Life in Kosovo discusses violence against women

This Thursday the Life in Kosovo TV debate explored a very sensitive issue – violence against women.

The show tackled questions, such as: How much violence is there against women in Kosovo? Who is working with the victims of domestic abuse? Is anybody protecting them? Who is fighting against trafficking in human beings? And can the victims of violence expect help with their reintegration into society?

The following panellists were in the studio:
Ariana Qosaj-Musa - Expert for gender balance, OSCE;
Flora Macula – Executive Director of UNIFEM;
Lumnije Decani –from the Centre of Women’s Wellbeing/Safe House
Luljeta Vuniqi – Executive Director from the Kosovar Gender Studies Centre
Tahire Haxholli- from the investigating sector of domestic violence within the Kosovo Police Service, KPS
Panellists discussed gaps in the existing legislature, people’s mentality and traditions, which are still building barriers to the prevention of domestic violence and violence against women as well as their protection and reintegration.

Haxholli said that the Kosovo Police Service, KPS, was playing an important role in protecting victims of domestic violence and trafficking.
“If they approach us and seek help, we are the ones who guide them to the safe houses and shelters”, Haxholli said.

Decani agreed with her, by declaring that the KPS is doing a good job, but she went on to voice her criticism of the prevailing mentality in Kosovo society which resulted in more violent incidents.

“Imagine how difficult it is for a woman, who has been a victim of violence for years to find the strength to escape from the cradle of violence and to seek help in a police station”, Decani explained. “There have been cases when the police officers have returned the victims to their homes, just because they knew their husbands or families.”

Haxholli strongly disagreed with her, stating that the KPS was very professional, and that this could not happen, if someone sought help from the police.
Qosaj-Musa blamed the lack of women’s independence and of having their own financial means as factors which prevented them from escaping from their abusive environment and made them put up with violence.

“The tradition is that property is in the husband's name and so the wife has no way to live apart from him”, she explained “So when a woman leaves an abusive husband, she eventually goes back and the violence starts all over again. It's a vicious circle.”

Victims find shelter in a safe house, but after the protection process and after the trial they have to move out of the shelters. Qosaj-Musa criticised the arrangement whereby women do not have a choice where to go once they leave their shelter, because of their lack of financial independence.
She complained that there was no real strategy about what to offer women after they leave the safe houses.
  
Vuniqi stressed that the women’s shelters are also facing financial problems. Decani agreed with her, saying that the shelters should get more support from the government.

All panellists agreed that the main problem was the reintegration and socialisation of these victims of society.  The government and civil society have to work on proper strategies in order to offer these victims a better future, and not to send them home to their abusive environment.

Vuniqi and Macula pointed out that there were laws, regulations and international conventions which protected women and which had been approved by Kosovo’s parliament, but the problem was that the institutions were not applying them in practice.

“They do exist in our legislation, but they are not being implemented”, Vuniqi said.

Macula compared the situation, which women living in Kosovo were facing to the rest of the region and the world.

“Violence against women exists in all societies and cultures worldwide”, she said and emphasised that this was not a phenomenon that existed only in Kosovo.”

Macula stressed that there are a lot of conventions whose aim is to protect women, but if they stay on paper only, they are useless.

“Our government needs to take care of the implementation, and to fill in the gaps that exist in the legislation”, Macula said.

Qosaj-Musa agreed with her saying that what existed under the current law amounted to next to nothing in practice. She blamed the existing legislature and the judicial system for not interpreting and implementing the laws in the right way. Qosaj-Musa pointed out that there were gaps in Kosovo’s Penal Code regarding domestic violence and the trafficking of human beings.

Following the debate the Life in Kosovo team broadcast an interview with a woman, who was a victim of domestic violence. The interviewee described how her husband abused her and how she managed to escape and find shelter in a safe house. 

The Life in Kosovo TV debate is a cooperative project between Kosovo public television, RTK, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN.  It is broadcast every Thursday beginning at 20:15