The employment of members of minority communities in public institutions at the central level is not satisfactory, some representatives of the Turkish and Bosniak communities say. Others assess that the situation has improved in recent years.
Unemployment in Kosovo is a long-standing problem. According to the official data of the Kosovo Statistics Agency, in the second quarter of this year, the unemployment rate was 29.4 percent, while in the first three months it was 26.5 percent.
Unemployment within communities is also a particular problem.
Pursuant to the Civil Service Law, Article 11, at least 10 percent of central level positions should be reserved for “persons belonging to communities that are not majority in Kosovo”, while representation at the municipal level must be proportionate to the demographic composition of the population in the municipality.
The latest research on this issue was conducted by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo last year, stating that the institutions are gradually improving the implementation of statutory obligations, reports RTK2.
In 18 central level institutions that were the subject of an assessment of the total share of communities in the numerical minority in public administration, it increased from 7.85 to 9.63 percent since the previous assessment made by the OSCE in 2013.
However, this figure does not show an unequal distribution of the representation of communities in different institutions, since in some central level institutions there are almost no representations at all, and in others they are represented with a percentage that is much larger than the average 9.63 percent.
The report itself draws attention to the fact that smaller communities, such as Kosovo Gorani, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians, are generally underrepresented in assessed central level institutions in relation to their total share in the population of Kosovo.
Fatlum Kryeziu, Roma from Prizren is a student of sociology and law.
So far, he has done practice in several Kosovo institutions, but he still could not find a job. He is ready to contribute and work, and even as a volunteer, in order for the institutions to have qualified staff. He says that among the communities there is a qualified staff for the labour market.
“When we talk about communities, I ask from institutions not to say they do not have a cadre. There is a cadre. If I need to, I will also personally notify the institutions about the members of the communities that have graduated. This could reduce unemployment and respect the community quota,” says Fatlum.
Kosovo Assembly MP in front of the Bosniak New Democracy Party, Emilija Redzepi, told Radio Kosovo 2, that the employment of community members in the institutions continues to be a problem, and their struggle and political pressure on the government continues. Redzepi says they do not have great understanding. She says that at the Central level they currently have a little more political staff, but that on the local, or more precisely in Prizren, the situation is still bad. She states that there is positive discrimination in the police, where there are a greater number of Bosniak employees, but that in other institutions this is not the case.
Similarly, points out and Fikrim Damka, the deputy of the Turkish party (Democratic Alliance of Kosovo Turks) in the Kosovo Assembly. He says that the issue of employment of minority communities has not been seriously addressed to this day. He explains that such a situation, especially among young people, creates pessimism regarding the future. At the local level, and he takes an example of Prizren too, to date only one person from the Turkish community has been employed and after the retirement of six of them.
“As part of us and as a sixth parliamentary group, we advocate that the state of affairs be resolved once and for all, but for now, it is not even close to a satisfactory assessment,” added Damka, saying that he also talked with the EU representative on several occasions, Natalia Apostolova.
On the other hand, the other Bosniak MP in front of the Vakat coalition, Duda Balje believes that the situation has improved in recent years, adding that while recruiting members of minority communities, she has faced situations where people did not apply or did not specify that they were from minority communities.
”Of course, there are avoidances, that there are various malversations, but I think that the situation on this issue is a bit better. We have an increasing number of students who finish their studies in Pristina and remain in Pristina with Albanian language skills at the level of candidates from the Albanian community. Let’s say, from the last convocation of the assembly to the present day, I think that the number of Bosniak employees has never been greater,” she said.
Nenad Rasic, former Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in the Government of Kosovo, states that at the central level, 4,500 non-Albanians were employed in 2014, which is 8% of at least planned 10% of the available positions. However, he says that since 2014, the quota was not met, but to the contrary, is decreasing. Rasic says that now there are less than 3,800 employees from non-majority communities and adds that he thinks that this quota will be reducing due to political circumstances.
