Prishtina, 06 December, 2023
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, participated today in the opening Conference of the Human Rights Week, organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR).
Prime Minister Kurti voiced his satisfaction in attending the inaugural conference of Human Rights Week for the third successive year, which is in its tenth edition this year, and he commended the commitment of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Kosovo across this decade.
In his speech to those present, the prime minister said he believes human rights are both the essence and the foundation of civilization. Everything becomes so difficult as to be impossible if we do not believe in human rights, and everything becomes so easy, almost immediately achievable when we believe in human rights, he further added.
In the spirit of partnership between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and civil society organizations, Prime Minister Kurti called for us to continue to have an open discussion about the ways of operationalizing the recommendations of the reports and analyzes of these organizations for human rights, especially for where human rights violations, ethnic minorities, the LGBTIQ+ community, the poor, those who for one reason or another have remained unloaned, uneducated and those who have limited abilities or special needs and those who consider why they are unfortunate in life because they have had an accident or even made a wrong choice in life that is costing them for the rest of their lives.
“With all these, solidarity, cooperation for equality and dignity. I hope that these discussion platforms, as well as this conference, serve for useful exchanges and new inspiration, said Prime Minister Kurti at the end of his speech.
Prime Minister Kurti’s full speech:
Good afternoon everyone and I apologize for being late at the start of this conference as we were in a government meeting regarding a new measure that we have undertaken together with the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, in a meeting with the Social Work Centers where the leaders of these centers from all over the Kosovo municipalities were participating and which has to do with securing heating materials for this winter which clearly will be colder than the last one for families on social assistance. So 21,000 families with over 80,000 members in total in the Republic of Kosovo will benefit from this measure, in which case each family will receive 120 euros and then 30 euros for each member. We consider it significant because we are aware, from our experience, of the tight link between sickness and poverty. Poverty often leads to sickness, and sickness often leads to greater poverty. So, it’s imperative that we step in as soon as we can in this category, most importantly now.
On the other hand, I am still under the impression of last night’s musical film that we saw presented by the American ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier who we have here today as well. The play, the musical “Hamilton: from Broadway where in some expressive scenes you have Hamilton and Lafayette together, these two historical personalities of the end of the 18th century are figures of two revolutions, the American revolution and the French revolution. It’s the human rights that are indeed the roots of both the American and French Revolutions. From these two revolutions at the end of the XVIII century originates the humane idea transformed into a political project and now from us as a witness to the historical process of the equality of individuals, of all people regardless of their preparation or origin.
Your Excellency, Jeffrey Hovenier, Ambassador of the United States of America to Kosovo,
Honorable Mr. Tankut Soykan, Deputy Director of the Office of the Council of Europe,
Honorable Excellencies and representatives of diplomatic corps in Kosovo,
Honorable Mr. Johan Westerlund, ambassador of Sweden in Kosovo,
Your Excellency, Mr. Bohumil Mazanek, ambassador of the Czech Republic in Kosovo,
Your Excellency, Mr. Hristo Gudjev, Ambassador of Bulgaria in Kosovo,
Honorable Ms. Marigona Shabiu, executive director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, and chief/organizer of this valuable conference,
Honorable attendees,
Ladies and gentleman,
In my conviction and belief, human rights are both the core and the foundation of civilization.
Everything becomes so difficult as to be impossible if we do not believe in human rights, and everything becomes so easy, almost immediately achievable when we believe in human rights.
Human rights embody equality and universality, but they are sometimes misunderstood as they are believed to distinguish us as individuals, the rights of an individual.
On one level this is true, but there is another level, inseparable, that equality brings us together. Individuals being equal are together, inequality separates people.
Indeed, human rights solely guarantee our dignity in those 30 famous articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which I reiterate, has its roots in the American and French Revolution. Initially, in that proclamation, the single entity is central, but on the other side, not the entity as a unique being, but the entity as any one of us, and in this lies the universal aspect that we all share. So, individuals are not just you, which one of you and I, individuals are each of us.
In the perspective of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are all individuals with equality, and it is this equality that binds us with society.
Therefore, human rights ought to be used more to highlight that each of us is an indivisible human entity because an individual, an indivisible one, is not dividuo, it’s an individuo, indivisible. So each of us is indivisible but we are all together in society.
This starting point is the foundation and core of civilization. When you are convinced of this, when we believe in this, much if not all becomes much easier.
It is therefore a pleasure to be at the inaugural conference of Human Rights Week for the third year in a row, which marks the tenth edition this year. Congratulations for the dedication of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Kosovo throughout this decade.
Human rights are also interdependent and interconnected. Exactly like us, the people. All people, all of humanity is interconnected and so are the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This conference is also a sign of solidarity, but also of shared responsibility for respecting human rights, as institutions and as a society, for which we have a duty to engage in the battle for equality in rights.
I believe that solidarity is solidarity in action, it is solidarity in battle, and precisely by being in battle in action, it contains both sympathy and empathy; sympathy as pity for the other that the other remains, but also empathy, where you imagine yourself in the place of the other.
A society in which there is only sympathy without empathy, where you might feel pity for another, but they remain fundamentally different without the empathy in which you begin to also envision yourself in the other’s shoes, is a society that risks degrading criticism into doubt. And here, I see an important element of the necessary socio-political and I would say cultural progress of our society. Let’s not allow criticism to degrade into doubt. To uphold criticism without it descending into doubt, where we have the right to critique each other, but not to have unwarranted suspicion about each other, can be accomplished by coupling the easier sympathy with the harder empathy, which ultimately signifies solidarity in our joint battle.
From equality to inclusiveness, from representation and participation to empowerment, from justice for citizens to transparency and accountability of officers, from anti-corruption to anti-discrimination, from democracy to security, we must engage with a holistic approach and concrete actions.
On this path to guarantee dignity and equal rights for all, we can’t ignore the influence of language and the absolute need for a hate-free and non-discriminative environment, as thoroughly articulated by our chair, director Shabiu, a view I completely concur with. In fact, we have established the “raportodiskriminimin.org” platform, initiated by my office the previous year. I invite citizens to report discrimination wherever they encounter it.
Governance is a democratic service, above all for those whose rights have been violated, especially the most violated rights, the marginalized groups, those who are discriminated, stigmatized, afraid.
Therefore, we are advancing the policies, strengthening the institutional mechanisms and increasing the necessary budgeting for the implementation of laws, and the promotion, respect and guarantee of human rights.
In terms of our internal Government reports and our relations with the Republic’s Assembly, the civil code that Director Shabiu discussed in the meeting attended by 19 of us has been voted on. The count is 19, including 15 ministers, three deputy prime ministers, and myself. But it should also be voted in that next larger room where there are 120. And my insistence is that we do this. Yes, we need help too.
We need more awareness of everyone, including MPs, especially MPs and for increased sensitivity. So not only awareness but also sensitivity, both are needed. And for this, I am not just willing, but also keen to cooperate.
We’ll fully cooperate as far as our role, the law, and the constitution permit, implying that we can’t afford to worry about who’s leading a certain parliamentary committee, or who the chairperson is, regardless of what my own views may be.
In the spirit of partnership between the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and civil society organizations, we continue to have open discussions about ways to operationalize recommendations from your reports on human rights, especially where human rights violations are found, ethnic minorities, the LGBTIQ+ community, those who feel extra marginalized, the poor, those who for one reason or another have been left unloaned, uneducated, and those with limited abilities or special needs, and those who wonder why they are unfortunate in life because they have had an accident or made a wrong choice in life that is costing them for the rest of their life. Now, with all these, solidarity, cooperation for equality and for dignity. I hope that these discussion platforms and this conference serve for useful exchanges and new inspiration.
Thank you!
Last modified: December 8, 2023