On 12 October, EUKOJUST Expert for Public Legal Education Expert / Domestic Violence and Marginalised Groups – Bardhë Krasniqi, participated in the public hearing on the first draft law on Prevention and Protection from Domestic Violence, Violence against Women and Gender-Based Violence organized by the Assembly of Kosovo (AoK) Committee on Human Rights, Gender Equality, Missing Persons, Victims of Sexual Violence During the War, and Petitions. The hearing was chaired by the head of AoK Committee Duda Balje, where she invited comments from civil society organizations, government representatives, and international organizations and donor funded projects.
The EUKOJUST expert commended the AoK Committee on the initiative and attempts to align the draft law with EU Acquis and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as Istanbul Convention) and emphasized the importance of such alignment based on the Kosovo legal system and the domestic violence victims’ needs. The EUKOJUST expert explained that one of the EUKOJUST project-specific objectives is to strengthen access to justice for all citizens in Kosovo, particularly in the field of domestic violence and disadvantaged or marginalised groups. EUKOJUST expert offered her legislative drafting and international law expertise on access to justice in civil and criminal law. Such expertise will be provided through EUSR’s lead Legislative Review Mechanism.
The AoK Committee and participants shared their views and agreed on the way forward.
The EUSR LRM comments will be provided to the AoK Committee within one month.
