“beat me with belt”, Kosovo woman recounts the horror she experienced from her husband

In Kosovo, surviving women of domestic violence have the right to stay in shelter for six months. Activists say this is insufficient time to ensure their independence and reintegration into society, considered among the biggest challenges.

Light, whose real name is known for editing but has been changed for security reasons, had just been married at age 18.

She says that in her first year of marriage everything went well, but after her daughter's birth, her husband had begun to practice psychological and then physical violence against her.

And then he started to slap me in the face, and then with his belt, as he intended to beat me like he did. She took me out of the house, then I went to a coffee shop and asked the waiter to call the police and they called me back and they took over”, she confessed.

Light has only completed elementary school, no profession, no job. In the absence of other opportunities, she has endured her husband's violence for the past three years. Within these years she has returned three times to a safe home for women who experience domestic violence.

In her present home, Light is trying to learn hand jobs to provide a trade by which she hopes to be financially independent in the future and not be forced back to her husband or shelter.

I wish my dream would come true, so with these hand jobs that I've learned here, and that I knew some at home, I could open a store and start work”, she says.

In Kosovo there are ten safe houses that house surviving women of domestic violence and their children.

But staying in these houses is only six months, while activists say this is insufficient time to ensure the independence and reintegration of women into society.

Zana Aslan, head of the safe house in Pristina, says that for this reason women often return to their home where they have experienced violence.

It's going to be more than five times. We currently have a woman who came for the third time within three months”, she says.

Ms. Aslan says that now with the support of the Kosovo president's office, they are trying to enable many women for hand jobs and tailors, and with the benefits of sales that are open to all, to help women who experience violence.

But according to her, it is necessary to create a special programme in the country that guarantees the employment and reintegration of women.

This part of reintegration of women into society is the main challenge, understood throughout the country, leaving us in shelters where we face a lack of finances. The reintegration part should have a special programme. We as housing have courses in here that we try to increase the possibilities of women who have experienced violence”, she says.

In an effort to increase the number of employments for women, victims of violence and marginalised ones in general, the Jahjaga Foundation is continuing its work on the “One in Three”, or “One in Tri”.

Brikena Avdyli, executive director of this foundation, told the Voice of America that the appointment refers to world statistics that one in three women experiences violence.

“We have wanted to integrate this element on behalf of raising awareness of the issue. So beyond the economic empowerment to raise the awareness rate, but this project serves all marginalized women, not only the surviving women of violence, all that they need to push in order to be economically independent, not to depend on the others”, she says.

So far, two collections of women's clothing, which can be bought online and in women's workshop, have been released from this project.

For now, says Mrs. Avdyli, four women are involved in the project, which are working on the new collection “One in three and all for one”, or “one in three and all for one”.

“has different features of different images, activists and so on. We're working on 15 designs and they'll be ready in June. First as you see the workshop, it's a small country, it's a small initiative but with great intentions to serve women as much as possible, she says.

By buying the works of these women, citizens can become part of the solution to violence against them, Avdyli says.

There's also interest, there's sales, normally not on the scale we expect for the future, but we're also hoping to inform the community that we can all be part of the solution. So not to be expected only from institutions, organisations or donors. Through each purchase, it contributes to cause and then those funds are used to increase this initiative so that these are able to offer as many women” as possible, she says.

Aslan, meanwhile, says the economic empowerment of women also serves as the form of prevention of domestic violence.

If a woman has economic independence, it certainly doesn't stay with the bully. She's going out, she's going to be independent. This is part of which we need to work more as a society, starting with state institutions because without their support we as nongovernmental Ogres are very difficult”, she says.

According to data from Kosovo Police, the year 2021 has marked increased cases of domestic violence, which in most cases is violence against women. Until the year 2020 of two thousand and 101 domestic violence cases a thousand and 636 victims were women, by 2021 two thousand and 486 domestic violence cases a thousand and 968 victims were women. / VOA