The paper reports that at least until spring next year there will be no return of Albanians in northern Mitrovica, although many of them have expressed willingness to return to their properties. Adriana Hodzic, head of the Administrative Office in northern Kosovo, said that there is no progress in this direction. According to her, the process of reconstruction of the Albaninans’ houses will not start before spring next year.
Kosovo offers no social or benefits scheme for children. For three years now the NGOs dealing with the protection of children's rights have asked the government to review the social scheme and to put under it also the child allowances. Donjeta Kelmendi, director of the Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations for the Protection of Children, says the coalition has repeatedly raised this issue and has recommended to the government of Kosovo to increase the budget for social schemes and the provision of allowances for children.
A delegation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) visited yesterday Kosovo Ministry of Environment. The UNEP delegation, headed by Pier Carlo Sandei, director of the UNEP Office in Vienna, was informed closely with the environmental situation in Kosovo. On this occasion, UNEP has offered free National Reporting System for Kosovo which will provide general information on the environmental situation in Kosovo.
The Ministry of Economic Development and the company Contour Global reached an agreement for building a new power plant in Kosovo. The agreement was reached in the United States. “After a great engagement and the last visit of the Minister of Economic Development, Blerand Stavileci, to the United States, the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) team, World Bank and Contour Global reached an agreement on items that were subject to the negotiations, thus opening way for the execution of the agreement which will award the American company the Preferred Bidder status.
Kosovo’s Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Rita Hajzeraj-Beqaj, participated in the regional conference on "Sharing interdisciplinary practices on child protection". Hajzeraj-Beqaj emphasized the importance of the multidisciplinary access in case management in order to coordinate and exchange the best practices in child protection. She said that the Ministry will support every initiative that has to do with improving the situation of children who are considered marginalized.
Gender-based violence, protection of women's rights, the treatment and psychological consequences of survivors of sexual violence during the war were some of the topics that were discussed in the International Conference dedicated to the protection of women's rights and gender equality that was held on Sunday in Mitrovica. Participants said that Kosovo is still in the phase of post-war stress where there are more than 20 thousand raped women.
Kosovo Minister of Internal Affairs, Skender Hyseni, today participated in the regional conference on combating corruption and capacity building of the Kosovo institutions in combating high level corruption, organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and supported by the German Federal Government. Hyseni said that the rule of law institutions are obliged to undertake all possible actions against corruption. "Corruption cannot be defined exclusively as a problem of a state, but it is a general problem.
The institution of Ombudsman, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), organized today a workshop on "Implementation of the Law on Protection from Discrimination - Challenges and Opportunities ".The Ombudsman institution with the new Law on Protection from Discrimination is defined as a mechanism for handling cases dealing with discrimination and also has broad powers regarding the implementation of this law. This workshop will offer the possibility of joint discussions between the Ombudsman, the judiciary and other stakeholders regarding the implementation
Kosovo Assembly Women Caucus chief, Blerta Deliu-Kodra, is participating in the 'Women's Week' conference in London. During this conference, it was discussed the situation of women in 20 countries around the world, including Kosovo.
A peaceful march with the slogan ‘Stop violence against women’ was organized today in Suhareka in memory of Zejnepe Bytyci who was stabbed to death by her husband a few days ago. This march was organized as a sign of solidarity with the victims of domestic violence and as a reaction to the inefficiency of the Kosovo institutions to prevent this phenomenon. Suhareka Municipality officials called on the relevant institutions to work more in preventing domestic violence throughout Kosovo.