Summary:
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every domain of state development. As a result, due to the extensive effort to overcome this obstacle, the focus of the citizenry and state institutions in Kosovo has shifted away from pressing issues, such as the fight against corruption, terrorism and violent extremism, which is of utmost importance in order to ensure peace and security in the country.
Firstly, due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and other institutions have been left with no choice but to continue their activities through online platforms. This abrupt shift to the virtual world is considered to have detrimental consequences for the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, due to the risk of radicalism being spread via uncontrolled online content. The spread of this content is especially dangerous in an environment where the production of akin materials is not subject to any professional monitoring.
Moreover, transparency of the judicial system is a key mechanism on ensuring the rule of law and raising the credibility of the justice sector. However, the judicial institutions in Kosovo still lack on transparency and open approach towards citizens, including the limited exchange of accurate information between the judicial system on one hand and the citizens of Kosovo on the other through trusted and professional media outlets and other relevant stakeholders.
Transparency of the judicial system is fundamental in order to strengthen the rule of law and increase people’s belief in the judicial system of Kosovo, as the most efficient mechanism to maintain justice and order. Nonetheless, the legal framework in Kosovo lacks transparency and information exchange with the citizenry, who should be aware of their rights and responsibilities under Kosovo’s law.
Donor:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy
Main Objective:
The overall objective of this project is to raise the public awareness and enhance the performance of judicial and law enforcement institutions by working for more transparency and accountability in the respective public institutions on cases of corruption, terrorism and violent extremism and, as such, promoting human rights, peace, security and democracy in Kosovo.
Specific Objectives:
Specific Objective 1: Increase public demand for delivering rule of law commitments by Kosovo’s judicial and law enforcement institutions, including the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of cases of corruption, terrorism and violent extremism.
Specific Objective 2: Increase the responsiveness of judicial and law enforcement institutions implementing their rule of law commitments owed the citizenry of Kosovo, without discrimination of any kind.
Main Activities:
- Monitoring and analyzing at least 30 court hearings related to cases of corruption;
- Monitoring and analyzing at least 20 court hearings related to cases of terrorism and extremism;
- Participating in meetings with the drafting committee to follow-up recommendations;
- Publishing 50 short news based on the monitoring of 50 court hearings on corruption, terrorism and extremism;
- Publishing an analytical report based on the findings on the monitoring of corruption cases;
- Publishing an analytical report based on the findings on the monitoring of terrorism and extremism cases;
- Broadcasting two (2) TV programmes based on findings of monitoring related to cases of corruption, terrorism and extremism.
Target Groups:
- Public officials that work on the judicial and law enforcement bodies;
- The citizens of Kosovo.
Main implementer:
BIRN Kosovo
Partners:
N/A