWN to discuss how the IPA programming process could be improved to better incorporate a gender perspective. Participants identified several ways forward, including to:

Strengthen political will and enhance understanding among permanent secretaries and other government officials regarding the importance of gender analysis and the involvement of NGEMs in programming, starting this June for IPA 2019-2020;
Train NGEMs on Project Cycle Management and IPA, so that they can provide more informed contributions to programming;
Organize training and mentoring for government officials designing IPA programs, regarding gender analysis and gender mainstreaming, given their responsibilities under the Law on Gender Equality;
Ensure involvement of WCSOs in public consultations for IPA 2019-2020 programming early on, in June; and
Translate draft IPA documents into Albanian and Serbian languages so that government officials and WCSOs can better understand and contribute to them.

The Agency for Gender Equality, EU Office and KWN contributed to organizing the workshop, which funded by the EU through the Project Preparation Facility for the Ministry of European Integration, implemented by the International Services Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

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"Marching, not celebrating " – Men and women took to the streets this year also for human rights

03.04.2018

This year, too, 8 March–the International Woman’s Day, was marked in Kosovo by a series of activities organized by civil society, activists, trade unions, academics, and students. Joined under the umbrella of Collective, they gathered under the moto “We March, we don’t celebrate”, which was used for the third time in events organized to mark the Women’s Day.

This year, people took to the streets in Prishtina to demand economic and social rights as a precondition for a unified citizenry, exploitation-free employment, equality, freedom and social justice, paid employment for a life with dignity; they protested against sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. In addition, they called for health insurance, security in work and employment without discrimination for everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, age, education, sexual orientation, or disability.

Protest-march “We March, we don’t celebrate”, took to the streets at 12:00 a.m., where hundreds of citizens marched from Zahir Pajaziti Square, to the Central Bank of Kosovo, Municipality of Prishtina, Basic Court to go to the Parliament/Government of Kosovo.

Cheerings became even more loud when the marchers passed by three billboards set near the Police Station at Luan Haradinaj Street; two of the first billboards read “Diana Kastrati” and “Zejnepe Bytyqi”, names of the women who were both killed by their husbands. The third billboard read: “How many missed calls more are needed?”, referring to the failure of relevant authorities to protect the victims. These billboards were designed by Haveit Group, inspired by the move titled Three Billboards Outside Ebbiing, Missouri.

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KWN member organizations and LGE mark March 8th

03.04.2018

Apart from the already traditional march of 8 March – “We March, we don’t celebrate”, which takes place in Prishtina and a few other municipalities of Kosovo, KWN member organizations and members of the Lobby for Gender Equality (LGE) organized a series of activities. On that day, Bliri Association, supported by the Municipality of Drenas, organized a fair which gave 40 women the opportunity to promote and sell their products. In addition, Bliri organized yet another activity for the citizens of Drenas, to donate blood at Drenas Family Medicine Center.
Meanwhile, Lobby for Gender Equality organized a meeting in Dragash attended by the main actors of this municipality; a few demands were brought forward by women, related to refunctionalization of the Daily Center in Dragash, employment of a gynecologist in Dragash, and inclusion of women in decision-making roles.
“We will not stop until these demands are fulfilled; if we receive no response until April, then we will initiate a petition”, Xhejrane Lokal, member of the Lobby for Gender Equality said.
Among others, Hendifer Organization decided to join the march "MARCHing, not celebrating" by organizing such march in Prishtina. The march covered the distance from the House of Culture to the Municipal Assembly building.
In the Municipality of Vushtrria, Ato Organization held a round table meeting to address matters related to domestic violence.

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Justice for survivors of sexual violence during war in Kosovo was sought during Women’s Week

03.04.2018

During 19-23 March, Women’s Week was organized for the eighth time. The annual event is organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Women’s Week gathers more than 100 women and men coming from various ethnic backgrounds, political parties, civil society, businesses and media, in order to raise the awareness of attendees of the necessity for an accountable and responsible governance in Kosovo.
The second part of second day was allocated for a panel meeting on “Impunity culture: Looking forward with the survivors of sexual violence during war”, which aimed at discussing on whether or not Kosovar society is responding adequately to the constant worries of the victims of sexual violence during war.
In the main speech, Doris Pack, Women’s President in EEP (European People’s Party), former deputy of the European Parliament, spoke high of this critically important initiative as part of the Kosovo’s journey towards the EU integration and necessity for establishing an egalitarian society in Kosovo.
Other matters were also raised by the participants in the panel meeting: Igballe Rogova, Executive Director of the Kosovo Women’s Network; Flora Macula, Head of UN Women in Kosovo; Minire Begaj, Chair of the Government Committee on Victims of Secual Violence; Ruairi O’Connell, UK Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo; and KÄ±vÄ±lcÄ±m KÄ±lÄ±ç, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Republic of Kosovo.
“Women’s organizations were the ones that raised their voice for the survivors of sexual violence during war in Kosovo. It was the women’s organizations that advocate for their voice to be heard. It was the women’s organizations that provided psycho-social training and help in empowering them economically”, Ms. Rogova said. In addition, she emphasized that our society should apologize for stigmatizing and failing to integrate these women in the society. Among others, Ms. Rogova added that these women’s status was recognized, but justice must be done, and these survivors must receive the treatment they deserve.
Apart from the speeches made by the participants of the panel meeting, the attendees were given the opportunity to discuss on the stigmatization of the survivors of sexual violence during the war, making an attempt to highlight the role that the society may play to promote the survivors’ inclusion in the social and political life in Kosovo.

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Jahjaga Foundation: Empowering Women and Youth

03.04.2018

On 20 March, Jahjaga Foundation was launched in the framework of the Women’s Week–an annual event organized by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which kicked off this Monday in Prishtina.

Jahjaga Foundation is an initiative of former President of the Republic of Kosovo, Ms. Atifete Jahjaga, which originates during her term in office. Through this Foundation, her aim is to bring a new approach to efficient and significant engagement and representation of marginalized groups. In order to support the development of democracy in Kosovo, the main pillars upon which this Foundation rests are the following: empowerment of women and youth, security and regional reconciliation, or facing the past.

“I am happy and honored to be able to continue the work I initiated through this Foundation when I was President of Kosovo. The need to empower women and youth in Ksoovo is greater than ever,”, Ms. Jajhaga said.

Furthermore, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, Director of European Center for Security Studies—George C Marshal, talked about the special cooperation they had had with President Jahjaga for many years.

“She has been a great supporter of change and positive governance. She has continuously advocated for human rights, transparent governance, and equal rights for everyone. At the same time, she was an promoter for the reconciliation process in the region,” Mr. Dayton further added.

Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) congratulates the former President of the Republic of Kosovo, Ms. Atifete Jahjata, on launching the Foundation and the continuous work for the women’s rights, human rights.

For more information about Jahjaga Foundation, click on:

https://www.facebook.com/JahjagaFoundation/posts/162560131223409

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photocredit: KFOR

KFOR organized a Conference on Women, Peace and Security

03.04.2018

This year, at the HQ base "Film City", KFOR marked "Gender Perspectives Day" by organizing the International Conference on Women, Peace and Security in Kosovo, held on March 6, 2018.

This conference aimed to provide a platform for KFOR and NATO as well as local and international institutions and organizations in Kosovo to discuss gender issues with a special focus on security issues and the new generation from a gender perspective. Therefore, this event was intended to convey the message about the importance of Women, Peace and Security agenda and the current state of gender equality in Kosovo.

Following the introductory speech of KFOR Commander, General Major Salvatore CUOCI, the conference continued its work in two panels. The first panel underlined the commitments, work and suggestions for "Security Challenges of Women in Kosovo", where speakers were Flora Macula, Feride Rushiti, Taibe Canolli, Vahagn Muradyan and Kethlin Edith Piirma.

Meanwhile in the second panel, Igballe Rogova, Edi Gusia, Adrijana Hodzic, Tijana Simic LaValley and Irfete Spahiu discussed "Women as Actors of Peace and Security".

Among others, Mrs. Rogova spoke also about the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 United Nations Resolution on Women’s Peace and Security 1325 from a political and gender perspective, highlighting the struggle and role of women in civil society in this process. She further emphasized the international and local advocacy the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) since its adoption in 2000 and how after the war in Kosovo, she used the Resolution to seek many more meetings between UN officials, international decision-makers and women in Kosovo.

As guest speakers from political sphere were Burbuqe Deva Bakija and Mimoza Kusari Lila.

Last year, the KFOR conference on "Gender Perspective Day" for the first time was an event organized outside KFOR base and, then, General Major Giovanni Fungo described it as a step to connect with Kosovar society.

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“Dera e Hapur” launches the newest project “E shpis”

03.04.2018

On 21 March, Dera e Hapur Women Center, which is also a member of Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), lauched the social business “E shpis” (home-made), which is the project of this Center but will run independently.
This enterprise was an old dream of Dera e Hapur staff and this year which became true with support from Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
“E shpis’” aims at offering high quality, traditional dishes thus creating new jobs for women and girls.
During the launching meeting, Ms. Belgjyzare Muharremi, Director of Dera e Hapur Women Center gave a short presentation on the project, stating that “E Shpis” enterprise has employed a total of ten women—eight who prepared the dishes, and two others each dealing with financial and business management matters. She hopes that the business will expand more leading to more women being employed there.

“Women who will prepare dishes are civil victims of war, who need a job the most and are experienced in preparing traditional dishes,” she said.

Traditional dishes prepared by “E shpis” may be purchased at the center or ordered. Dera e Hapur will offer a rich Albanian cuisine with a wide range of choices.

Meanwhile, GIZ representative said that he is very happy that such business was opened and hopes that “E shpis” will be supported by other donors as well and that these dishes are demanded more and the number of employees increases”. He further emphasized that, “This is the first cooperation and I hope that we will continue to cooperate in the future, too.”

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Legislators and activists from over 20 different countries gather in London for the Summit on Violence Against Women in Politics

03.04.2018

International Summit on Violence Against Women in Politics, organized in partnership with Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), convened participants from the seven political parties of the United Kingdom represented in Westminster, together with legislators and activists from over 20 countries to identify practical means to address violence against women in politics. The summit was held on 19-20 March 2018, at Carlton House in London.
Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader, MP Liz Saville Roberts who opened the conference, stated: “Increased participation of women in our democracy should be a priority for the governments, political parties and parliaments, and the report we are launching today emphasizes the degree of challenge faced by us not only in Great Britain, but worldwide.
The Summit discussed a new report of the WFD, which reviews cases of violence against women in politics in eight countries and provides recommendations on how political parties, parliaments and civil society can resolve the problem.
This conference was also attended by Adelina Berisha from KWN, Mimoza Kusari and Magbule Shkodra, where they had the opportunity to discuss new measures that need to be put in place to prevent violence and threats against women active in politics.

Some of the main recommendations of this report include:

Political parties should agree on a mutual code of conduct for the candidates, officials, members and elected politicians, having swift sanctions against those that violate it;
Institutional protocols should be put in place to encourage victims to report violations both internally and to the police, whenever there is a criminal offense;
Elected politicians should be encouraged to review “walking” policies in relation to their election offices.
Parliaments should develop and implement systems for protection of victims of violence, harassment and bullying including the possibility of an independent consultant for sexual violence, and make sure that perpetrators who are members of parliament are open for suspension and expelling from their parliament.

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