UN criticises Kosovo for religious freedom

The UN report for 2017 on religious tolerance in the world also speaks of financial support that the Government of Kosovo became to the institution of Islamic Education, BIC, Medreses in Pristina, Prizren and Gjilan.

This fact is said to have been complaining about other religious groups that do not receive financial support.

Several members of other groups and other secular representatives have said they were concerned that the government had not financed religious education for other religious groups”, reports Radio Free Europe.

Furthermore, the government reportedly worked together with the Islamic Community of Kosovo and Civil Society in combating violent extremism. As part of the government strategy, BIK reportedly has held sessions at Medrese and the Faculty of Islamic Studies with the aim of announcing the youth not to fall prey to extremism.

The report also mentions media reporting on the pressure the Turkish government had put on Kosovo institutions to close schools associated with Muslim cleric Fetullah Gylen.

The report mentions the Vetevendosje Movement several times, in particular the case when a member of this political subject had warned of Israel's disappearance.

On July 29th, the nationalist Vetevendosje party, the mayoral candidate (Rahovec), noble Korenica, had written on Facebook that very soon Israel would appear from the face of the ground in response to incidents in Jerusalem”, the report said.

Self - determination is also mentioned in Gjakova when according to the U.S. State Department <x0). Police dismissed protesters and arrested seven of them for disobeying police orders and vandalism”, the report said.

Despite a decision by the president announced in November 2016 to ban the sale and distribution of anti-Semitic books, by the end of the year the government has taken no administrative action to implement the decision, the report states.

The report says there have been cases of religious violence, interventions in religious pilgrimages, hate speech, and vandalism.

The two religious communities -- BIK and the Serbian Orthodox Church -- criticised the media for promoting an unacceptable climate. BIK said the media generally portrayed Muslims negatively, while Kosovo police reported 44 incidents aimed at damaging religious property, theft and x-ray during 2017.

According to the report, officials in many schools have banned students from wearing religious clothing in school facilities. School directors are following an administrative ordinance issued by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. BIK reported on several occasions when girls left school or were forced to remove headscarves.

“BIK has reported discrimination in employment against devout Muslim believers, especially in the education sector, citing the case of a teacher at a public school in Prizren who refused to remove the headscarf at work”.

The report says the Pristina municipality has continued not to allow the Serbian Church to repair at the Orthodox Church facility at Campus of the University of Pristina.

The report writes that the Protestant community has had difficulties in many Kosovo municipalities, such as the appointment of a cemetery site or obtaining permission to build Protestant churches.

“Although public property, unofficially BIK controls the city's graves (in Pristina). BIK has not allowed the cross to be placed in several cemeteries, taxed on non-Muslims for burial services, and in some cases banned their Christian rituals”.

The report says the mosque construction in Pristina has not yet begun, which “under plans will be the largest in the Balkans”.

Some 1.9 million people live in Kosovo, of them 95.6 are Muslims, 2.2 percent Catholic, and 1.4 percent belong to Orthodox faith represented by Serbs.

The Serb minority does not accept this data because they have not participated in the 2011 population census, saying there are more Serbs in Kosovo than they have registered.