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 discusses the election of the Ombudsperson
21 May 2009 This Thursday, Life in Kosovo debated the position of Ombudsperson with the three candidates waiting to be elected, representatives from Kosovo’s parliament and civil society.
Why has the election for such an important position been postponed for so long? Will the new Ombudsperson be able to protect public interests? What are the priorities of the candidates running for the position?
To discuss these issues and others in relation to this important institution, Jeta Xharra’s guests in the studio were:
Besnik Osmani – secretary of the Ministry for Local Governance and candidate running for Ombudsperson
Sami Kurteshi – former activist, secretary of the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms and candidate running for the position of Ombudsperson
Veton Vula – director of the Department of Investigation at the Ombudsperson’s office and candidate to become the Ombudsperson
Ismet Beqiri – head of the Commission for Human Rights at Kosovo’s parliament
Nora Ahmetaj –human rights researcher from the Humanitarian Law Centre.
Asked whether the parliament will be able to finally elect the Ombudsperson, Ismet Beqiri, representative of the Parliament, said that there would no one happier than him if the Ombudsperson gets elected on May 28.
According to him, the position of Ombudsperson is very important, and, as a member of the Commission for Human Rights, he said that it requires a lot of responsibility to appoint an Ombudsperson.
Speaking about the delays, Nora Ahmetaj from the Humanitarian Law Centre made a link between the fragility of current institutions and the fact that neither the previous nor current government has understood the importance of Ombudsperson.
“However, it is not the parliament that should be blamed all the time. The international community, specifically the organisations who monitored the elections of Ombudsperson, Human Rights Watch, UN Commissioner for Human Rights and OSCE, have failed to give better advice, not only to the panelists but to the interviewing panel as well,” added Ahmetaj.
Speaking about the qualities that an Ombudsperson should have, Jeta Xharra asked each candidate why they should be appointed to the position, as well as their background in human rights.
“Being a secretary at the Ministry for Local Governance, I have coordinated activities to fulfill the mandate that every ministry is responsible to accomplish in regards to human rights. As a result, we have 27 offices for human rights locally, we have officials trained and certified to protect and promote human rights and are carrying on the same activity in other municipalities as well,” said Osmani.
Asked the same question, Sami Kurteshi, secretary of the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, said that he had a relatively long experience in the field.
“It starts in the mid 80s with first imprisonments in Kosovo after the demonstration of 1981. Back then, as a student living abroad, I had my first contacts with Amnesty International regarding these imprisonments. Later in 1990s, I too was a political prisoner, where I first experienced what violations of human rights meant and shortly after being released from prison, I started working at the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms and since then I am active there,” added Kurteshi.
Veton Vula, the head of the Department of Investigation at the Ombudsperson’s office, said his human rights activism is connected to the establishment of the institution of the Ombudsperson in June 2000.
“The experience I gained from this nine-year period and the professional improvements I experienced in this field are a distinct advantage in dealing with different cases, investigating them and dealing with all other human rights violations in this nine-year period,” explained Vula.
Asked about the criteria that the Kosovar society believes is necessary to be fulfilled in order to be elected as an Ombudsperson, Ahmetaj said that the criteria set in the constitution is a very clear.
“A person who, apart from having an adequate education and experience, is familiar with the concept of human rights, knows the current situation, a person who doesn’t have legal action taken against him or her – simply a person who could resist the pressure from outside,” added Ahmetaj.
Asked why he still wants the position, although the Ombudsperson has always been ignored by other institutions, and how he, if elected, could manage to break this situation, Vula said that throughout the existence of the institution of Ombudsperson the competences were mixed between locals and internationals, so no one could tell who was responsible for what.
At the end of the show, BRIN broadcast a Week’s Highlight report, which talked about the joint action of the Municipality of Prishtina and Raiffeisen Bank, which have kept their promise of planting 200 saplings to improve green areas in Prishtina.
Meanwhile, in the Culture in Kosovo report, Arif Muharremi talked about the euphoria of school trips and prom nights which are an increasingly problematic end to the academic year.
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