Pristina, October 31st, 2025 – The Ombudsperson organized a roundtable discussion on Friday on the topic “The State of Community Rights in the Country”, supported by the OSCE Office in Kosovo.

The purpose of this roundtable was to discuss jointly the state of the rights of communities and their members, rights guaranteed in Chapter III of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Ombudsperson, Naim Qelaj, emphasized the role of the Ombudsperson’s Institution in the protection and promotion of community rights, and spoke about the findings from meetings held in settlements inhabited by communities over the last two years.

He said that complaints from non-majority communities to the Ombudsperson’s Institution have increased over the years, emphasizing that this is a result of the increase in citizens’ trust in the OIK.

During 2024, the Ombudsperson received a total of 214 complaints from members of non-majority communities, of which 127 cases were opened for investigation. While, during 2025, the Ombudsman received 276 complaints from non-majority communities. Of these, 191 were decided as admissible for investigation.

This meeting was also attended by the Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Gerard McGurk, the High Representative for Human Rights in UNMIK, Jerome Bouyjou, the Chairperson of the Consultative Council for Communities, Izedin Sagdati, as well as other community representatives.

The Ombudsperson informed the attendees that for the coming year he has planned five joint meetings of this level, where the ministers of the relevant departments will also be invited, in order to exert institutional pressure for the implementation of the laws and recommendations of the Ombudsman.

In closing, it was emphasized that cooperation with international partners has enabled many meetings with communities and addressing relevant issues to competent institutions.