Prishtinë, 10 May 2022 – The Ombudsperson Mr. Naim Qelaj jointly with his associates organized the subsequent roundtable with human rights activists, both from civil society and local institutions in Peja.

Firstly, participants were thoroughly informed about Ombudsperson’s role and mandate, the competencies and responsibilities defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and the Law on the Ombudsperson.

“It has been a difficult period when all of us have faced the pandemic. Now, by removing protection measures, circumstances have been created to meet with you, to have ear on your concerns and to understand the problems you encounter in your work, but also the human rights situation in the municipality of Peja. ” – said Mr. Qelaj.

He added that the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo (OIK) is present in each municipality, as part of the campaign, to comprehend the challenges in terms of human rights and to perceive how it can affect the progress of cases by being the voice of the citizens.

Participants were from civil society, human rights activists, OSCE representatives – Peja Office, representatives of local institutions, such as: protectors of victims of violence as well as from the Center for Social Work, who highlighted the great cooperation level with the OI Office in Peja.

In this roundtable discussion, among others, the small number of labor inspectors was emphasized, where only three of them represent the entire region of Peja, and it is a great challenge to cover this entire region when it comes to workplace safety and labor relations.

Representative of the Office for the Protection of Victims pointed out that her Office covers Peja region with solely three officials working there, that has been highlighted quite challenging. The official from the City Shelter of domestic violence victims stressed that the budget allocated by the state for only ten months is very challenging for them, while for families remain very challenging those additional two months without funding. Another challenge is the delay of court proceedings regarding victims of domestic violence.

The representative from the Office for Communities stressed that the biggest problem is unemployment among Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities and that the relevant law is not being respected, by creating accordingly inequality for this community.

The representative from the Center for Social Work in this city revealed that the greatest number of complaints that they receive from families concerns the criteria for children who are under 5 years of age and at this age their social assistance is terminated.

The Ombudsperson has reviewed various cases which concern the municipality of Peja, such as the case of the complaint for the construction of hydropower plants, which has highlighted the shortcomings related to respecting of citizens’ right to have access to information, the right of public participation in decision-making as well as access to justice.

The Ombudsperson has launched Institution’s campaign this year, with the banner: “Equality for all”, for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, as part of the global campaign.

Among other things, the campaign will aim to hear from people with disabilities in order to obtain complete information on how their rights are being respected; to analyze enforcement of applicable laws, with a focus on access to information, public spaces, justice, education, employment and service delivery, by issuing clear recommendations to all decision-making and competent authorities.