Pristina, October 29th, 2024 – The third regular working meeting for 2024 of the Forum for Dialogue between the Ombudsperson’s Institution and Civil Society Organizations was held. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the current issues and challenges of human rights in the country, as well as to coordinate activities for the joint celebration of December 10th, the International Human Rights Day.

Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj informed the participants about the issues and reports that the Ombudsperson’s Institution has recently addressed to the responsible institutions, also discussing the concerns raised about human rights violations.

Representatives of civil society organizations brought to attention several issues of importance to citizens such as: the role of local community councils, listening and addressing their concerns; the mobilization of several organizations to monitor the language used during the election campaign; challenges faced by children with hearing impairments in the educational process such as: lack of sign language and pedagogical skills of teachers, lack of used materials, lack of sign language interpreters and lack of sign language as a teaching subject.

Also, as a concern, the proposal of Municipality of Ferizaj for giving the leadership of public kindergartens to private economic operators was raised, as well as the need for strengthening cooperation and raising awareness of human rights and the protection of fundamental rights among the youth.