Category: News and Events

Civil society organisations in Kosovo have expressed concern that their future sustainability might be affected by Brussels’ decision to temporarily suspend funds provided under the European Commission’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, IPA until Pristina complies with the EU’s prescriptions for restoring stability in the country’s Serb-majority north.

Taulant Hoxha, executive director of the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation, KCSF NGO, which supports civil society development, told BIRN that such organisations’ funding could be affected “if these [EU] measures continue for months, and especially beyond 2023”.

Hoxha explained that “the natural cycle of IPA funds management is such that at least one to two years pass from programming to the practical implementation of funds”.

He said that the suspension of IPA 2024 funds, which the EU is threatening, would not affect already-funded civil society projects for this year and next year, but could affect NGOs’ work in 2025.

Kosovo has many civil society organisations – parliament’s website lists 84 – and they are highly dependent on EU, US and Swiss funds.

Zana Hoxha, the executive director of Artpolis, a human rights and arts NGO, told BIRN that the suspension of IPA funds by the EU might cause her organisation to reduce jobs or cut salaries by 30 to 40 per cent.

“We have been supported by IPA funds since 2008, for the promotion of women’s rights, youth engagement and art and culture, which is our mission,” she said.

She explained that financial resources for 2023 have been secured but the NGO planned to apply for IPA 2024 and if the funds were not available, it would make the organisation’s future uncertain.

She added that she believes that the suspension of IPA funds will cause “a general weakening of civil society organisations and civic engagement… The consequences will be difficult to repair.”

However, the director of BIRN Kosovo, Jeta Xharra, said she had received assurances on Tuesday that NGOs will not suffer as a result of the EU measures.

“I was in an online meeting today that the EU organised from Brussels on consultations on the IPA 2024 Multi-Country Programming Consultation with Civil Society in the Western Balkans and thankfully I was not the only one raising the concern that precisely because of the current tensions, there need to be more projects that encourage cooperation between Serbia and Kosovo, not less. This proposal came from a civil society activist in Serbia,” Xharra said.

“I also aired my thoughts on the matter, saying that punishing independent media and civil society for the actions of any government seems completely counterproductive as, in Kosovo especially media and civil society provide a regular critical counterpart to the government, scrutinising its actions, so weakening that resilience and criticism that the government faces every day from civil society and media would in fact have an opposite effect, it would make the life of the government much easier,” she added.

Xharra said that she asked if current and future funding for the civil society in Kosovo would be affected by EU measures against the Kosovo government, and was assured by the EU representatives that “no current or future multi-country projects for media and civil society would exclude Kosovo organisations. This is the situation as it stands.”

The EU is imposing measures to encourage Pristina to accept its prescriptions for defusing the tensions that flared up into violence recently in Serb-majority northern Kosovo.

Brussels is asking Pristina to immediately suspend police operations near municipal buildings in the north which have been the focus of unrest after police helped ethnic Albanian mayors elected in polls boycotted by Serbs to take office.

The EU wants the mayors to perform their duties in premises other than the municipal buildings, and for new elections to be held with the full participation of the Serbs.

“We cannot afford instability, tensions and violence. We have condemned the violence and continue calls for immediate de-escalation by both parties [Kosovo and Serbia],” an EU spokesperson told BIRN.

“Kosovo has regrettably not yet taken necessary steps,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the Kosovo authorities were informed on June 28 that measures including the suspension of the IPA funds were being imposed until the EU’s requests are fulfilled.

“These measures are temporary and fully reversible depending on the developments on the ground and decisions to de-escalate taken by the Prime Minister [Albin] Kurti,” the spokesperson added.

The EU spokesperson also said that in another measure imposed, proposals for funding submitted by Kosovo under the Western Balkans Investment Framework were not submitted for consideration by the WBIF board at the end of June.

From 2009 to 2021, the WBIF supported 30 infrastructure projects in Kosovo with a total cost of 1.8 billion euros.

Prime Minister Kurti has described the EU measures as “unjust”.

Kurti said that “we hope that these temporary measures will be very short” so that EU financial support can continue “and maybe even increase”.

The three-day training took place in Durres between 16-18 June, gathering 14 journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Turkey, of which 10 were women.

The main aim was to provide journalists with specialized knowledge that will help them protect themselves and their newsrooms from different kinds of attacks, including physical attacks, legal actions such as Strategic Litigations Against Public Participation – SLAPPs, as well as to preserve their digital security.

A wide range of trainers and guest speakers held the sessions, including BIRN managing editors and other external guest speakers.

The first day of the training started with a session by Kreshnik Gashi, Managing Editor of KALLXO.com, who spoke about organizing and planning the desk and teams during field reporting in crisis situations, including undercover filming, handling risks, safety and security of the media, and threats against journalists’ sources.

The second session, focused on cyber security and data protection of journalists, was held by Dion Mulaj, a Security Researcher at FindBug, an NGO that helps journalists deal with cyber-attacks.

The third session was held by Ana Petruseva, BIRN Macedonia Executive Director and investigative reporter, who spoke about wiretapping in North Macedonia and its impact on the media.

Day two started with a session by Arber Beka, spokesperson of the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo who spoke about the lessons that journalists can learn from security institutions in managing crowds, protests, and tensions.

The next session was held by a special guest, Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club in London, who has long experience working with BBC News and Channel 4 and most of whose work was focused on the wars in the western Balkans. Specifically, he covered the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Vaughan Smith talked about crisis situations and conflict zones, giving examples from his rich experience as a video reporter in different conflict zones. He spoke about the protection of journalists in protests, how to deal with a mob, identifying weapons, managing tear gas, negotiations between journalists and violent men, and getting interviews with them.

He took examples from recent events in Kosovo, where journalists from different media outlets of Kosovo were attacked by masked protesters in northern Kosovo, as local Serbs were protesting against newly elected mayors in elections that they boycotted en masse. The session was facilitated by Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo Executive Director who also covered the Kosovo war together with Vaughan Smith.

The third session covered fake news and disinformation during crisis reporting, which was given by Faik Ispahiu, Executive Director of Internews Kosova and third-party fact-checker of Facebook. The fourth session covered the First Aid Course, given by the instructors of the Red Cross in Kosovo.

On day three, Vaughan Smith and Jeta Xharra talked about the mindset of journalists when reporting during a crisis, creating contacts with armed forces, protecting equipment and other valuables, but also about PTSD and mental health as a reporter.

The final session was held by Labinot Leposhtica, head of the legal office at BIRN Kosovo, who talked about safe reporting and protection from SLAPP lawsuits and complaints. Specifically, Leposhtica talked about journalism ethics and standards, legal checks or filtering of sensitive journalistic reporting and hiding sensitive data that expose journalists to lawsuits.

He presented successful cases in Kosovo, such as the case of an investigation by BIRN Kosovo, which found that a single businessman in Kosovo stands behind six companies earning millions of euros from the sale of solar energy, in violation of anti-monopoly rules.

The overall objective of the project is to provide systemic support to improve the quality and professionalism of journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey. In the coming months, more activities will take place as part of the project, which will be announced and published soon.

The main was to provide journalists with specialized knowledge that helps them protect themselves and their newsrooms from different kinds of attacks, including physical attacks, during crisis reporting and protests.

Kreshnik Gashi, Managing Editor of KALLXO.com, spoke about safe and ethical reporting in emergency and crisis reporting and how to organise the planning desk and teams in the field, how to cover specific regions where the local language is not spoken, undercover filming, and creating protocols for safety and security of media outlets.

The second session was held by a special guest, Vaughan Smith, founder of the Frontline Club in London, who has a long experience working with BBC News and Channel 4, and whose work was focused mostly on the wars in the western Balkans. Specifically, he covered the wars both in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Vaughan Smith talked about crisis situations, giving examples of his rich experience as a video reporter in different conflict zones. He spoke about the protection of journalists in protests, how to deal with a mob, identifying weapons, managing tear gas, negotiations between journalists and violent men, and how to get interviews with them.

He took examples from recent events in Kosovo, where journalists from different media outlets in Kosovo were attacked by masked protesters in the north as local Serbs protested against newly elected mayors in elections that they had boycotted en masse.

The session was facilitated by Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo Executive Director who also covered the Kosovo war together with Vaughan Smith. They also spoke about the mindset of journalists when reporting during a crisis, creating contacts with armed forces, protecting equipment and other valuables, but also about PTSD and the mental health of reporters.

Xharra also talked about the management of crisis situations, how safe it is to take risks during tensions, damage coverage from insurance companies in Kosovo, how to mobilise to protect oneself and other colleagues from attacks but also sexual harassment.

The final session was led by Bane Krstic, a Kosovo Serbian freelance journalist, and by Valdet Salihu, a producer of the “Kallxo Pernime” TV Program. This session covered the topic of “Telling the other side of the story” and finding sources from the other community, as Kosovo Albanian journalists report from the north where the majority of citizens are Serbian, and vice versa. The trainers talked also on how to behave when reporters are stuck in the middle of a protest, and where to get help when covering difficult events.