Prishtina, 27 May 2025 – The Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj, participated in a roundtable discussion in which human rights were discussed with representatives of civil society organizations working with persons with disabilities from the Serbian community.

The Ombudsperson informed the participants about his mandate and competencies and emphasized that such meetings with citizens and civil society organizations provide opportunities to act and take measures regarding the issues arising from these roundtables.

The Ombudsperson spoke about several reports he has issued that deal with persons with disabilities, such as the case of access to public spaces and the poor situation on the ground, the challenges in education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, and their employment in public institutions, which is not at the proper level as required by law.

In this discussion, several issues were raised, starting from the problems faced by persons with disabilities in realizing their rights due to the lack of services that were provided until some time ago by the Republic of Serbia.

Civil society representatives requested participation in the National Council on Disabilities, where according to those present there are no representatives of the Serbian community or other communities, and as a result they have not been involved in the drafting of the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Other concerns raised included the problem of harmonizing legal provisions in terms of language, emphasizing the inclusion of errors in translations that fundamentally change the rights that those laws regulate, the lack of assistants for children with disabilities, as well as cases of non-recognition of social assistance.

Civil society representatives requested the Ombudsperson to continue to be present at such round tables, but also by contacting citizens in the field as much as possible.

The executive director of Handikos, Mr. Afrim Maliqi, also contributed to this roundtable.

This activity was organized by the NGO “ACDC” from North Mitrovica.