OSCE hosts conference on community policing and community safety forums
(RTK2)
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is hosting a two-day regional conference on Community Policing and the Establishment and Efficient use of Community Safety Forums. Aside from participation of police from the region, members of the Local Public Safety Committees (LPSCs) from the Serb-majority municipalities also took part in the conference. On this occasion, they considered that safety within the Serb community is better than in the earlier years, but still it is not at the satisfactory level.
The conference gathered security experts as well as local and international level police to tackle on challenges and achieved results, but above all, to also exchange their experiences.
“Increasing community participation to enhance safety is the key premises. To achieve this, police must build trust through partnership with the public and to integrate and enforce legitimacy with work and improvement of service delivery to the public,” Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo Ambassador Jean-Claude Schlumberger stated.
The Norwegian Ambassador to Kosovo Jan Braathu commended Kosovo Police work, underlining that according to the 2014 survey, citizens trust this Institution the most.
“Structure of our communities impacts on the police character, whereas police activities impact on the same community. Police and communities are intertwined and depend on each other,” Ambassador Braathu said.
Chairperson of the Leshak/Lesak Local Public Safety Committee (LPSC), Budimir Veljovic, said that citizens should trust on Kosovo Police and the greatest responsibility for the poor security situation in the north falls on the local self-government authorities.
Chairperson of Gracanica/Graçanicë LPSC, Snezana Jovanovic, stressed that the trust in Kosovo Police would be even higher if more Serb community members would be working in police. She said that experience to date has proved that police had failures in the territory of this municipality.
Strategy for community safety and the action plans for the period up to 2016 were presented in the conference.
New round of Kosovo-Serbia talks without agreement on main topics
(All monitored broadcasters, RTK1)
The meeting between Kosovo and Serbia Prime Ministers, Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic, ended on Tuesday evening; however, no agreement has been reached on any of the four topics discussed during the day.
The only agreement that was reached between the two Prime Ministers is the one that was not announced and it is related to vehicle insurances, mutual recognition of the insurance card by the two countries. Practically, this will mean that a Kosovo citizen will have the same vehicle insurance that is valid in Macedonia, Serbia and other countries of the region.
In the later news editions, TV broadcasters carried a statement issued by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini after Tuesday’s meeting.
“Today, I hosted a meeting of the high level dialogue for normalisation of relations between Prishtinë/Pristina and Belgrade with Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
At the meeting the discussion focused on the outstanding implementation issues of energy, telecoms, establishment of the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo and freedom of movement/the Mitrovicë/Mitrovica bridge. Good progress was made on all issues. Our teams will continue working on these four issues in the coming hours and we will reconvene very soon in the next days to finalise the agreements,” the HRVP statement reads.
Civil society activists address open letter to Government regarding Special Court
(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)
A number of civil society activists voiced their concerns about the Special Court and Kosovo Government’s behaviour toward this issue. As a matter of fact, 26 of them have signed an open letter that they addressed to the Government with remarks that they oppose payment of legal protection from Kosovo budget for the potential indicted persons that will be brought to Special Court.
They say that legal protection of these individuals must not be paid with their taxes, as they consider that collective rights of citizens are not affected, but rather the individual ones.
Signatories of this public letter argue that protection of former indicted persons by The Hague was not funded by taxpayers’ money, while this is trying to be changed now, or, as they say, to favour a certain class of people.
Kosovo categorized among semi-consolidated authoritarian regimes
(Most monitored broadcasters, TV21)
According to the Freedom House report Nations in Transit 2015, democracy in the Western Balkans countries continues to remain fragile and mark decrease.
None of the Western Balkans countries has a consolidated democracy, the report that covers 2014 development states.
According to Freedom House, Albania marked progress compared to a year ago; Kosovo has not marked any change, while Macedonia has marked decrease.
Kosovo falls into the category of semi-consolidated authoritarian regimes, together with Armenia and Kirgizstan.
Jevtic and Galluci discussed return of IDPs
(RTK2)
Kosovo minister for communities and return Dalibor Jevtic discussed about solutions for return issues of internally displaced persons (IDPs) with the Head of the Council of Europe (CoE) Office in Prishtinë/Pristina, Isabelle Servoz-Gallucci,.
Jevtic said that Kosovo laws are good, but according to him, the problem lays in their poor implementation. He highlighted the importance of international partners in the process of the return IDPs.
On the other hand, Galluci informed minister Jevtic that the CoE is working on development of minority rights’ protection projects. She said that that people who live in Kosovo must find a way of co-existing and underlined that the implementation of human rights is a priority.
Speaking about diploma certification, Jevtic urged a permanent solution for this problem, noting that Serbs, Bosniaks and Roma have no possibility of receiving higher education in their languages.
CDHRF: Double standards being applied in Kroi i Vitakut neighbourhood
(TV21)
The Council for Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) is concerned about violation of democratic rights for Albanians in northern Kosovo.
CDHRF underlines that the recent case in Kroi i Vitakut neighbourhood, where the house construction and reconstruction of Albanian inhabitants were stopped with the force of Kosovo Police is a serious case of human rights violation and application of a discriminatory double standard, where the right to return, reconstruction of houses and use of property is done on ethnic grounds and political decisions.
CDHRF warns that consequences will be great if these double standards continue to be applied.
Bosch dissatisfied with development in Llapushnik village
(TV21)
The Dutch Ambassador to Kosovo Robert Bosch publically has expressed his dissatisfaction with recent developments in Llapushnik village, thus becoming the first foreign diplomat who took a stance regarding this matter.
“Shame on citizens of Llapushnik! Are both Kosovo and Albania not beacons of religious tolerance? Something to take proud in,” the Dutch Ambassador wrote on his Twitter account at a time when the Gllogovc/Glogovac village of Llapushnik became a topic after building of a Catholic church and cemeteries was not allowed.
