least 5 years, said representa-tives of the Ministry.

A recommending letter wasattached to the ministry aboutthe possibilities how the prob-lem of drinking water could beregulated. Among these rec-ommendations come; fineswhich must be paid by personswho abuse water, spend drink-ing water; throw garbage ordo the sewage spilling into wa-ter used for drinking; to estab-lish the Eco-Fund by the afore-mentioned fines; a biggercommitment of inspectors andmonitoring their work; citizensto be notified for measures tobe taken in case of misuse ofdrinking water (through elec-tronic and written media).

“Voter’s Voice” with this ini-tiative has proven once againtheir readiness to send citi-zens’ complaints to the properaddress, which will continue inthe future.

and Spatial Planning. Presentat this meeting were politicaladvisers to the Minister MahirYagcilar, Mr. Husnia Beshkoviq,Mr. Hazir Cadraku, Mrs. GynajHallaq, Mrs. Ermira Bojku andBatllava Regional Water Direc-tor, Mr. Skender Bublaku

After the presentation of thepetition, and the number ofsignatures received, represen-tatives of MESP presentedproblems they encounter intheir work to improve the situ-ation of drinking water and wa-ter systems. Lack of funds wasone of the obstacles that pre-vents the improvement of thisproblem. Also, there werepromises that the state ofdrinking water will be regulat-ed, saying that this problem isthe priority of this ministry, butsuch a thing is impossible tohappen in the near future. Forthe citizens of Kosovo to havedrinking water available 24hours to them, it will take at

Women’s Voicewhat’s inside

Volume VII, Issue 4

sept. 2009 - nov. 2009

Kosovar

announcements

www.womensnetwork.org

Women activists fromIsrael visit Kosovo

2

“More than Words on paper?” Report has beenPublished

2

KWN Participates in thestudy presentation “Ko-sovo after Independence”

2

The month against Traf-ficking of Human Beingswas marked

3

Decade of Kosovo Rehabilitation Center 3

October – InternationalMonth of Fighting againstBreast Cancer

3

Women’s Wellness Centermarks 16 activities againstviolence towards women

4

CTGS sends an open letter to Kosovo Institutions

4

KWN Annual Meeting12 December

10:30am “Villa Gërmia”

Prishtina______________

JANUARY 2010

KWN

10th

ANNIVERSARY

During September, the KosovoWomen’s Network (KWN) or-ganized the signing of the peti-tion “No Water, No Vote”. Thispetition includes 2 requests:request for 24 hours drinkingwater and improve sewagesystems. This petition was or-ganized as a result of theneeds of the citizens of Koso-vo, expressed through the tele-phone line “Voice of the Vot-ers” in the number 0800 201401.

In total 2829 signatures weremade by almost all Kosovo cit-izens. Problems were encoun-tered only in the municipalityof Mamusha, where the signingof the petition was blocked bythe municipal officials. The pe-tition was supported by volun-teer activists of the Kosovo RedCross.

On November 3, project’s co-ordinator of “Voice of the Vot-ers”, met with representativesof the Ministry of Environment

On 12 October in Hotel Prishtina wasorganized the publication of thebook “Women’s Side of War”, organ-ized by Kvinna till Kvinna and KWN.The book is a publication of theWomen in Black from Serbia andcontains the stories of women andtheir experiences during the war inKosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina andSerbia.

Among friends and local and inter-national partners were activists fromIsrael, Jewish and Palestinianwomen organizations who werestaying in Kosovo following the visitto Serbia. For electronic version ofthe book please visit:www.womensnetwork.org

“Voter’s Voice” meets with Representatives of theMinistry of Environment and Spatial Planning

Women in Black Network Published the Book with Women’s Stories

www.womensnetwork.org

page 2

Women activists

from Israel visit Kosovo

From 11 - October 16,with the support of theSwedish organization,Kvinna till Kvinna, KWNhosted a delegation ofwomen’s organizationsfrom Israel and Palestine.They first spent severaldays in Serbia and thenthey came to Kosovo to-gether with the Networkof Women in Black. Thepurpose of their visit is toexchange experienceswith women’s organiza-tions in the Balkans.

The delegation visitedPristina women’s organi-zations, such as: OpenDoor and Kosovo Centerfor Gender Studies. InGjilan they visited Center“Freedom” while inGjakova, “Medica” organi-zation hosted this delega-tion. They were also re-ported with organized ac-tivities in Mitrovica duringthe visit at CBM (Commu-nity Building Center) andin Ugljare they had theopportunity to get famil-iar with the activities or-ganized by the SerbianNetwork Organizations inKosovo.

KWN Participates in the Study Presentation “Kosovo after Independence”

On November 27 in Vienna,Austria, the Renner-Institutepresented the Research Re-port “Kosovo after Independ-ence – Has the EU missionmanaged to fulfill its missionthrough the EULEX as was itpromised”.

The purpose of this presen-tation is to make an analysison the EULEX mission inKosovo. On December, 2009,EULEX celebrated its first yearsince it officially started oper-ating in Kosovo. So far, thedata about this extremely ex-pensive mission are morethan despair-the expectedsuccess in promoting the ruleof law has failed, the North of

Kosovo is still being controlledby Belgrade. The legitimacy ofthe “status-neutral” of EU’s mis-sion is low on both sides, Serbsand Kosovo Albanians – whichcan be proven based on theanalysis made where it appearsthat 90 % of the Kosovo’s popu-lation doesn’t agree with the EU-LEX’s mission presence and EUpolicies in Kosovo. General strat-egy of the EU mission in Kosovois not very different from that ofUNMIK. Brussels has not yetcome up with any clear strategyon the process of intervention ofEULEX in Kosovo.

Aside from the Executive Di-rector of KWN, in this presenta-tion attended: Vedran Dzihic and

Helmut Kramer, both profes-sors of Vienna University andcoauthors of this report, UlrikeLunacek- EU Member of Parlia-ment and reporter for Kosovo,Dominique Orsini - Head ofPolicy Unit to EULEX; AlbertRohan - former deputy specialenvoy for Kosovo, and HannesSwoboda- Deputy – Vice-presi-dent of the Socialist group,Member of the EU Delegationin Kosovo. More informationabout this presentation can befound at: http://www.renner-institut.at/fremdspr/frengl.htm

“More than “Words on paper”? Report has been Published

On 23 November, at the Gov-ernment building, was pub-lished the report “More thanwords on paper?” Judiciaryresponse to violence in fami-lies”, organized by the Agencyfor Gender Equality (PrimeMinister’s Office), United Na-tions Development Program(UNDP) in Kosovo and KosovoWomen’s Network.

Based on interviews withmore than 60 representativesof institutions, 96 victims ofdomestic violence and previ-ous research, this report iden-tifies issues relating to exist-ing legislation and its imple-mentation. The findings andrecommendations that resultfrom them are intended tocontribute to drafting the newLaw on protection against do-mestic violence, NationalStrategy and Action Planagainst domestic violence andother legislation which gov-erns the prosecution ofcrimes committed in familyrelations, operational proce-dures and performance of in-stitutions responsible for en-suring access to justice.

The report assesses the

perform-ance oft h ejudges inprovidingp r o t e c -t i o na g a i n s tdomesticv io lencet h r oughm e c h a -n i s m ssuch asp r o t e c -tion or-d e r s ,prosecu-tion ofacts ofdomestic violence; investigationof acts of domestic violence byKosovo police, and actions toprotect victims from further vio-lence; the work of various insti-tutions and organizations re-sponsible for protecting therights of victims during their ac-cess to justice; and citizens’ per-ceptions about the judicial sys-tem, which may affect their de-cisions to seek justice or to si-lence. The report is concludedwith recommendations for policy

makers and individual institu-tions to increase access to jus-tice for victims of domestic vi-olence.

The report is available to youat UNDP’s website(www.ks.undp.org), KWN’swebsite (http://www.women-snetwork.org) and that ofKosovo Government(http://www.ks-gov.net/por-tal/eng.htm).

October – International

Month of Fightingagainst Breast

Cancer

page 3

Decade of Kosovo Rehabilitation Center In September this year, Koso-vo Center for Rehabilitation ofTorture Survivors (KCRTS) cel-ebrated ten years of existence,work and fight against thephenomenon of torture inKosovo. During a decade ofactivity, KCRTS has been apermanent support of torturevictims, while it has in parallelworked in its prevention. Inthe autumn of 1999, KCRTSbegan offering much neededpsycho-social and medicalservices, which were appliedfor the first time in Kosovo,trying to contribute to the alle-viation of suffering and spiritu-al wounds caused by war.

Thus, after 10 years they

created new professional re-sources that continue to helpin such a permanent manner aconsiderable number of vic-tims of torture.

All work done by KCRTS inthis decade was supported byprofessionals in the field ofmedicine, activists of humanrights, where they also man-aged to extend to the mostsensitive areas of Kosovo andhave extended their hand tothose who needed it.

Executive Director of theCenter, Feride Rushiti, said:“We are aware that ten yearsof work and might are not somuch in comparison with so-cial problems of our country.

But, at the same time, we areconfident to think that withoutKCRTS, this social categorywould have had more difficultlife and confrontation with theconsequences of torture.

Challenges and obligationsare big; there is still much workto KCRTS. But, in this Center’spermanent war against torture,we want that for a brief mo-ment, to stop and rememberthe decade of dedication of theKCRTS workers. And at thesame time we want to mark thejubilee year of the Center activ-ity with friends, collaborators,supporters, and above all, withour customers”.

The month against Trafficking of Human Beings was Marked

Protect the Victim PreventTrafficking Center (PVPTC)during October, the MonthAgainst Trafficking of HumanBeings has developed a rangeof activities. There were heldtwo trainings: ConsciousnessTraining about human traffick-ing with representatives ofnongovernmental organiza-tions-NGOs and an awarenessand consciousness trainingabout human trafficking andchild rights for the purpose ofreporting right in the writtenmedia in Kosovo. In additionto regular awareness activitiesfor trafficking of human beingsthat is held at the Rehabilita-tion Center, based on the rele-vant module, PVPT Centerstaff along with volunteersfrom the Psychology Depart-ment has organized two otheractivities.

Under the leadership of co-ordinator of the RehabilitationCenter and Department ofPsychology volunteer, duringOctober, the group of dailybeneficiaries, consisting ofeight girls worked in thepreparation of a theatrical per-formance. This theatrical per-formance contains sequencesof recruitment process, the

sented in front of the studentsand teachers of primary schoolwhere the beneficiaries, ac-tresses in this drama attendprimary education.During the month of October,under the Rehabilitation Center,film “Taken” was showed infront of the beneficiaries shel-tered at the Rehabilitation Cen-ter’s Shelter, which has beendiscussed and elaborated laterin the form of awareness ses-sion for Victims of Trafficking.

victim’s confessions in front ofthe audience for its experi-ences during the traffickingsituation, way of rescue fromthe trafficking clutches as wellas sequences about the reha-bilitation process of the victim.The message of the play is itstitle “Human Trafficking is apotential DANGER for all”.During the month of October,this play was originally pre-sented at the RehabilitationCenter, in front of shelter ben-eficiaries and rehabilitativestaff and later on it was pre-

Balkans Breast Cancer Ini-tiative (BBCI) in coopera-tion with Community Build-ing Mitrovica (CBM), organ-ized the Annual KosovoWalk to raise the aware-ness of Breast Cancer(IBKGJ). BBCI was initiatedby the American Embassyin Prishtina and found thesupport from the USAID,renowned Kosovo doctors,Kosovo NGO’s, includingthe first Kosovo NGO “Je-ta/Vita”, which, as sole pur-pose, has the raising of theawareness of society aboutthe breast cancer and itsearly detection.

On the occasion of theInternational monthagainst breast cancer, andthe conclusion of its secondproject, Kosovo Center forCombating the Breast Can-cer (KCCBC) “JETA|VITA”has organized a round-table. During this table, in-formation was given aboutthe activities taken by KCF-BC as well as informationabout the results from theMinistry of Health regard-ing the diagnosis and treat-ment of breast cancer.There were debates indrafting the national strate-gy for fighting the breastcancer and executing theproject “Mobile Mammog-raphy Auto-ambulance”.

Another activity that tookplace was the performancein Oda Theatre supportedby the Ministry of Energyand Mines. Directed byBurbuqe Berisha, the ac-tresses revealed in front ofthe audience real stories bythe women who have ex-perienced breast cancer.

www.womensnetwork.org

page 4

Kosova Women’s Networkinfo@womensnetwork.org

038 245 850Hajdar Dushi C-2, II/8

10 000 Prishtina,Republic of Kosova

www.womensnetwork.org

KWN StaffIgballe RogovaExecutive Director

igorogova@yahoo.com

Besa Shehu Finance Manager

besa_shehu@yahoo.com

Alba LoxhaInformation & Outreach

Manageralbaloxha@yahoo.com

Nicole FarnsworthConsultant & Researcher

nicole.farnsworth@gmail.com

Adelina BerishaProject Coordinatoraberisha@gmail.com

KWN Board

Belgjyzare MuharremiChair of the Board

Ariana Qosaj - MustafaArjeta RexhajBehar SelimiNazlije Bala

Shukrije GashiVeprore Shehu

Advisory Board:Besim M. KajtaziDelina FicoMarte PrenkpalajRachel WarehamVjosa Dobruna

“Kosovar Women’s Voice” was written and designed by

Alba Loxha.

Women’s Wellness Center Marks 16 days Activities against Violence against Women

CTGS Sends an Open Letter to Kosovo Institutions

From November 25 to Decem-ber 10, Women’s WellnessCenter (WWC) marked the 16days of activism against theviolence towards women witha range of activities. Cam-paign’s slogan, already tradi-tional for WWC, is to end allforms of violence against wo-men, and increase public awa-reness on this issue.

White tag campaign is thelargest effort in the world ofpeople working to end the vio-lence against women. In overa hundred countries, cam-paigns are led by men and wo-men and the goal is educationof men and boys.

How did the white tag cam-paign start?

In 1991, several men in Ca-nada by feeling responsible in-

vited men to talk about the vio-lence against women. Carryingof white tags is a personalcommitment that will not per-form and will not remain silentabout the violence against wo-men and girls. This is anotherway of saying “Our future doesnot accept violence againstwomen”.

WWC initiated the white tagcampaign in 2001 in order toencourage Kosovo men to speakand oppose the violence againstwomen, in order to create anequal society in gender.

Main WWC activities duringthese 16 days were: distribu-tion of white tags; TV debates;rally with the slogan “Preven-tion of violence against wo-men”; Trainings; roundtableswith young people, with repre-sentatives of social institutionsfrom the municipality of Peja;etc.

All these activities were or-ganized by the Women’s Well-ness Center and Safe House inPeja.

On December 7, as part of six-teen days of activism for “Eli-mination of Violence againstWomen”, Center for Trainingand Gender Studies (CTSG), incooperation and financial sup-port from UNIFEM organized aRoundtable on the topic:“Creating Strategies againstmisuse with Information andCommunication Technology -ICT (ICT Cyber Crime) and Ad-vanced Institutional Practices.

This roundtable was atten-ded by representatives of go-vernmental and non-govern-mental organizations (localand international), representa-tives of Kosovo institutions,media representatives, civil so-ciety, the Kosovo Police, etc..

From this table and thespeeches of the participants,these recommendations cameout: The drafting of national

strategy for fight against CyberCrime; To strengthen the co-operation between relevant ac-tors in preventing and fightingthe Cyber Crime; To create anational coalition for safetyfrom Cyber Crime; Identify re-levant actors from the Govern-ment, Judiciary, Police, Educa-tional Institutions, ICT Compa-nies (Information and Commu-nication Technology), NGOs,etc..; To create school pro-grams and organizations/agen-cies for the prevention of Cy-ber Crime; To organize publicawareness campaigns by theconsequences of this pheno-menon; To develop internatio-nal cooperation in this fieldand to use the best regionalpractices for combating thiscrime; To accelerate the appro-val of the law against domesticviolence, and to harmonize all

the laws that protect the rightsof women and children in Ko-sovo; and to allocate a budgetthat will be used specifically toimplement the law against themisuse of ICT.

These recommendations theCTSG addressed in the openletter sent to the President ofKosovo, President of the As-sembly, the Prime Minister andHeads of Parliamentary Com-mittees.

CTSG, in cooperation withorganizations/other participa-ting agencies, also recom-mends the Government, theParliament and ParliamentaryCommittees to create a COM-MENTARY for all the laws ap-proved and those that are inthe process, since such a com-mentary is absent in Kosovoand this Commentary is neces-sary and indispensable.

“Remember, no one can make you feel inferior

without your consent”.Eleanor Roosevelt