Prishtina, 10 December 2020 – On Thursday, the Ombudsperson Institution organized a virtual regional conference to mark the International Human Rights Day with the topic on “Human rights in the pandemic period and the role of National Human Rights Institutions”.

The conference was attended by the highest authorities of the country, the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the Secretary-General of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, Ombudsmen from the region, representatives of civil society and international organizations.

The Ombudsperson, Naim Qelaj, stressed that 2020 has found countries around the world in front of a great challenge, in front of a pandemic that endangers people’s lives and public health, which has caused consequences in all aspects of society.

Mr Qelaj stressed that the new situation with the pandemic has created a danger that the whole society continues to face, where the measures taken by the states have once again put in the centre of attention the importance of respecting human rights in times of crisis. “What should be at the focus of today’s discussion is the principle of legality of restrictive measures, in order to avoid arbitrariness and discrimination and that such measures are necessary and proportionate to the danger or the situation created”, Mr Qelaj said.

The Acting President of Kosovo & the President of the Assembly of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said that all institutions must be in step with the protection of human rights in these difficult times of the pandemic. She underlined that marginalized groups were the most endangered groups during the pandemic and that all institutions are obliged to protect this category of society.

Bajram Ljatifi, Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, stressed that the Court was also engaged in making state decisions on restrictive measures during the pandemic and the importance of protecting human rights. He called on all institutions in the country to do their utmost to promote and respect human rights.

The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Duda Balje, said that the committee has received petitions from citizens who have demanded respect for human rights related to the pandemic. She added that the society is also facing misinformation related to the pandemic, underlining the negative news spread about vaccines which resulted in people having reservations about getting the vaccine against COVID-19.

The conference was also attended by the Head of the OSCE in Kosovo, Jan Braathu, who said the whole world has been challenged by the pandemic and human rights have been affected in terms of restricting movement, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. “We must continue to be vigilant in order to protect the human rights of all people”, Mr Braathu said.

At the end of the conference, Mr. Qelaj thanked the participants for sharing their experiences in facing the pandemic challenges towards human rights. He wished that this situation would pass as soon as possible and repeated this year’s motto of this day “Recover better, stand up for human rights”. The conference continued with discussions by Ombudsmen from the region, who shared their experiences regarding the impact of the pandemic.

Traditionally, 10 December is marked as International Human Rights Day, an annual commemoration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the first comprehensive instrument for the protection of human rights, adopted on 10 December 1948 by the UN General Assembly.