• North Macedonian prime minister invites Kurti to Open Balkan summit (media)
• Osmani: Open Balkan wouldn’t treat Kosovo as an equal partner (euronews.al)
• Kurti to participate in GLOBESEC forum in Bratislava (media)
• Lajcak meets Vucic in Bratislava (media)
• De Riu: Kosovo-Serbia dialogue remains crucial for a comprehensive agreement (KP)
• State Department publishes report on religious freedoms across the world (media)
• Osmani, Bislimi meet CoE human rights commissioner, Mijatovic (media)
• Rama at UN Security Council: We owe it to victims of Kosovo to act (Klan)
• Kosovo fails to join Association of Francophone Constitutional Courts (media)
• Kosovo Police discover 57 migrants in bus stopped by for speeding (media)

North Macedonian prime minister invites Kurti to Open Balkan summit (media)

The Government of Kosovo announced that Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti received invitation from his North Macedonian counterpart Dimitar Kovacevski to take part in the upcoming meeting of the Open Balkan initiative, set to take place in Skopje on 7 and 8 June.

Kurti replied to the letter saying Kosovo welcomes regional cooperation based on the principles of equality and with citizens as end beneficiaries. “To this end, we are actively engaged in the Berlin Process, which covers many regional initiatives, including the Common Regional Market (CRM), which was adopted by the six Western Balkan countries at the 2020 Sofia Summit and was fully endorsed and supported by the European Union,” Kurti said.

He added that Kosovo and North Macedonia share common values and aspirations to join the European Union and that these are best met within the CRM framework where he said the parties operate under EU rules and values and where all the citizens are treated equally. “Bearing in mind the common values between our two countries, it is in our interest to work together in preventing Serbia from promoting its Russian and Chinese interest in our region, by consistently denying Kosovo’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and by blocking equal opportunities for the citizens of Kosovo,” Kurti concluded.

Osmani: Open Balkan wouldn’t treat Kosovo as an equal partner (euronews.al)

Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, stated that the regional initiative known as Open Balkan wouldn’t respect the principle of inclusion and that it wouldn’t treat all participating countries as equals.

In an interview for MINA, Osmani said that this initiative has been thoroughly analyzed by Kosovo both on the political aspect and the professional one.

“We came to the decision, which has gone through a lot of analysis, that this is not an initiative that would treat Kosovo as an equal partner. On the contrary”, said Osmani.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3aDQWPt

Kurti to participate in GLOBESEC forum in Bratislava (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti will take part in the annual GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum, a statement from the Government of Kosovo announced.

It added that apart from being a panelist in the discussion on European perspective for the Western Balkans, Kurti will also meet leaders of different countries attending the forum.

Lajcak meets Vucic in Bratislava (media)

The EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, met President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, in the margins of the GLOBESEC 2022 Bratislava Forum.

‘We had another important discussion on the Dialogue,” Lajcak said on Twitter while Vucic said he has an open and sincere conversation with Lajcak about the situation in the region “as well as all other issues of interest to continue in a constructive way dialogue with Pristina.”

De Riu: Kosovo-Serbia dialogue remains crucial for a comprehensive agreement (KP)

Italian Ambassador to Kosovo, Antonello De Riu, said that the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is crucial in efforts to lead to a comprehensive agreement.

“Over the years, significant results have been achieved in economic development and institutional consolidation, while socio-economic sustainability still requires work to identify common priorities between groups that disagree and to find mutually beneficial solutions. Peace and reconciliation is a process, and dialogue with Belgrade remains essential in the function of a comprehensive, legally binding normalization agreement, in line with EU principles,” De Riu said at an event marking Italy’s National Day.

State Department publishes report on religious freedoms across the world (media)

The U.S. Department of State submitted to Congress the annual report on International Religious Freedoms describing the status of religious freedoms in every country.

The section on Kosovo states that the constitution prohibits religious discrimination and provides for freedom of religion while the law does not provide a means for religious groups to acquire legal status.  “A draft bill to grant them such status, submitted to parliament in 2020, remained pending at year’s end,” the report covering 2021 states.

In added that the Islamic Community of Kosovo (BIK) said some schools continued to enforce a Ministry of Education and Sciences (MES) directive prohibiting religious attire, denying school access to Muslim students who wore a hijab and in September, the Constitutional Court referred the government’s continued refusal to implement that court’s 2016 decision recognizing the Serbian Orthodox Church’s (SOC) ownership of land around the Visoki Decani Monastery to the state prosecutor.  “In response to the government’s continued nonimplementation of both that ruling and a 2020 arrangement on road work within the Visoki Decani Monastery Special Protective Zone (SPZ), the SOC ceased official communication with the government in May.”

“U.S. embassy officials continued to encourage the government to enact amendments permitting religious groups to acquire legal status, enforce mechanisms to protect freedom of religion, implement legislation and judicial decisions pertaining to SOC religious sites, and resolve SOC property disputes.  The Ambassador and other embassy representatives discussed religious freedom issues, including equal protection and property rights concerns, with religious and civil society leaders and encouraged religious tolerance and improved interfaith dialogue.  In June, the embassy hosted Iowa National Guard chaplains, Kosovo Security Force representatives, and several senior religious leaders to discuss plans for a Kosovo Security Force chaplaincy corps.”

See the full report here: https://bit.ly/3xe90sc

Osmani, Bislimi meet CoE human rights commissioner, Mijatovic (media)

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, had separate meetings yesterday with President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani as well as with Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi.

In the meeting with Mijatovic, Osmani is said to have spoken of progress by Kosovo institutions in guaranteeing, protecting and promoting human rights. They also discussed efforts in combating gender-based violence, promotion of rights of women and non-majority communities and the rule of law, a statement issued by the Office of the Kosovo President said. “President Osmani emphasised the importance of Kosovo joining the Council of Europe as a significant step in empowerment and advancement of human rights, noting that Kosovo is an embodiment of values that the Council of Europe represents.”

Bislimi on his part informed the CoE commissioner about the Government’s commitment to determining the fate of the missing persons and about advancing gender equality in Kosovo. “Deputy Prime Minister Bislimi also spoke about the cooperation that Kosovo already has through institutions where it is a member, such as the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe Bank, as well as Kosovo’s application for membership in the Council of Europe,” said the Government of Kosovo in a press release.

Rama at UN Security Council: We owe it to victims of Kosovo to act (Klan)

Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said that during presidency of the United Nations Security Council, Albania will be at the forefront of efforts to stop crimes across the world, Klan Kosova reports quoting Tirana-based Top Channel.

He said the Security Council owes it to the innocent victims of conflicts, mentioning in this respect Srebrenica and wartime rape in Kosovo, to address gross violations of human rights. “We need to demonstrate actions and not just words, to say today more than ever, never again, that we owe actions and not words to the thousands of victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, we owe to those who suffered massacres and crimes against humanity, to the 20,000 women brutally raped during the 98-99 ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, to the ruined lives of millions of children whose future has been stolen by aggressors,” Rama said. He noted that genocide denials and calls for violence must be punished without any hesitation.

Kosovo fails to join Association of Francophone Constitutional Courts (media)

Kosovo’s Constitutional Court did not succeed in joining the Association of Francophone Constitutional Courts (ACCF) during the organisation’s congress in Dakar, Senegal.

Spokesperson for the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, Veton Dula, said Kosovo had submitted membership application last year but that “despite the large number of votes in favour”, the request was did not manage to win the necessary support.

The Serbian Constitutional Court meanwhile said that it prevented Kosovo from joining the organisation.

Kosovo Police discover 57 migrants in bus stopped by for speeding (media)

Media report that the Kosovo Police stopped a bus last night for speeding and on verification, discovered it was illegally transporting 57 foreign nationals, mostly from Syria.

The bus, travelling on the Pristina-Mitrovica road, had Kosovo license plates and the driver was detained. The foreign nationals meanwhile have been taken to the Asylum Reception Center in Magure, near Lipjan.