Life in Kosovo discusses about emergency situations
Tonight, Life in Kosovo will broadcast a debate on the emergency situations in our country.
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Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
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“Life in Kosovo”: Interview with ICO head and debate on youth delinquency.
29 January 2009 During this Thursday’s episode of “Life in Kosovo”, viewers had the opportunity to watch an exclusive interview with Pieter Feith, head of the International Civilian Office in Kosovo, ICO.
The interview started with Krenar Gashi asking about the overall progress Kosovo has made since declaring independence on February 17, 2008.
Feith maintained Kosovo had shown significant development as regards consolidation of the constitution, international recognition of its independence and the progress it had made towards joining the World Bank and the IMF.
The interview became more heated when Feith was asked about his support for the decision of the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, to postpone presidential elections.
Feith answered that his mandate in Kosovo was only to advise, but not administer, as UNMIK had done.
Later, the programme featured a debate on adolescent delinquency and the factors that impact on such behaviour.
A panel discussed whether the law was being implemented in Kosovo, how and where the law was lagging behind and whether co-operation between key players to implement the law was sufficient.
They also discussed the length of the heaviest sentences for young delinquents and asked whether Kosovo possessed relevant institutions dealing with the prevention of improper behaviour among the youth.
The debating panel consisted of:
Metije Ademi – head of the Probation Service;
Salih Dragidella – from Kosovo Police;
Nesrin Lushta – judge in the Supreme Court of Kosovo;
Afrim Ibrahimi – official for children’s rights at UNICEF;
The discussion started with the case of a Kosovar youngster who was sentenced to eight years for murder and illegal possession of weapons.
Nesrin Lushta, Supreme Court judge, noted that according to the new legal code for adolescents, approved on April 20, 2004, sentences for adolescents normally range from six months up to five years, but in the case of a dual criminal act the sentence may go up to ten years.
According to Sami Dragidella, from the Kosovo Police, compared to last year, this year’s statistics revealed a 36-per cent increase in crimes committed by adolescents.
Afrim Ibrahimi from UNICEF confirmed Dragidella’s statistics, based on a report that UNICEF published on trends of youth involvement in delinquent behaviour and other graver crimes in general.
“Delinquency trends in Kosovo are lower compared to those in Western Europe but higher compared to countries of the Western Balkans,” he said.
“It is of course very worrying, bearing in mind the efforts we are making to reform the justice system and build capacity in relevant institutions for the prevention of delinquency and criminality amongst youngsters,” Ibrahimi said.
Asked about the co-operation of the Probation Service with other justice institutions,Metije Ademi, head of this institution, pointed out that the main aim of the new law code for adolescents was to reintegrate and re-socialise adolescents who have committed crimes.
“There is an excellent co-operation between all the institutions involved in these cases, though at the beginning there were difficulties in familiarizing [people] with the law,” noted Ademi.
After the main debate, BIRN broadcast the “Culture in Kosovo” report. This showed segments Ibrahim Ponosheci’s exhibition, on his first anniversary of the death of the artist who brought new trends of figurative art to Kosovo.
In the report, BIRN journalist Arif Muharremi made a critique on “Us and Lenin,” an Albanian film by Saimir Kumbaro.
Following this, the “Kosovo’s Son-in-Law” section was broadcast. At end, Jeta Xharra confronted Nexhat Demaku, head of the municipality of Drenas, in the context of a debate on local government.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television,
RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is
broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:20.
THE PROCESS OF JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS AND REAPPOINTMENTS OF JUDGES AND PROSECUTORS
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COURT MONITORING ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011
Court monitoring report is published as a result of a continuous monitoring of all municipal and districts courts of Kosovo. The findings of this report are based on the monitoring of 2,147 court hearings, by BIRN monitors.
THE PROCESS OF JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS
This report presents the results of part of BIRN's court monitoring project, specifically on the process for the appointment and reappointment of judges and prosecutors.
Follow the Paper Trail
\"Follow the Paper Trail\", a guide to document-based journalism in Kosovo, explains relevant laws, access to public documents, how to publish safely, where to find databases on investigative journalism, and how to locate documents online through various search engines.
Courts Monitoring Report 2010
A detailed analytical report about the work and administration of the courts in Prishtina, Peja, Prizren, Gjilan, Mitrovica, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Decan, Vushtrri, Poduleva, Lipjan, Klina and Istog. The report contains important information, collected by the network of monitors, placed in the major municipalities of Kosovo and aims to identify the key problems and issues that the justice system in Kosovo is facing.
REPORT: Monitoring the Courts 2009
Monitoring the work and administration of courts in Prishtina, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Vushtrri and Skenderaj.
DIRECTLY ELECTED MAYOR SYSTEM IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE
The report on Directly Elected mayor System in Local Governance aims to provide a critical overview of the rationale and feasibility of the implementation of a municipal governance system that places the mayor as the central executive figure, during the third year of its application. The efficiency of this system was assessed based on the following pillars: the relationship between local government bodies, accountability of the municipal executive, respect for the law, the link between the mayor and the citizens, provision of public services (water supply and waste management, capital investments (in school and road projects)), level of transparency, public consultation and citizen participation in decision-making.
BIRN Report on Monitoring the Education System
Report on monitoring the elementary and high schools in Prishtina: Mitrovica, Ferizaj, Peja and Gjilan
Analytical report of the situation and the problems in the University of Prishtina
Report on Kosovo`s Healthcare System
Monitoring report on all primary, secondary and tertiary (University Clinical Center of Kosovo, UCCK) healthcare institutions in Pristina, Prizren, Peja, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Klina, Decan, Istog and Vushtrri.
Situation and the Problems at the University of Prishtina
Analytical report of research into the standards and problems at the University of Prishtina. Ten years since the end of the war in Kosovo, the University of Prishtina (UP) continues to suffer from a variety of problems, resulting in persistently low quality courses being offered. For this reason, BIRN conducted research into the problems faced by UP students. The data gathered suggests that, out of the many issues reported, the most significant are: the non-implementation of contemporary teaching and assessment methods, the lack of practical work for students, the lack of appropriate academic literature, arbitrary assessments by
professors and generally poor relationships between students and their professors.
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The opinions expressed in Balkan Insight are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.
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