Pristina November 15th, 2023 – In the scope of round table discussions held in different Kosovo regions, today, the Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj met in Gjilan with representatives of municipalities, as well as representatives of civil society and municipal officials in municipalities of Anamorava region.

On this occasion, the Ombudsperson emphasized the role and importance of Ombudsperson Institution, with particular emphases on implementation of recommendations provided by the Ombudsperson, which, according to Mr. Qelaj, continues to be at an unsatisfying level.

Mr. Qelaj pointed out that the Progress Report 2022 has listed Ombudsperson Institution as an institution with wide trustworthiness among the population. Furthermore, he pointed out that there is progress in providing of response and implementation of Ombudsperson’s recommendations by state bodies. Notwithstanding of this fact, on his judgment, this does not suffice, since as lower level of implementation of recommendations is, the lower is the level of respect of human rights.

Participants welcomed organization of this round table. Representatives of municipalities provided specific proposals in terms of finding the right way of implementation of Ombudsperson’s recommendations by conditioning their implementation with benefiting from the budget grants.

Other issues that were raised by participants were as follows: implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, respect for the rights of persons with disabilities, problem of Presheva Valley citizens with the lack of ID documents and not gaining citizenship as well as other rights due to the lack of identification documents.