Research and monitoring the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality. An EU funded project under EIDHR managed by the EC Liaison Office to Kosovo

Transcription

1 Research and monitoring the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality An EU funded project under EIDHR managed by the EC Liaison Office to Kosovo The rule of law is one of the most important challenges of the Kosovo society. Since the establishment of the UNMIK administration in Kosovo, followed by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government and current Kosovo Government Institutions, the vast number of laws has been passed, even though their implementation that would lead to the rule of law has not always been a reality. Subsequently, a big number of women and children are de jure equal in front of the law, but de facto are still discriminated. Even though legal provisions in written offer equal treatment, these provisions are not implemented in practice as the patriarchal tradition is still present and the institutional mechanisms are not functioning. Today in Kosovo, there is a weak rule of law in general, dominated at the same time by running patriarchal practices, where the inheritance is almost never divided as prescribed by law, nor the property created during matrimony evidenced as the joint property of spouses. In Kosovo society almost 90 % of property ownership belongs to men, women are deprived of their inheritance rights within the family and even personal property. Women do not have guarantees for these rights, as competent authorities do not respect provisions of the law. The equal rights on employment and decision making, equal property rights on joint property created during matrimony, equal rights based on inheritance laws, are the human rights implemented in a vast majority of states that have a tradition of the rule of law. The right implementation of the legal provisions helps to prevent silent overcome and exclusion of the vulnerable groups, women in particular, from the full enjoyment of their rights. These rights include right to work, to participate in decision-making, property rights including property created during matrimony, right to inherit according to the law. This project aims to analyse these legal provisions and to monitor their implementation through a long term project for advocacy and respect for women s rights. The legal provisions of the Law on Gender Equality (LGE) in general will be the basis for the project implementation. In particular, the project aims to address the Section 3 of this Law that deals with Institutions and leading bodies, in connection with the Section 13 Employment and the Section 16 point 6 The property created during matrimony and the Section 16 point 12 and 13 that deals with the right to inheritance.

2 The lack of proper realisation of the women s rights in general, and inadequate existence of property rights on property created during matrimony in particular, is a principal impediment for the development and empowerment of women in Kosovo today. Primarily, the project aims to realise a series of monitoring activities in order to collect evidence about the number of employees and managers in a big public institutions (PTK, KEK), educational institutions (rectorate, faculties, high and elementary schools), health institutions (Kosovo Clinical University Centre) in order to follow the implementation of the sections 3 and 13 of the LGE. The responsible bodies where the property of spouses is registered (cadastral office) will be also monitored, in regard to section 16.6 and 16.7, and the municipal courts during the court proceedings of inheritance in regard to section and A round table discussion will be organised at the end of the project and the recommendations will be issued and published following the debate held. The target group of this project are Kosovo women, especially women from minority communities. Beneficiaries of this project will be all citizens, women in particular (with special emphasis on the women from minority communities), as a vulnerable group that has been denied the employment rights, the right to participate in a decision making, the property and inheritance rights in Kosovo. 2. Description of the action and its effectiveness Overall project objective: Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms through women s rights. Specific objectives Objective 1: Establishment of strong bases for respecting legal provisions that aim at advancement of human rights in general and women s rights in particular Activities:

3 1.1 Monitoring of the big public institutions, identifying and preventing of human rights violations, more particular violations of women s rights and better application of the law in force, especially the Law on Gender Equality, in particular sections 3 and 13, section 16. points 7 and 8 and section 16 points 12 and 13 of this law Monitoring of the cadastral offices, identifying and preventing of human rights violations, more particular violations of women s rights and better application of the law in force, especially the Law on Gender Equality, in particular sections 3 and 13, section 16. points 7 and 8 and section 16 points 12 and 13 of this law. 1.3 Monitoring of the municipal offices, identifying and preventing of human rights violations, more particular violations of women s rights and better application of the law in force, especially the Law on Gender Equality, in particular sections 3 and 13, section 16. points 7 and 8 and section 16 points 12 and 13 of this law. 1.4 Monitoring municipal courts in municipalities, identifying and preventing of human rights violations, more particular violations of women s rights and better application of the law in force, especially the Law on Gender Equality, in particular sections 3 and 13, section 16. points 7 and 8 and section 16 points 12 and 13 of this law. 1.5 Engagement of lawyers/researchers in structuring and analysing the data for the brochure based on the data collected by activities Objective 2: Influencing and advocating for better realisation of human rights in general and women s rights in particular. Activities: 2.1 Lawyers/researchers will be engaged in preparing, compiling and publication of the brochure based on the data collected by activities in previous phases of the project 2.2 Organisation of a round table with relevant community members and institutions 2.3 The recommendations aimed to overcome the problems identified and improve the existing practices will be issued. At the end of each project phase, the periodical reports will be drafted, while the final narrative with specific outputs, outcomes and financial report will be compiled upon the conclusion of the project activities

4 3. Sustainability of the action The project will identify and analyse various causes, as the project activities foresee compiling of recommendations and organizing a round table discussion for the relevant authorities in order to examine the reasons further. Since the beginning the Association will engage the Agency for the Gender Equality in the area of gender equality; the Office for the Good Governance in the area of democratic governance; and the Ombudsperson Institution as the key authority for monitoring of the implementation of laws and responsive obligations of the Kosovo Government in establishment of monitoring mechanism under activities Considering that abovementioned institutions are the most important institutions for ensuring implementation of Law on Gender Equality established monitoring mechanisms, analysed data as well recommendations will be the legacy respectively the baseline that the project will hand over to abovementioned institutions as tool for following the progress in the area of woman s rights. The project will be implemented by visiting/contacting/monitoring the big public organisations (PTK, KEK), educational institutions (Rectorate, faculties, high and elementary schools), health institutions (Kosovo Clinical University Centre) in order to follow on the implementation of the sections 3 and 13 of the LGE. The monitoring will also be done in the responsible bodies where the property of spouses is registered (cadastral office), in regard to section 16.6 and 16.7, and in the municipal courts during the court proceedings of inheritance in regard to section and Data will be compared with the information from the Statistical Office, in order to double check information and analyse them more in detail. From the data collected, the number and gender of employees and managers in the above mentioned institutions and organisations will be determined, the number of properties registered in the cadastral offices according to the provisions of the LGE, as well as the number of women that enjoy their inheritance rights. Therefore, the Association needs material support for the realisation of monitoring and advocacy activities and organisation of a round table discussion that will serve as a gathering point for responsible governmental and non-governmental actors and that will develop discussions about the targeted issues. Monitoring will be carried out in the Kosovo 5 regions: Region of Pristine (Municipalities: Pristine, Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje, Gracanica and Podujevë/o, Lipljane and Obiliq), Region of Gjilan/Gnjilane (Municipalities: Gjilan/Gnjilane Ferizaj/Uroševac, Shtërpcë, Viti and Kamenica), Region of Mitrovica (Municipalities: Mitrovica, Vushtri/Vucitern, Leposaviq, Zubin Potok, Srbica), Region of Prizren (Municipalities: Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovac, Dragash, Mamusha and Suha Reka), Region of Pejë/Peć (Municipalities: Pejë/Peć, Gjakova/Djakovica, Klina, and Deçan/e).

5 These municipalities have high number of inhabitants that will be appropriate for determining a general average for further advocacy at the central level executive institutions. The main preconditions during and after the implementation phase include: cooperation of relevant authorities subject to information gathering and monitoring, determination of relevant stakeholders to implement the recommendations deriving from the findings of the report. All these preconditions are of the paramount importance to Norma. Through the previous experience through its qualified staff to carry out complex projects Norma has proven its professionalism and dedication. Considering the scope of activities and the number of institutions foreseen to include in the project will rise the awareness among the target groups and relevant institutions. The project will pave a path of interaction between relevant institutions and citizens on gender equality. The process will have it s spill over effects through published materials and recommendations respectively conclusions of the round table discussions. Once awareness is raised citizens will recognise the benefits of voicing their rights and using the mechanisms to promote and exercise their rights. Moreover, though this project will be created a potential that will be able to face and respond to the needs of the citizens.