Prishtina, December 23, 2025 – At the annual media conference, the Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj, presented the annual report with preliminary statistics and assessed the human rights situation in the country.

The Ombudsperson emphasized that 2025 has been a year of challenges mainly due to the lack of establishment of institutions, especially the Assembly of Kosovo, as well as the electoral processes that characterized the entire year and as a result, attention to human rights was distracted from state institutions.

The Ombudsperson added that the Institution has issued several reports with recommendations that include children’s rights and have addressed topics such as the heavy weight of children’s school bags, violence in schools and the mental health of children.

Mr. Qelaj also spoke about reports investigated ex officio regarding the rights of persons with disabilities and recommendations were given to the responsible authorities when it comes to the denial of the right to reduced electricity tariffs for paraplegic, tetraplegic and blind persons; regarding the violation of the child’s right to education – non-engagement of an assistant for a child with disabilities; the other report dealt with the issue of education and comprehensive training of persons with disabilities for access to the labor market.

The Ombudsperson also highlighted the engagement in international relations where this year the OI has become a member of the Executive Board of the European Network of Equality Bodies (EQUINET) and a member of the Steering Board of the Association of Mediterranean People’s Advocates (AOM).

The Ombudsperson also discussed other topics such as the electricity issue, his visit to the Specialist Chambers in The Hague, community rights and other topics.

During this year, the Ombudsperson Institution (OI) has received 1,669 complaints, with a total of 2,687 citizens involved in these complaints. Of this number of complaints, 591 cases have been opened for investigation while 40 cases have been opened ex officio. The OI has initiated investigations in 15 cases based on media reports.

Citizens mostly complained about the right to legal remedies (203 cases), then the right to a fair and impartial trial (122), 88 complaints were made about the right to equality before the law, 66 complaints were made about the right to work and exercise of a profession, in 53 cases citizens complained about the violation of the right to property and 41 complaints were filed about the right to health and social protection.

The responsible authorities to which the complaints were addressed (a complaint may have more than one responsible party) are: Ministries/administrations with 680 cases, Courts with 353 cases, Municipalities with 254 cases, Kosovo Police with 117 cases and others.

The total number of cases closed by the OIK during 2025 (including cases registered earlier and closed during this year) is 689. Of this figure, 253 were positively resolved, 180 cases were inadmissible because no violation or maladministration was found, 44 cases were inadmissible because the cases were in the use of legal remedies, 106 cases were closed with a report, 31 inadmissible, non-use of legal remedies; 63 cases were closed due to the complainant’s lack of interest, failure of the party; and 12 other cases were inadmissible because the cases were outside the jurisdiction.

For 2025, the Ombudsperson issued 678 recommendations, of which only 18 percent were implemented by public institutions; unimplemented recommendations are 1 percent; Partially implemented recommendations are 3 percent, while 78 percent of recommendations remain pending implementation.