14 minutes agoOver a thousand cases of domestic violence this year
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)Increasing family violence reporting for 2018 is a concern for civil society organisations. According to Kosovo Police, more than 1,000 cases of violence were reported during the January-September period of this year. The OSCE Mission in Kosovo requires increased attention from justice institutions regarding the review [...]
Calls of institutions and civil society for reporting domestic violence in most cases prove to be without hope for victims. One of them spoke to Radio Kosovo under the condition of anonymity, with the argument that it was consulted by family members not to be exposed to the media, because, as she put it, it must protect the honour of the family. She said she reported to the justice organs, but without any results.
I got two kids. He used physical and psychic violence. Do you live together or separate? No, even though I didn't sign, but he made the lawsuit, he broke the crown. No document I didn't sign. If I had a place to work, we had made solutions, not to stay on the street like this. I started from zero. I'm trying to commit suicide because there's no choice. Why have you ever thought? Yes, I'm thinking, the mind is running out, without a solution”, she said.
The cases of domestic violence are handled in a way by “butt” in Kosovo courts, and that is why we have many reasons to worry, said Jan Brathu, chief of the O mission. The SEU in Kosovo.
I have to say that many cases of violence are women who are no longer in life. They had reported to the police, but police, prosecutors, the court had not considered these reports. And we've seen all too often that victims are encouraged to solve such cases within the family. The law is not fully implemented. So, in other words we have to work harder with prosecutors and judges”, Brathu says.
Most of the cases are being overlooked by justice organs, but we as media have to work with dedication so that the cases do not go quietly, says Gentiana Begolli, head of the Kosovo Journalists' Association.
“This topic presents a challenge to our society and we are the ones who have to make the greatest pressure on Kosovo institutions to commit more to fulfilling the commitments they have made themselves”, Begolli said.
According to the official Kosovo Police report for 2017, more than 900 cases of domestic violence have been recorded, while this figure for the nine months of this year has reached over 1,000 and 100 cases. While 34 women have been killed in Kosovo in the past 10 years by violence, including the tragic case of Valbona Ndjetaj and her nine-year-old daughter.
