The President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, after the recent cases of murders of women and of domestic violence, held an extraordinary meeting with the Council on Democracy and Human Rights, which was also attended by the heads of Kosovo's institutions, representatives of civil society but not by the representatives of justice institutions, who were also invited to the meeting.
In the introductory speech, President Osmani classified the killing of girls and women as an epidemic and emphasized that the state has a legal obligation to its citizens to undertake all the possible actions to face the femicide phenomenon.
Madam President criticized the non-attendance of the meeting by the representatives of the Judicial Council of Kosovo and of the Prosecutorial Council, describing their boycott of this meeting as a boycott against the state and of basic human rights and freedoms.
According to Madam President, the vast majority of murders that have occurred in Kosovo, where women were the victims of their husbands and partners and sometimes even of their fathers, could have been prevented. “In each of these cases, at least one link of the system failed,” emphasized President Osmani.
President Osmani also presented certain statistics in relation to the acts carried out by the justice institutions in cases of sexual violence.
In this context, she demanded responsibility from the competent mechanisms.
“Responsibility for each of these crimes undoubtedly falls on the perpetrator of the crime. However, each of these cases requires increased responsibility from the competent mechanisms which are obligated to ensure adequate protection to the victim,” said President Osmani.
All the present institutions and civil society members provided concrete recommendations which will be published in the following days in the form of an inter-institutional platform for combating femicide and domestic violence.