British Ambassador to Kosovo has a request for Government: Gender-based violence problem, support victims

At the media conference together with British Ambassador Jonathan Hargrees, Haxhiu said the goal is to educate the public on reporting violence.

With the support of the British Embassy, we have managed to establish a campaign that inspires action. Today and every other day, we may interfere with inappropriate situations. This campaign has addressed several key cases. Public education on the report of violence, the partnership between MD and the British Government, where it has brought to Kosovo the practices of Great Britain on this issue”, Haxhiu said.

British Ambassador Jonathan Hargrees said neither the United Kingdom nor Kosovo are immune to gender-based violence.

“16 Days of Activism Against Gender Base Violence are an important moment for all of us to reinforce our commitment to tackle this common global problem. Gender-based violence is a global emergency crisis. One in three women worldwide will experience violence during their lifetime, much at the hands of a marriage partner or a close family member. Neither the UK nor Kosovo are immune to this epidemic, and we both have seen disturbing increases in the number of cases reported in our respective police forces in recent years. We'd be naive if we thought that increased reporting levels could be responsible for all of these”.

“However, while the government has a major role to ensure that institutions have the necessary means to hold the authors responsible and support the victims, we all have a role to play in the fight against gender-based violence. A really important intervention that we as governments can do is convince citizens of the important role they can play”, he said.

Based on evidence of what worked in the UK, and on research conducted by the United Kingdom Government Communication Service and local NGOs, he said the team worked together in a professional, evidence-based campaign whose impact would be measurable.

“Ekipi identified a problem of lack of knowledge which behaviors are considered GBV, and how to intervene or safely report violence and then developed a targeted campaign to treat it. The campaign will target passersby between the ages of 18 and 34, who the research showed were more willing to take into account intervention or reporting, but were often not sure how to do this”, Hargrees said.