Human Rights Network condemns Minister Murati's attack on media, civil society

In the Kosovo Assembly on Thursday was discussed with the contents of the American State Department's (DASH) report on Kosovo, in which Foreign Minister Hekuran Murati has said that the rapporteur has in some cases fallen prey to the disinformations of some media that are still part of the old guard and several NGOs.

Human Rights Network member organisations have been following discussions on this report in Kosovo's Parliament and disturbing statements by Finance Minister Iron Murat. In his speech, Minister Murati has said that “ ...if we even go into quality and then analyze the sentences, we see that in some cases even the rapporteur has fallen prey to the dezinforms of some media that are still part of the old guards and some NGOs that disguise themselves as such or are the old guard's extensions. ...”

“Declaration on such charges to NGOs and the media in Kosovo, claiming they are caught by preliminary governments, are direct attacks on the latter. A lynching practice of this nature towards NGOs, and the media, just on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, is an indication of the lack of co-operation, a humiliation and degradation of the work of activists and journalists and media from Government Minister Kurti”, the HRN community says.

According to HRN, reports such as that of civil society for Human Rights, The UN, the European Commission and others would have to serve as a mirror of impasses and problems facing the state and the citizens of Kosovo, and on their basis they would have to reflect every minister/for his work.

This dangerous practice of lynching and denigration of NGO and media work and many other cases in the last year, Kosovo today has marked alarming regregations, listing 19 countries below in Reporters Without Borders' index on media freedom. Declarations like this of Minister Murati contribute away this negative trend”.

“Human Rights Network member organisation (HRN) calls on government officials to refrain from lynching statements and toʹi exploit such reports, including the 2012 Civil Society's Human Rights Report, which will be published on May 16, 2024, as constructive criticism of their work and to work towards improving the situation in the country”, it is said in response.