Category: News and Events

BIRN Journalist Attends Youth Conference

Muhamet Hajrullahu, a BIRN Kosovo journalist, took part in the “Generation Europe: Regional Youth Conference”, in Zagreb on May 11, 2007.

The event took place on the premises of the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb, with the participation of Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Enlargement; Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the Croatian Minister for Foreign Affairs; Erhard Bussek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact; representatives of the Franco-German and the Polish-German textbook projects; Professor Josip Kregar, the Dean of the Faculty of Law of Zagreb University; and Nenad Sebek, from the Centre for Democracy and Reconciliation in SEE.

More than 100 students from the region and selected member states took part in the event.

The event, which was hosted by the law faculty, focused on regional efforts to come to terms with the past and the road to European integration.

During the meeting, students from non-EU countries posed questions to Rehn regarding procedures for obtaining Schengen and EU visas.

Rehn said that visa procedures will be relaxed in the near future for Balkans countries.

“Life in Kosovo” Talks to Leading Educationalist

This Friday, the Life in Kosovo TV debate will feature an exclusive interview with Mehmet Gjevori which was conducted shortly before the death of the well-known author of works on education and linguistics.

Gjevori published his first book in 1945, and his last in 2006 at the age of 96, thus completing a rich 60-year-long career as a successful educator and linguist.

In the interview he gave to Life in Kosovo, this leading educationalist talks about his decision to leave Albania, his home country, and come to Kosovo to open Albanian schools at a time when illiteracy amongst the Kosovo Albanian
population was as high as 90 per cent.

Among other things, he also explains why the ‘gheg’ dialect was not included in standard Albanian; talks about how he was treated by the Albanian and ex-Yugoslavian secret services; and also reveals interesting details about his
personal life, such as his first love and his marriage.

Life in Kosovo is broadcastevery Friday on RTK at 20:15.

Fellowship Gets German and Austrian Media Partners

Journalists selected to participate in the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence will benefit from the involvement of two leading European newspapers in the programme.

Austrian daily Der Standard and German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung have kindly agreed to become the programme’s partners, offering fellows guidance and support at Fellowship seminars and during their research.

For more information, visit the Fellowship’s website

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

Fellowship Selection Committee Appointed

A committee has been appointed to judge applications for the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence and select up to ten journalists to participate in the 2007 programme. Later this year, based on the results of fellows’ research and reporting activities, it will make one journalist a special award to allow further professional development.

The committee’s permanent members, representing media in the Balkans and the European Union, are Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, editor-in-chief of the Austrian daily , Der Standard, Drago Hedl, editor of the Croatian weekly, Feral Tribune, Gordana Igric, director and editor-in-chief of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Remzi Lani, executive director of the Albanian Media Institute, Christiane Schlötzer, deputy editor, foreign desk, of the German daily , Süddeutsche Zeitung and Wolfgang Wähner-Schmidt, editor-in-chief of Reuters Germany. This year’s expert member is Gerald Knaus, president of the European Stability Initiative.

For more information, visit the Fellowship’s website http://fellowship.birn.eu.com/selection-committee/.

The results of the selection shall be made public on May 14.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

BIRN BiH at Court Presidents Conference

Nidzara Ahmetasevic, Justice Report editor, spoke at the Court Presidents Conference organised by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH in Sarajevo on 27 and 28 April.

Ahmetasevic spoke of the importance of transparency in the trials, as well as of her experiences in monitoring the court proceedings, and recommendations for best practise.

In her speech, she appraised the conference participants of the work of Justice Report agency and the Association of Reporters of the Court of BiH, and spoke of the experience of many of its members in reporting the work of the court.

Ahmetasevic highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system and expressed hope that journalists, in cooperation with members of judicial institutions in BiH, will find ways to informing the public of court proceedings with as few problems as possible. This, she noted, was a vital part of trials against war crimes indictees.

Apart from Ahmetasevic, representatives of Ombudsman Office of Republika Srpska, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH, OSCE and Lawyers’ Chamber spoke about their experiences in working with judicial authorities.

The conference has gathered representatives of all courts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, attorneys and prosecutors.

Justice Report and Association of Reporters of the Court of BiH are products of the Balkans Investigative Network in Sarajevo. For additional information please visit www.bim.ba or write to [email protected]

Fellowship Selection Committee to Judge Applications

Following the close on April 27 of the 2007 call for applications to the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, its selection committee is set to choose up to ten journalists to participate in this year’s programme.

The selection committee consists of six permanent members from the media community in the Balkans, Austria and Germany, as well as one annual member, who is an expert on this year’s Fellowship theme – MOBILITY. For more information on the committee, click here.

The results of the selection shall be announced on May 14 at fellowship.birn.eu.com. Click here to view the criteria for selection.
For more information, contact the Fellowship’s programme manager-editor, Anna McTaggart, on [email protected].

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

Life in Kosovo Debates Parties

BIRN’s televised debate Life in Kosovo will for the first time on Kosovo television discuss the orientation and ideologies of local political parties.

The programme will examine how the various political parties differ from each other; Kosovan voting habits; and whether political discourse in Kosovo will change after final status is defined.

Panelists will be:

Melihate Tërrmkolli, minister of public affairs from the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK;
Hajredin Kuqi – deputy of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK;
Kaqusha Jashari – president of the Social-Democratic Party of Kosovo, PSDK;
Kushtrim Shaipi – political analyst; and
Nita Luci – anthropologist

Life in Kosovo is broadcast on RTK, every Friday at 20:15.

Xharra Attends New York Kosovo Event

 

Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo Director participated in a conference entitled “Ready to Govern: Developing a Strategy for Kosovo’s First 120 Days” .

 

The conference was organised by Rockefeller Brothers Fund, East West Management Institute, Justice in Transition and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

 

Kosovo leaders, negotiating Kosovo’s political status, and members of civil society discussed a road map for the most urgent issues that need to be addressed in the first 120 days when UN Security Council approves a new resolution for Kosovo, which will give Kosovo supervised independence.

US diplomats such as former US president Bill Clinton, US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, former secretary of state Madeline Allbright and Richard Holbrooke addressed the conference. US Envoy for Kosovo Frank Wisner and ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch chaired the event.

BIRN Bulgaria Starts Building Minorities Reporting Network

BIRN Bulgaria will conduct a three-month-long minorities reporting project from April 20, 2007. The aim of the project is to address and counter cases of systematic campaigning against minorities and bad journalistic practices, of which Bulgarian media are often crticised. BIRN intends to develop a network of Bulgarian journalists to report on minority issues.

The core training will be conducted during a three-day session at the beginning of May. Five BIRN Bulgaria journalists and contributors will take part in workshops, after which, with the assistance of BIRN’s editorial team, the journalists will work on analysis pieces and features dealing with issues faced by the Bulgarian Muslim community. All of the texts produced will be included in a Balkan Insight special package and translated into English and all the region’s local languages.

This project is part of BIRN Bulgaria’s long-term programme to foster tolerance and mutual understanding in the country, through the dissemination of reliable and in-depth analyses on crucial topics and the improvement of Bulgarian media professionalism. It will also strengthen BIRN’s capacity and positively affect media in the Balkans, which widely republishes the organisation’s articles.

The project is supported by the US Department of State.

“Life in Kosovo” debates VAT

This next Life in Kosovo show will discuss the controversial imposition of Value Added Tax, VAT, on NGOs.

Since January 1, 2007, many humanitarian organisations have been complaining that they are not able to bring humanitarian aid into Kosovo because of the high taxes.

To explore the subject, the following will take part in a panel discussion.

Zef Shala – director of the humanitarian group Mother Tereza/ Nëna;
John Chesnut – Chief of the humanitarian group Team Kosova;
Gjyljeta Mushkolaj – law expert; Fatime Islami – deputy director of the department of fiscal politics;
Bujar Shatri – Kosovo customs official;
Sakip Imeri – Kosovo tax administration official;

“Life in Kosovo” will be broadcast on RTK at 20:15 this Friday.