The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and Association of Journalists from Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM) have protested because they were not invited to participate at the yesterday conference “Freedom of Media and Safety of Journalists in Kosovo”, held in Pristina. The conference has been organized by the Association of Journalist of Kosovo, with the support of the European Union’s Office in Kosovo. Both associations have requested from the EU Office to react on everyday violations of the Law on Languages and not to support discrimination at events supported by this organization.
The associations also argued that there was no translation into Serbian language at the conference, which was attended by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, and the EU Office in Kosovo spokesperson, Dinka Živalj. The organizer of the conference, Association of Journalist of Kosovo, has sent apologies to Serbian journalists and said that there was no specific reason for not inviting them to this event and that it was a “simple mistake”.
UNS and DNKiM stressed that it is frequent practice that Serbian journalists are not invited to similar events, and that there is not translation for them in the Serbian language, contrary to the Law on Languages. There are more than 30 Serbian media in Kosovo, with more than 120 journalists.
