Pristina, December 2, 2022
At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the Council for Democracy and Human Rights met today, consisting of institutional leaders of the country and representatives of civil society.
Below is the full speech of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti:
Dear President of the Republic, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani Sadriu,
Dear attendees,
The double murder of the evening of November 30 has affected our entire society and shocked our entire people. The same has followed the murder of another woman by her husband, in her home a week ago. Until we make efforts to make society aware of the importance of gender equality and respect for women, we witness a reality that remains deaf to our calls, initiatives, actions and efforts. Efforts which we postpone from the day of coming to the Government and which have been missing for a long, long time.
For years, our society has treated domestic violence as a private matter, and partner abuse as a matter of punishment. Change is possible, the institutional response to these cruel crimes and inhumane treatment of women must be continuous, but initially this change must start from ourselves, from each of us. This woman’s struggle for survival within the walls of the house is a society’s struggle, a state’s struggle in support of women and girls, and we must prove to them every day that they are not alone!
In the recent war in Kosovo, women have suffered more than men. Of course, more men have been killed, but women suffered more. Also because they stayed close to their husbands and to the entire families. The contribution and sacrifice of women in the liberation war is little appreciated and even less recognized. Thousands of raped women face not only the lack of justice from yesterday but also the presence of stigmatization today. Meanwhile, men usually do not have the courage to face the former powerlessness to protect women and often do not even appreciate the great successes of women everywhere today. Women who have struggled the most a quarter of a century ago have the greatest success today.
Equality with other peoples must be accompanied by gender equality within our people. Our national liberation from the last war has not brought the liberation of women in society. Women are proving this to us every day with their struggles for gender equality, which are taking place mainly in the private sphere. In families, women are beaten every day and not infrequently even killed. The woman becomes a witness of indomitable resistance and a fighter in the fight for equality. Women must be helped and supported by women and men in this struggle that is emancipating our entire society. This battle is not much easier than the one a quarter of a century ago. Not only because this time NATO will not intervene.
Serbian military, police and paramilitary forces have not spared pregnant Albanian women. On the contrary. There they considered that they are killing two people with one blow. And, especially that they are killing our future by shooting and killing the babies in their mothers’ wombs. The killing of pregnant women during the years 1998-1999 is among the main evidences of Serbia’s genocide against Kosovo Albanians. I’m sorry, but I remembered this last night when I heard the news of Hamide Magashi’s murder.
Dear attendees,
From the suffocating patriarchy that existed even before the war, from the expropriating neoliberalization that came to us after the war, from the untreated traumas of the events during the war, we are so hurt, but at the same time somehow very strong. Let us become even stronger by fighting together in this decisive battle.
Dear attendees,
The punishment of criminals is not only about a bygone past, but precisely about a non-ending past. At the same time, justice does not resurrect the murdered man, nor does it undo the crime committed, but it punishes the criminal, sends him to prison, isolating him from the society to which he has harmed, and sets an example for all those who would turn a thought of crime into a criminal act. Serving the sentence does not only serve to rehabilitate the prisoner, but also as a symbol of the punishment of evil by the state, by the rule of law. Example that the state does not forgive, that the state protects, that the state preserves as the greatest value of society.
In cases like the latter, the Police does not precede the prosecution and the judiciary, but follows them in a double way: the police implements the orders of the prosecution and the judiciary, as well as acting in a social context established over many years from trials and convictions, or better to say previous non-convictions. Passive prosecution and inefficient judiciary are among the main causes of this reality, where the killing of women is only news that is repeated and does not remain current for more than two days. The system of injustice that reacts quickly and efficiently when it comes to their individual gain, does not serve this country and this society. The lack of professionalism that manifests in biased and motivated decisions, unjustified delays due to the lack of accountability mechanisms, politicization of the judicial system that was done openly by previous governments, produce victims; violators/perpetrators; abusers; and convey the message that everything else, including the administration of justice, comes after the satiation and fulfillment of personal interests.
None of these obstacles will stop us from making sure there won’t be even one more. No inaction will go unpunished. I want this sentence to be heard and understood well by everyone, those who threaten and abuse their wives, those who justify these actions, and those who do not treat them properly or forget them on the basis of accumulated affairs. Not even one more.
The institutions of a democratic-republican system reduce the risk for a dignified life and increase the chances for life welfare. The risk in Kosovo is not shared equally by men and women. Women are more at risk. But they are particularly endangered by a category of men. Now we must come together, both women with gender solidarity, and men, whose emancipation is even more necessary than women’s, to protect women, who are at greater risk than men. Sure, we’ll do those electronic bracelets when there’s a protective order, but let’s not use that as a substitute for some kind of social introspection. Because murderers, abusers, do not only threaten the woman, we have seen how they threaten the woman’s sister, child, woman’s parent, and we cannot put electronic bracelets on all the victim’s family members. So social introspection is irreplaceable. This does not mean that we will not engage and invest more, also in the technical and technological aspects of defense as efficiently as possible. But let’s not use this to stop us from doing social introspection, because we’ve come up with a fantastic technological solution and we don’t need to do a little soul-searching as a society at a time when femicides happen more often than once a week.
Some of the steps that had to be taken, and no one has taken them so far, but that were taken by the Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, I am emphasizing below: the functionalization and regular meetings of the inter-ministerial group; completion of the amendment of the Law on Free Legal Aid: victims of violence are offered free legal aid regardless of socio-economic status; completion of the amendment of the Law on Crime Victim Compensation: that is, the elimination of bureaucratic procedures for compensation of victims (from January until now they have been compensated); providing expertise to the Assembly of Kosovo on the Draft Law on Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women and Girls; drafting and approval of the Strategy and Action Plan for Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women and Girls; drafting and approval of the State Protocol for Handling Cases of Sexual Violence; the drafting of the Curriculum for professionals for the treatment programs of perpetrators of domestic violence; completion of the amendment of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure, with the aim of additional punishments for persons who are found guilty of domestic and sexual violence, as well as the publication of the names of the perpetrators, and the detention of suspected persons.
With that, we have only just begun and will not stop this joint battle. Because, not even one more!
Thank you.
Last modified: December 7, 2022