Prishtinë, 1 May 2021 – On the occasion of the International Workers’ Day (Labor Day or May Day), the Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj, draws attention on current bad situation of workers. They are facing many challenges for which commitment of all sectors is required to improve this situation. 

For many years in the row, the Ombudsperson has articulated irregularities in the field of labor law and violation of workers’ rights, where the largest number of cases relates to discrimination. Due to high level of unemployment, discrimination cases in the workplace are still reported on rare occasions to mechanisms for protection, due to the fact that they are afraid on reporting them.  

Of a great concern are also cases of accidents and fatalities in the workplace and especially in the construction sector, due to the lack of compliance with the basic rules of safety at work. Another serious challenge is the length of court proceedings for labor disputes resolving, which remains an obstacle to the functioning of enforcement of the labor law in terms of judicial protection of rights. A serious situation in protecting workers is the informality that creates evasion of social security contributions and burdens the country’s economy in general.   

This situation has become even more exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences it has caused as a result of restrictive measures undertaken that hindered the work of many sectors as well as created major obstacles in their functioning. In order to overcome this crisis situation, all forces must unite in order to create a balance between restriction of rights in times of crisis and protection of human rights, in this case the right to work, as a fundamental human right.