Meeting in Municipality of Vitia with the women community and representatives of local institutions

KCSS has continued to organize project activities "Women, Peace and Security" against violence against women in Kosovo. Within this project, KCSS has held the next meeting on Friday, March 4, 2022, in the Municipality of Viti with the girls and women of rural and urban areas of this municipality, women from minority communities in Viti, representatives of the Police of Kosovo and officials of the Municipality of Viti

Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) has continued to organize project activities "Women, Peace and Security" against violence against women in Kosovo. Within this project, KCSS has held the next meeting on Friday, March 4, 2022, in the Municipality of Viti with the girls and women of rural and urban areas of this municipality, women from minority communities in Viti, representatives of the Police of Kosovo and officials of the Municipality of Vitia.

Based on the findings of representatives of local security institutions, in Viti, there is an increase in the number of cases of domestic violence during 2021 so far with a total of 45 cases with motives of violence against women while raising awareness about reporting such cases to the Kosovo Police. The women who participated in this meeting stressed that the patriarchal mentality still prevails in Kosovo and that there is still a lot of work to be done by all to raise awareness of women about their rights to work, inheritance, common property, and other issues with importance. Women also called on municipal institutions and the police to provide more security and protection for women, especially those who are victims of domestic violence and other forms of violence.

It was also requested that the municipalities have a special fund for the support of women victims of domestic violence and that in cases where domestic violence is reported, all other mechanisms be present, as representatives of Social Centers, victim advocates, and other mechanisms. The participants showed that a very large number of cases are not reported for the fact that women have no security for it reported cases, have no economic independence, and tend not to report cases for the purpose of "Family protection" which are forced for a long time to endure psychological and physical violence. In addition, during this meeting the participants asked for better institutional coordination at the central and local level to address this phenomenon, especially raising community awareness against domestic violence. Among other things, the patriarchal mentality, lack of economic independence of women, high unemployment, lack of proper family planning, lack of legal punishment, etc. were emphasized as the cause of the spread of domestic violence.

While some of the recommendations issued during the meeting were that there should be such meetings even more often to promote communication and open discussion between women with municipal institutions, Police, Prosecution, and other local mechanisms.

KCSS, through this project, will continue to organize meetings in all municipalities of Kosovo to raise awareness to end violence against women in Kosovo and the greatest possible integration of girls and women in Kosovar society.

This activity is supported by Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) program ‘EJA Kosovo’, cofinanced by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Sweden, and Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.