Pristina, March 2nd, 2023 – Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj met the representatives of civil society organizations in North Mitrovica.

In this meeting, the Ombudsperson emphasized the importance of such visits in the field in order to be informed about the state of human rights in the four municipalities of the northern part of Kosovo. He said that during 2022, the Ombudsperson received 77 complaints from non-majority communities.

In this meeting, the NGo representatives addressed issues related to human rights. They were interested in the work of the Ombudsperson in order to address some requests related to the compensation of families who have lost their members during the pandemic due to COVID, the concerns raised by the residents of Leposaviq about the expropriation process of private properties, the difficulties that citizens have for abtaining personal documents, hate speech with ethnic motives, problems with the enjoyment of property rights and other issues.

Ombudsperson, Mr. Qelaj once again emphasized the need to increase cooperation with the civil society that works in these municipalities, in dealing with the issues raised but also other topics that will affect the improvement of respect for human rights in the country.