At a conference organized yesterday by the Kosovo Centre for Security Studies and the EU Office in Kosovo it was said that women and children who are forced by their husbands or someone else to go to Syria and Iraq, after returning to Kosovo should be part of rehabilitation and reintegration programs. Most of them go with their husbands, but there are times when they take the road on its own initiative. But, Kosovo institutions have no plan or strategy on how to integrate women who decide to return after their husbands die in Syria.

The news site reports that a large number of children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities do not receive adequate education. The NGO Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians launched a campaign titled “Come and register” in order to raise awareness on children registration in schools. The campaign will last until 16 June next year, and it is supported also by Kosovo’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Kosovo Center for Security Studies (KCSS), supported by the European Union Office in Kosovo, organized a round-table discussion today on "The role of women in preventing violent extremism in Kosovo". During this meeting it was said that the role of women is crucial to preventing violent extremism.

Representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday met with the Mayor of Mitrovica, Agim Bahtiri, to discuss the possibilities of returning of some of the displaced families from the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities currently living in Montenegro. Representatives of the UNHCR and Bahtiri agreed that after the data collection to start with the process of repatriation. Bahtiri said that the Municipality has supported this process by allocating some hectares of land for the repatriated families.

To mark the International Day of the Disappeared (30 August), the Association of Families of Missing Persons, Government Commission for Missing Persons and families of the victims today will begin with different activities in honor of the missing persons during the war in Kosovo. During a press conference today, the Commission laid out the agenda for four days, where they will visit various cemeteries and will meet with families of the missing persons.

The Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM) on Tuesday exhumed some remains, allegedly belonging to three brothers killed during the war in 1999 in Krusha e Vogel. The brother of the three victims, Flurim Hajdari, told the paper that in 2007 the DFM issued a certificate confirming that the remains belonged to his brothers. He said that this action was “scandalous” and he does not believe any longer that the DFM will make proper identification of his brothers.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has accepted Kosovo as a full member of this organization. The decision was announced yesterday at the IAFF congress in Beijing, where Kosovo received 187 votes. Kosovo’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Kujtim Shala, congratulated the leaders of the federation and Kosovo athletes, wishing them success in the further international advancement of this sport.

Last week in Bursa, Turkey, representatives of the Istanbul International Centre for Development in Private Sector (IICDPS) met with the representatives of the UNDP Office in Kosovo in order to address the high level of unemployment among the young people in Kosovo and to discuss next steps for the establishment of a training center in Kosovo.

The inability to stop the degradation of cultural heritage and local government irresponsibility, are among the reasons for the resignation of Vesel Hoxhaj from the position of the chairman of the Council for Cultural Heritage of the Historic Centre of Prizren, Koha reports.  Hoxhaj accused the institutions that they have done nothing to prevent the degradation of cultural monuments. “The underlying reason of my resignation is the inability of the Council, which I directed until today to prevent further degradation of cultural heritage.

The European Union through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) allocated over € 55 million to support the rule of law in Kosovo. European Integration Minister Bekim Collaku said that the projects would be implemented from 2016 until 2018. According to him, €24 million will go on projects to support the Kosovo justice system reforms, while €13 million for projects for the Ministry of Internal Afairs.