HRW: A year of tension, threats and human rights violations

The report was released on January 12th.

In the 33rd report, HRW monitored the human rights situation during 2022 in 100 countries of the world, including Bosnia and Herzegovina ( BiH, Kosovo and Serbia.

The state of human rights in the Western Balkans, as told by this nongovernmental international organisation, is still marked by slow pursuit of war crimes, poor attitudes towards minority rights, women and the LGBT community, as well as poor media freedoms.

In the Kosovo part, the issue of mistreatment of journalists in Kosovo, attacks and threats to them was discussed in the report, and, as it was said, the weak response of the state bodies.

According to the report, in the January-August 2022 period, 22 cases of attacks were recorded by the Kosovo Journalists' Association, four more reported cases of harassment and threats against journalists and media bodies.

HRW quoted AGK as saying that criminal investigations into these cases are slow.

“The association reported that in most cases journalists face harassment, threats and intimidation on social media platforms”, the annual report said.

Among other things, it was reported on the language used against journalists and the husband of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, who is at the same time senior official at the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diasporra, Princeton Sadriu, as well as Kosovo Prime Minister Luan Dalipi's cabinet chief.

In February, Sadriu, with a Facebook post labelled journalists and media in Kosovo as “joint criminal enterprise”.

While in March, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's cabinet chief, Luan Dalipi, in a Facebook post, linked Kosovo's media to <x0-bysmal criminal” and called on citizens to boycott them.

“Such statements risk undermining public confidence in the media and creating a hostile environment for journalists”, HRW said.

The report also cited 310 forced returns to Kosovo, mostly from Germany, including 38 children, six Roma, 13 Ashkali and other ethnic Albanians.

Human Rights Watch also came to a halt in violence against female genders in Kosovo, where the 11-year-old rape case in Pristina was mentioned by five suspects and the murder of women by their mates.

“Survivors of domestic violence continue to face obstacles to obtain protection, including several prosecutions and the failure of judges to issue arrest orders against perpetrators, as well as reduced sentences in cases of women murders by their husbands, according to the Kosovo Women's Network”, the report was said.

HRW also came to a halt in sexual orientation and gender identity, where it shows that the Center for Equality and Freedom of the gay community (LGBT+) in Kosovo has recorded five cases of threats and attacks on the community, four of which involve violence by family members or partners to transgenerial persons.

In the report, human rights violations in Serbia have also been involved in the region, where violence against independent journalists has been highlighted, as well as the development of the Serbian community's LGBT+ Parade under police protection.

HRW stressed that between January and August in Serbia, the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office launched seven new investigations against war crimes suspects. By August, 16 cases against 39 defendants were before courts in Serbia.

Journalists criticising the Serbian Government, according to the report, are exposed to threats and attacks with an unacquable response from the state. Between January and August, two physical attacks on journalists, three attacks on journalists' property and 26 cases of harassment and threats, including bomb threats against journalists and media houses, were reported.

From the Western Balkan region, countries like Albania, Northern Macedonia and Montenegro are not included in the organisation's annual report.

The report also discussed the invasion of Ukraine from Russia, while it has said Russia has committed serious human rights violations.

Ukraine's full invasion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who targeted civilians, infrastructure and resulted in thousands of civilian victims, attracted the world's attention and triggered the full arsenal of the human rights system. The United Nations Human Rights Council opened an investigation into abuses and appointed an expert to monitor human rights situations within Russia”.

Last “Viti showed that all governments bear responsibility for protecting human rights worldwide”, said Tirana Hassan, task manager of HRW, following the report's publication.

According to her, under the backdrop of power change, there is more room for states to rise for human rights “text as new coalitions and voices of leadership” appear.