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.

Several news websites report that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare gave over 50 food packages and 100 packages with gifts to poor families of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities on the occasion of New Year holidays. A spokesman said the Ministry is always willing to support the needs of minority communities. “This is not the first time we are supporting these communities.

The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities continue to face high unemployment in Kosovo. According to RAE communities’ representatives, 90% of members of these communities do not have employment contracts. The government of Kosovo has drafted a strategy for integration of RAE communities in 2008. However, RAE communities representatives say that this strategy has remained only on paper and it was never implemented in practice.

The news site reports that a small number of members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities protested in front of the Kosovo government building in Pristina today demanding more jobs. One of the protesters said the only way to put pressure on the government is to organize protests. Protesters also expressed dissatisfaction with their representatives in the Kosovo Assembly. They even refused a meeting with a RAE MP.

Keys to 52 houses were handed over yesterday to the families of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities in Gjakova/Djakovica. The donation was part of the project for housing and integration of RAE communities. Representatives of the project partners said that through this project over 800 people of RAE communities had been offered houses. Mayor of Gjakova/Djakovica, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, said this project reflects equality for everyone. “Today with great pleasure we are closing a project, a work that reflects equality.

Kosovo Assembly MP and representative of the Egyptian community in Kosovo, Veton Berisha, issued a press statement yesterday saying he was very concerned about the death of three-month-old baby in Gjakove/Djakovica. Berisha said, “Kosovo society is not in good condition now that we have reached a point where our infants die from cold and hunger.” He also raised the question as to why the Egyptian community is so discriminated and ignored by the government of Kosovo.

Kosovo Ministry of Education, Science and Technology awarded 500 study scholarships for children of RAE communities in Kosovo. Minister of Education, Arsim Bajrami, said that awarding these scholarships shows that it’s a priority for his ministry that these children be integrated as equal citizens of Kosovo. Krystyna Marty Lang from the Swiss Embassy in Kosovo noted that more than half of these scholarships were awarded to girls.

Members of the Kosovo-based non-governmental organization, The Ideas Partnership, Rron Gjinovci and Arian Maloku, have been providing for a year now free of charge classes to children from Ashkali community in Fushe Kosova/Kosovo Polje in different subjects, twice a week. Gjinovci said the children from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities are neglected in schools. “They are always seated at the back. Not to mention racial discrimination or when their grades are determined by national background,” Gjinovci said.