Media and civil society representatives discussed yesterday during the DokuFest documentary and short film festival in Prizren the role of the media in fighting corruption in the Balkan countries. Marija Ristic, a journalist from Serbia working with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) said that most of the media in Serbia are owned or controlled by politicians and businessmen and there is very little room for professional media to thrive. Arbana Xharra, editor-in-chief of the Pristina daily Zeri spoke of the threats she received for writing about corruption in Kosovo.

On the International Gun Destruction Day, 9 July, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union will assist Kosovo authorities in destroying about 2,000 light and small arms. The event will be organised by Kosovo Police and will take place at the Janjeva mine.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare for implementation of a project aimed at decreasing unemployment in Kosovo. In connection to this, they will today launch the Wage Subsidy Programme that seeks to secure long-term employment opportunities for the people of Kosovo. The programme is jointly funded by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the UNDP and the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

The Supreme Court of Kosovo and the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) from Berlin, supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organized the "Kosovo Summit on International Law and Human Rights 2015", which will be held today and tomorrow in Pristina.

UNDP and USAID will release today the Public Pulse IX, a study which included 1,306 respondents and focused on people’s satisfaction with the work of Kosovo’s institutions. According to results, political representatives like President Atifete Jahjaga, Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and Assembly Speaker Kadri Veseli have recorded the lowest level of people’s satisfaction since March 2007. Respondents further identified unemployment, poverty, and corruption as the main problems in Kosovo.

Four farmers in the municipality of Dragash are the beneficiaries of 37 thousand euros allocated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). This grant is allocated to the project funded by the Austrian Development Cooperation "response at the local level regarding the creation of jobs (employment) and Integrated Territorial Development (InTerDev)". Through a press release, UNDP announced that the project InTerDev finalized two activities that serve small farmers and unemployed youth to improve their lifestyle.

The executive director of the Center for Protection of Women and Children in Pristina, Naime Sherifi, told the Anadolu Agency, that the economic dependency factor makes women powerless to be protected from domestic violence. According to her, in the last three years, the number of victims was around 1000 annually, while in 2014 this number has reached 1200 women who reported domestic violence. Sherifi said that in the Safe House in Pristina, last year were housed 470 women, victims of domestic violence.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday launched a research report within the project "Public Pulse - Safety in public schools in the municipality of Pristina". This report deals with the perception of students, parents and teachers about safety issues in schools in Pristina and offers concrete recommendations for steps to be taken to increase the security. The outcome data will be used to design a comprehensive platform 2015-2018 against violence in schools.

UNDP and USAID will present today findings of the Public Pulse report that provides perceptions of Kosovo citizens on religious radicalism, political stalemate and what they consider main problems in Kosovo are. The document shows a significant decline of citizens’ satisfaction with the work of key institutions. According to a statement from UNDP, the document covers the period from April to November 2014 and follows the tradition of previous reports by analyzing the changing of situation in the political, economic, security fields. The project is co-founded by USAID and UNDP.

A handover of police equipment took place today at the Kosovo Police in the presence of Minister of Internal Affairs, Bajram Rexhepi,United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Andrew Russell, donors, and representatives of the South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC). The donation of equipment worth USD 46,000 is part of the UNDP’s KOSSAC (Kosovo Small Arms Control Project) project and part of the EU strategy for fighting illegal collection and trafficking of small arms and ammunition.