Prishtina, October 7, 2025 – The Ombudsperson held the 3rd annual meeting for 2025 with representatives of member organizations of the Forum for Dialogue with Civil Society.

The Ombudsperson presented the activities of the institution for the period April – October 2025 regarding the protection, promotion of fundamental human rights and freedoms, activities which are also foreseen in the Forum’s action plan.

The Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj, initially presented the actions of the institution related to environmental issues and problems such as water and air pollution, safety in public spaces, legalization issues related to the quality of constructions and those affecting human rights.

The Ombudsperson devoted special focus to the challenges of the functioning of mechanisms for the treatment of mental health. In this regard, he said he will seriously address the issue raised by the Forum members regarding the lack of coverage and institutional support for persons affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Regarding children’s rights, the Ombudsperson emphasized his concern and the actions taken by the OI regarding the lack of preventive measures for the treatment of children with mental health problems, institutional shortcomings for the early identification of disorders of this nature in children, the lack of beds for children in the psychiatric ward, etc. Continuing with regard to children’s rights, he informed the attendees regarding the publication of Reports with recommendations regarding the weight of children’s school bags, violence in schools, the inclusion of children with disabilities in education and allowances for children of the Serbian community.

The Ombudsperson also emphasized that regarding media freedom and freedom of expression, he organized a meeting with journalists, including the Independent Media Commission, and discussed the state of media freedom in the country, the challenges and problems faced by journalists, Kosovo’s negative ranking in the Reporters Without Borders index, the legal protection of journalists, the protection of personal data, and the challenges in self-regulatory bodies of the media.

The Forum members at the meeting raised their concerns regarding the language discourse and attacks by some individuals in the media and social networks against civil society organizations, and the weak reactions of the media oversight mechanisms. They also emphasised that discussions on the social and economic aspects are missing in the debates and media presentations of candidates for mayor. Other topics that were raised include: issues related to the rights of persons with disabilities; non-publication of decisions related to domestic violence by the courts; the lack of an increase in the number of social workers; the problems that have arisen after the integration of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare with the Ministry of Finance and the impact on human rights; the need for awareness of domestic and gender-based violence; the property challenges of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities; informal settlements, etc.

The participants informed the Ombudsperson about their various actions, research, activities, reports related to the issues discussed at the meeting and related to human rights.

The members of the forum agreed to participate in the meetings invited by the Ombudsperson on the occasion of the publication of the Reports with recommendations, as well as to organize joint activities.