The project Business to Business which aims to initiate business cooperation between social enterprises created as a result of grant-scheme "Increasing the employment of vulnerable groups and businesses," was opened today in Pristina. Kosovo’s Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Arban Abrashi, said this project employed hundreds of people and trained over 500, including special needs category.  The European Union Office representative in Pristina, Libor Chlad, said the EU project aims to employment of members of vulnerable groups.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci met today the President of the Association of Persons with Special Needs in Kosovo, Agim Vatovci, with whom he discussed about the work done by this organization and the challenges it is facing. On the verge of the International Day of Persons with Dissabilities, Thaci said it is the obligation of all people to respect the Constitution and laws in force, which prohibit the discrimination of these groups in education, health, employment and other services.

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.

Continuing with the assistance for the flood affected areas, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through its Disaster Risk Reduction project, provided search and rescue tools for Gllogoc/Glogovac and Malishevë/Mališevo municipalities. The activity is part of the recovery efforts for the flooding that severely affected these two municipalities in January 2016, and again this fall.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo today published the Public Pulse report on corruption. According to this report, Kosovo Police continues to be the most trusted institution in Kosovo. The report also notes that based on 1,300 respondents, 58 percent believe that corruption has increased in the last 12 months in Kosovo while 12 percent think it was reduced. Most respondents believe that the most corrupt institutions are the central ones.

The Coalition of NGOs for Child Protection in Kosovo – KOMF, through a press release issued today said that 61.4 % of children in Kosovo suffer from psychological violence and physical punishment. “The data show a high degree of violence committed against children. According to the Kosovo Statistics Agency, 61.4% of surveyed children up to age 14 stated that they had suffered psychological violence and/or physical punishment by members of the family over the last month from the date of the interview.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Cultural Right, Karima Bennoune, who is currently visiting Kosovo, held a series of meetings with government officials, civil society and international representatives in Kosovo. However, a press conference called for Wednesday did not happen because her visit to Kosovo has not yet ended. She addressed the media only with an informal conversation and did not allow them to record her statement.

The Equal Rights for All Coalition, funded by the EU and managed by the European Union Office in Kosovo, yesterday presented the report on “potentially ethnically motivated incidents: challenges in defining and reporting.” The report analyses reporting procedures applied by the police, with a particular focus on potentially ethnically motivated incidents, from the initial investigation and reporting phase to data sharing and harmonization with the judiciary.

The paper reports that the government commission in charge to verify the victims of sexual violence has not been established yet. This commission was supposed to start functioning as of November last year. However, the application deadline for members of this commission has been officially closed on Thursday. The government commission to verify the victims of sexual violence will have nine members composed of four independent members and five others from government institutions.

The UN Women in Kosovo on Wednesday launched the project “Conflict brought no flowers” dedicated to survivors of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo. The project aims at making the voices of the victims of sexual violence be heard and give recommendations to relevant institutions on helping these victims. Flora Macula, chief of the UN Women in Kosovo said this project has been drafted after months of work, and includes consultations with the women who are survivors of sexual violence during the war.