6/05/2022
In the framework of the Gender and Security project, KCSS on 27th of Aprill 2022 has organized meeting with the women community and institutional representatives in the municipality of Podujeva. The Municipality of Podujeva is one of the municipalities that has a large number of cases of domestic violence, noted during the meeting organized with the community of women and local institutions in Municipality of Podujeva.
According to representatives of the Kosovo Police and the Municipality of Podujeva, during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Podujeva there was a significant increase in cases of domestic violence.Lieutenant Mrs. Antigona Qitaku - Chief of Operation in the Kosovo Police in Podujeva emphasized the great increase in the number of survivors of violence during the period of isolation in 2020, and which has continued in the following years.
The police as the main institution where cases of domestic violence are reported considered the increase of cases as worrying, although they emphasized that the reporting of cases proves that women in the Podujeva region are emancipated not to hide such cases when they occur, and it is an indication that Citizens believe in the work of the Kosovo Police in dealing with cases of domestic violence, specifically violence against women, but they also believe in the mechanism against domestic violence that operates within the municipality of Podujeva and which consists of gender equality officers of the municipality, representatives of police, courts, prosecution, social work centers, legal aid offices, NGOs and other mechanisms.
Further in the meeting was discussed about the main causes of domestic violence where they stressed the patriarchal mentality in Kosovo and the rejection by men that women should enjoy financial independence in other areas in terms of their emancipation in society, but also stressed that women's families are not very supportive of abused women and the families do not accept them if they are separated from men and do not give them the share of the family property that belongs to you by law so that they are not dependent on their husbands.
On the other hand, representatives of the legal aid office showed that for 1 year only one case occurred when a woman raped by her husband asked for the property to be divided between her husband when the separation proceedings began, and this is worrying because there is a lack of awareness that even the wife has the right to receive her property. The leaders of the Municipality of Podujeva stated that violence against women begins when women begin to demand their rights that belong to them in order to emancipate themselves in society. KCSS, through this project, will organize such meetings in all municipalities of Kosovo to raise awareness and raise awareness against violence against women in Kosovo and the greater integration of girls and women in Kosovo society.
This activity is supported by the program of the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) ‘EJA Kosovo’, co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Sweden and the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
