Southeast Europe Marches for Women’s Rights

Domestic violence survivor Elvedina Hajdari on Wednesday joined the Women's Day march in Kosovo organized by civil society and women's rights NGOs in the capital, Pristina, sharing her own experience of judicial institutions' neglect.

"I came here to demand justice for women near the justice institutions that often become accomplices to the violence committed against us," Hajdari said at the Palace of Justice in Pristina, where different justice institutions are located. 

Hajdari reported domestic violence committed against her in 2021 and explained that despite her former husband being charged with a criminal violation, he was released in regular procedure and continued to bother her.

This year, Kosovo women's rights activists and citizens are marching under the slogan "We march, we don't celebrate, for a life without violence for women and girls".

In 2022 in Kosovo, 2,289 women were victims of domestic violence. In January and February alone, 320 women reported domestic violence. Civil society has often condemned the lenient sentences courts issue in gender-based violence cases.

In October 2022, the Kosovo government backed legal changes to impose stricter sentences for rape, sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as enabling the publication of convicted sexual abusers' identities.

Kosovo was not the only country in the region marching on Women's Day, demanding respect for women's rights.

Participants of the Women's Day march in Pristina, Kosovo, hold a banner that reads "inclusiveness is not a slogan" on Wednesday. Photo: BIRN/Shkodrane Dakaj

In Albania, in the cities of Vlora, Shkodra, and Tirana, human rights and civil society groups marched in the capital, Tirana, under a similar slogan, ...

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