Head of the Agency for Gender Equality, Edi Gusia, has reported to the Commission for Human Rights, Gender Equality and Petitions.

MPs from the ranks of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Sala Jashari, requested recommendations and an analytical report by the head of the Agency for Gender Equality over Arlinda Zekaj’s case, to identify institutions’ failures and measures to prevent similar cases, such as the murder of Arlinda Zekiaj on Sunday evening.

I’d like you to tell us what your recommendations are and if you have any reports or analysis of where the law on protecting women from violence in the case of Arlinda Zekaj has failed, especially in the case of Pec, to really see which chain the system has failed, Jashar said.

Chief Chief Chief Chief Gusia has said that, based on information published in the media, Arlinda Zekalay’s case has had a failure in risk assessment, since, according to her, the risks from other members of the former husband’s family have not been taken into account.

We don’t think that the risk assessment was made on that day when the woman returned home, which was her brother-in-law with 11 criminal acts. Moreover, he has not lived in the family community. It means, he’s brought home just to pressure his wife not to stay in her house. It means, I’m saying, without access to official documents, what we’ve seen in the media, this is the first failure. Because when risk assessment is made, when the defense order is seen or when it is requested, police from the prosecution address the case of defence orders in courts become a risk assessment if the woman is threatened by other family members. It means, in this case, that I had to have a protective order and a brother – in – law who did not dare my brother – in – law staying at home but also my mother – in – law, she said.

During the report, Gusia has said this agency has no mandate to deal with cases of domestic violence or discrimination, as the competencies of institutions in this area are clearly defined by law.

I’m going to share here with you, so today you need to get the agency’s opinion on this matter, even though we have to clear it up, the Agency for Gender Equality, under the Law on Gender Equality, there is no mandate to deal with cases, whether domestic violence or cases of discrimination. So, the legal framework of the Republic of Kosovo has very clear mandates regarding gender equality. It’s the commission in the Assembly, it’s the agency as executive, policy-harning and monitoring agency, and it’s the ombudsman institution, which deals with gender-based discrimination cases. It means, the powers are very separate, they’re very well divided, she said.

Speaking of financing housing for victims of violence, the head of the Agency for Gender Equality has announced that the Ministry of Labour and Social Management has earmarked 1.5m euros for ten havens in Kosovo.

She has stressed that even municipalities are obliged to participate in their financing, but that responsibility is not met by all municipalities.

On the other hand, shelters have stable financing. It means, the Ministry of Labour and Social Management has allocated 1.5m euros for the ten shelters of the Republic of Kosovo, one of which is housing for trafficking with human beings, which the Government leads, while the other nine are civil society organisations. Yes, on the other hand, municipalities have the responsibility to finance. Normally, it is impossible for 38 municipalities to each have a shelter because there are no budgetary means, but municipalities are obliged to finance housing in which, i.e., the region’s victims are sheltered. Do all municipalities do that? No. Someone’s funding, someone doesn’t finance, but that’s beyond our competence. This is a question that probably had to be solved through the Ministry of Local Power and see what are those municipalities that don’t finance housing, she said. / KP/