‘Violence against Girls- Towards Effective Prevention and Response’ roundtable discussion

KOMF, in cooperation with Unicef Kosovo Programme and UN Women Kosovo, held the round table on “Violence against girls – Towards Effective Prevention and Response”, which was organized within the global campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence”.

The purposeof the roundtable was to discuss the current situation of violence against girls in Kosovo, identify opportunities and joint initiatives to improve the situation. Also, this round table was intended to convey the call for research development, advancement of policies and programs with a focus on prevention and response to forms of violence.

The panel composed of Albulena Haxhiu – Minister of Justice, Donjeta Kelmendi – KOMF, Nona Zicherman – UNICEF Kosovo, Dr. Bergita Curri – Forensic Medicine Specialist opened the discussion by sharing data on violence against girls in Kosovo and calling for improvement of the situation.

The second panel was composed by professionals working in child protection, such as Adile Shaqiri Basha – Ministry of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Azize Sekiraqa – Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Valbona Çitaku – Hope and Children’s Homes-Kosovo, Captain Melihate Sefedini – Kosovo Police and Valdet Plakolli – School Psychologist. The panel of professionals discussed the current situation regarding gender-based violence and offered recommendations for preventing and addressing this issue.

Among the main recommendations that were addressed by KOMF were:

– Creating programs for the prevention of violence and strengthening the preventive and referral system in schools;

– Inspecting the treatment of cases of sexual violence against children, including the treatment of perpetrators of criminal offenses related to sexual violence, during the last three years;

– Creation of a database of persons convicted of criminal offenses against the sexual integrity of children and consequently banning their access to children, according to existing models in the European space, based on the Law on Child Protection;

– The toughening of punishments imposed on perpetrators of criminal offenses against sexual integrity within the limits set by the Criminal Code;

– The urgent provision of adequate treatment and protection for all children, victims of sexual harassment or abuse;

– Responsibility and accountability from professionals mandated for child protection, in case of failure during the implementation of the legal obligation for the efficient handling of these cases;