News and Events Archives - Page 165 of 264

BIRN Kosovo Awarded for Investigative Journalism

The German government organization GIZ awarded Gazeta Jeta në Kosovë for investigative journalism about education.

BIRN Kosovo journalists Merita Krasniqi and Njomza Salihu were awarded third prize in GIZ’s competition for investigative journalism on the education. The prize was administered jointly by the Kosovo Association of Journalists, who monitored the selection process.

The article, titled ”Influential People Win State Scholarships,” showed that thanks to a state agreement with “City College” in Greece, political advisers, relatives of public officials and the PDK deputy Fadil Demaku won scholarships. Krasniqi and Salihu won a 1,000 EURO prize for their story.

Una Hajdari won second prize with her article “Minority disordered educational system” published inthe daily newspaper “Zëri”.

The first prize was given to three journalists of the newspaper “Koha Ditore.” Besnik Krasniqi was awarded for the article “Dodger Professors of UP, Vehbi Kajtazi with “Muj Rugova employed Esat Belajn and Gazmend Maliqi” and Salie Gajtani with the article “Ministry of Education Science and Technology makes a project for text messages at the expense of parents.”

BIRN Serbia holds debate on EU Progress Report

The key conclusion from the debate in Belgrade on Tuesday was that the recently-published EU Progress Report on Serbia was not too hard on the Serbian government, but it does not mention many problems and some of the conclusions and recommendations are identical to the 2013 Progress Report.

In an analysis that was presented at the debate, BIRN Serbia concluded that the report devoted considerable attention to the state of the economy and the rule of law, but topics related to health and education were only sporadically covered.

BIRN Serbia’s analysis pointed out slow and unsufficient reforms in the health and education fields, also highlighting that these sectors will not be too closely monitored by the EU and the majority of decisions will be left in the hands of domestic decision-makers.

The full analysis (in Serbian) is available here http://www.meravlade.rs/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BIRN-ANALIZA-IZVE%C5%A0TAJA-EK-O-NAPRETKU-SRBIJE-ZA-2014.-GODINU.pdf

Speakers at the event were Goran Radosavljević, professor of public finances at the Faculty of Economy and Finances, Nemanja Nenadić, executive director of Transparency Serbia, Marina Mijatović, director of the NGO Law Scanner and Nikola Jovanović, president of the NGO Habče.

The main message that the European Commission gave the Serbian authorities in the progress report was related to the need for more efforts to ensure fiscal consolidation and acceleration of the necessary structural reforms. The high unemployment rate in Serbia, above 20 per cent, remains one of the crucial problems.

When it comes to corruption, according to the report, “there is a strong political will” to combat graft, but practical measures do not reflect this.

BIRN Documentary Gets US Premiere in New York

BIRN’s documentary The Majority Starts Here was screened for the first time in the United States on Thursday, at Columbia University in New York.

The public screening at the university’s Schemerhorne building was followed by a lively discussion between panellists and the audience about stability in the Balkan region and steps that must be taken in order to foster reconciliation and historical dialogue.

The event was attended by students of human rights, transitional justice and historical dialogue practitioners and professors, as well as consular representatives of Kosovo and Montenegro and the permanent representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the UN.

The panel debate after the documentary was moderated by Tanya Domi, Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, while the panelists included Elazar Barkan, Director of the Human Rights Concentration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, Refik Hodzic, Director of Communications at the Inernational Centre for Transitional Justice, Raba Gjoshi, Director of Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo and Petar Subotin, BIRN Regional Development Officer.

The debate explored questions about the current relations between Kosovo and Serbia in the light of the recent row over incidents at the Serbia-Albania football match. The role and efforts of the European Union in supporting reconciliation processes in the Western Balkans was also questioned. The topic of collective memory in the former Yugoslavia was also brought to the table, as well as the question of whether positive human stories from that era can aid the current situation and lead towards reconciliation.

A conclusion was that a broader space has to be created so that more people can be included in the reconciliation processes. This cross-regional space has to established with the help of states, as governments in the region have to start facing the past immediately, without waiting for pressure from Brussels in order to continue the process.

The panel was organised by Petar Subotin with help from the Institute for the Studies of Human Rights and the Harriman Institute.

BIRN’S next screeening of The Majority Starts Here will be held on November 3 at the National Press Club in Washington DC. For more information, follow this link.

BIRN Albania Launches Reporter.al News Site

Over 40 representatives of the media, non-governmental organisations and partners attended the official launch of BIRN Albania’s news website Reporter.al on October 3.

The guests were greeted by Andi Dobrushi, Executive Director of the Open Society Foundation in Albania (OSFA), and BIRN’s English-language editor Marcus Tanner.

Reporter.al is a general news website designed to promote excellence in journalism, with a particular focus on investigative reporting, with stories that cover the war against corruption and impunity in the country.

The interactive website will publish investigative stories, analyses, reports and blogs, but also features from Albania and the region in the local language.

Through the website, BIRN will expand its reporting from Albania with special projects on media development, culture, elections and human rights.

Since it went live on September 1, the website has received more than 150,000 visitors.

The online publication is supported by the Open Society Foundation in Albania (OSFA), National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD).

BIRN Serbia holds debates on media financing

The biggest issue local media in Serbia are facing is a lack of knowledge about project financing and lack of budgetary transparency in allocating money to media outlets, two debates held by BIRN Serbia in Nis and Kragujevac heard. Media representatives said they hoped that some of the problems would be resolved by full implementation of new Media and Public Information Law.

The debates gathered more than 40 participants including representatives of local media, local government, professional associations and experts.

Media financing through the state budget has so far been implemented in two ways: most of the funds were distributed directly (through public procurement procedures, directly from the budget or through direct contracting), while smaller amount of funds were distributed through open calls for content production.

The new media regulations prescribe significant changes and introduce new practices in budgetary financing of media content under which open-call procedures are the only legal way of financing.

BIRN Serbia presented an analysis of the current practices of open-call procedures, clearly earmarking potential pitfalls: lack of standards and criteria, lack of programme quality and lack of broadcasting possibility. The same analysis will be presented later in Novi Sad, Novi Pazar and Belgrade.

The debates are organised within the project ‘Enhancing media independence through development of sustainable and competitive financing model’, supported by the MATRA programme of the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Prison Terms Bring Close to Kidnapping Case

Four men were sentenced to prison terms on September 18 for their role in a kidnapping of a woman in a case that BIRN Kosovo reported on even before Kosovo’s prosecutors did.

“Justice in Kosovo” broadcast two TV programmes on March 30 and April 6 about the kidnapping.

After the programmes were shown, the prosecution opened a case against Ilir Kuqishta, who was accused of kidnapping his ex-wife with three other men, who were accused of helping him.

On September 18, the Basic Court of Ferizaj sentenced the four men to prison terms for offenses including kidnapping, aiding in a kidnapping and illegal gun possession.

Kuqishta was sentenced to four years in prison for breaking into the home of his ex-wife and kidnapping her on November 22, 2013.

He was helped by Jakup Ramadani, Samet Arifi and Afrim Arifi., who were sentenced to four months in prison for helping Kuqishta.

Money Luring Kosovars to Fight in Syria and Iraq, Xharra Said

Money is a big driver in getting Kosovars to join Islamic militant groups such as an ISIS fighting in Syria and Iraq, Jeta Xharra, the director of BIRN Kosovo, told the Los Angeles Times recently.

“Much of this has nothing to do with ideology,” Xharra said in an September 9 article. “Rather, money. All authorities have to do to track ISIS’ foreign recruits is to follow the money trail.”

Xharra also analyzed the recent arrests of 40 people in Kosovo who were suspected of fighting in Syria with militant groups Islamic State and Al Nusra Front.

“More than half of them were released because they had no idea what they were getting into,” Xharra said. “Many new recruits do not know either. They are just replying to Internet ads that are pouring in from Turkey, promising money in exchange for a year of adventure, like a gap year after college.”

With widespread poverty and high unemployment, Xharra warned that more Muslims across the Balkans could be lured by Islamist militants.

BIRN Film Premieres in Kosovo’s Divided Mitrovica

The screening of BIRN’s road-movie documentary The Majority Starts Here in Mitrovica was followed by a debate examining how transitional justice can address the grievances of the wartime past.

The BIRN film about young people’s interpretations of the recent conflict in the former Yugoslavia was shown for the first time in the north Kosovo town on Monday, followed by a discussion on the issues raised by the documentary, entitled ‘Why Do We Need Transitional Justice?’

The event, organised by the EU Rule-of-Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, and the Centre for Peace and Tolerance, brought together representatives of civil society, journalists and the international community to examine what role the judicial process should play in post-war reconciliation.

BIRN journalist Marija Ristic, who was a screenwriter for the documentary, said that the film showed that young people in former Yugoslav countries are poorly informed about the recent conflicts, which happened while they were still children.

“The majority of them knew something about the war in their own country, but very few of them knew the scale of conflicts that took place in their neighbouring countries, and this is what we wanted to change with our documentary,” Ristic said.

“It is hard to show the history of one war in an hour-long documentary, but our message was that even though people still have different opinions about the war, they should sit and talk about that. We have to understand that reconciliation is a process,” she added.

EULEX judge Paulo Teixeira, who worked as a war crime judge in East Timor before coming to Kosovo, said that his long career in the field had taught him that solving post-war issues takes time.

“Things should not be forgotten, but forgiven. War crimes are universal, they take place everywhere… but the difference is not in the war crime itself, but in the way how people deal with that after the war,” Teixeira told the discussion.

Asja Zujo, who worked as a legal officer in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is now with EULEX, said that almost 20 years after the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian war, the process was not over.

“A lot has been done, but there is still space for improvement. War crime trials cannot be the only way of dealing with the past, we have to work on other things as well, such as missing persons, refugees,” Zujo said.

“We still need to rebuild institutions and that remains a problem,” she added.

Alan Edwards from EULEX police also spoke about his experience in conflict zones in Northern Ireland and Cyprus.

“It is very difficult in a post-conflict situation to be fair to both sides in the conflict. But it is important to keep trying. Change takes a lot of time,” Edwards said.

The Majority Starts Here follows six young people from the former Yugoslavia who make a journey through the region, examining how the conflicts of the past, which they were too young to understand fully at the time, have influenced both their present and their prospects for the future.

It was produced by BIRN and directed by award-winning film-maker Lode Desmet, and is part of BIRN’s Balkan Transitional Justice project, which aims to improve public understanding of transitional justice issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Debate on Environment and Energy in the Republic of Kosovo

On May 29, 2014 “Life in Kosovo” held a debate on environment and energy in the Republic of Kosovo.

Panellists for this debate were: from AKR: Sabit Rastelica, Azra Krasniqi and Fadil Ismajli; from AAK: Magbule Shkodra, Ardian Gjini and Laura Kryeziu; from PDK: Blerim Rexha, Laura Zherka dhe Gani Koci; LDK: Teuta Sahatçija dhe Besa Gaxherri; Vetëvendosje: Agron Dida, Lumnije Morina and Faruk Mujka; and NISMA: Izet Ibrahimi and Petrit Gashi.

Main issues discussed during this debate included the issue of what would be the amount of MW produced of renewable energy in order to fulfill citizens’ needs by the end of 2020. Based on this concern, candidates for MPs gave their party program on energy: AKR promised that by the end of 2020 the Hydro central in Zhur will produce 128 MW capacity from water recourses while at the end the amount of energy produced will be 640 GW/h, covering 10 percent of Kosovo population.

On the other side AAK said that their hope is in fostering cooperation with Albania, saying that bids for HC in Zhur will be open but this is not their priority since AAK will be more focused on empowering economy; thus help around two thousand hundred households with isolation system. PDK promised that by the end of 2020 around 410 MW will be produced spread in 28 other smaller Hydro Energy projects, where around 700 million Euros will be invested generating 5,500 working places. LDK said that the project in Zhuri will end by the end of 2018 covering 20% of energy produced while the other part will be covered by smaller HC. Self-Determination Movement emphasized that 50% or renewable energy will come by combining energy systems of Albania and Kosovo. Similar to other party programs, NISMA sees the future of energy by finishing the project in Zhuri by the end of 2020, saying that this HC will produce 303MW ; building of 20 mini HC with the capacity of 104 – 200 mw and usage of urban waist 0.8-2MW.

The other part of debate was more concentrated in the environmental issues varying from water supply, pollution from old thermo centrals; gravel royalties etc.

Debate on Economy

On June 02, 2014, “Life in Kosovo” held a debate on the economy of the Republic of Kosovo.

Political party representatives present at the Economy debate were as follows: from AAK: Fehmi Fetahu, Vasilika Zotaj and Shkelzen Jusaj; AKR was represented by: bernard Nikaj, Vileta Gashi and Avni Gashi; PDK: Ramiz Kelmendi, Blerand Stavileci and Margarita Kadriu; LDK: Hykmete Bajrami and Lutfi Zharku; LVV: Dardan Sejdiu, Aida Derguti and Bashkim Nurboja. From Partia e Forte present were: Birol Urcan, Zana Elshani Mullaademi and Valon Badivuku.

LDK member, Mrs. Bajrami made some allegations towards party in power saying that “PDK has not shown that with what criteria will distribute these funds. To get a grant to the Ministry of Agriculture, people from the municipality of Peja paid 500 Euros to make a business plan, and have never seen a list of who received those grants, and those who have never done business plan did not receive grants. ”

AKR representative Mr. Nikaj said that “No agricultural product produced in Kosovo is not freed from taxation agreement with Turkey, for at least 10 years of leather industry is protected, wood processing and all other industries that have the potential to be produced in Kosovo”. Same as Mrs. Bajrami from LDK, Mr. Sejdiu of LVV made allegations towards the party in power by saying that: “To create 137 jobs per day it means that for four years in a row Kosovo should build a factory each day. We have already seen these factories for the last 15 years”.