The Government of the Republic of Kosovo, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kurti, completed its first 100 days on July 1 of this year. The report on the 100 days of work was submitted by the Government to the Assembly, and today, Monday, August 2, 2021, it is being discussed in the Assembly of the Republic at the request of the opposition.<\/p>\n\n
The 100-day report of the Kurti II Government is titled “100 Days Turning Point Towards Development, March 23 \u2013 July 1, 2021<\/em>“. The Institute for Social Policies \u201cMusine Kokalari\u201d has conducted an analysis of this reported work, focusing on social issues and decisions affecting the field of social rights and welfare. The analysis also includes a comparison between the 100-day report and the governmental commitments made by the Prime Minister and the Government.<\/p>\n\n Overall, during this 100-day period, the Government of Kosovo has been characterized by two main aspects: the rare public appearances of the Prime Minister, as well as the ministers, especially in confrontations with media representatives, which makes the government\u2019s work non-transparent (particularly regarding the scandals this government has been accused of), and on the other hand, presentations of very important projects that remain unexplained in detail regarding how they would look and how they would be implemented.<\/p>\n\n The Government\u2019s report “100 Days of Turning Towards Development, March 23 \u2013 July 1, 2021” confirms its delays in social policies and its neglect of marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n Vaccination Delays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n We consider that one of the positive developments is the signing of the contract for COVID-19 vaccines, although according to official data, the vaccination process has experienced delays both in terms of numbers and the overall procedure. Media reports indicate that there is a large number of citizens waiting to get vaccinated, while it has been announced that the staff at vaccination centers work from Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n\n Since the Government is aware that the pandemic situation is extraordinary, the executive should increase capacities so that the vaccination process can continue also on Saturdays and Sundays. Vaccination could also be made available to citizens in the cities where they work, making it easier for them without needing to travel to their hometowns and wait in long lines. According to the 100-day report, the Ministry of Health was allocated 6.8 million euros to secure essential medicines, but according to information sources, various municipalities are still facing shortages of insulin. This is despite assurances that insulin has been secured for the next five months.<\/p>\n\n IPS \u201cMusine Kokalari\u201d calls on the Ministry of Health to take serious action regarding the most marginalized groups, focusing especially on the non-majority Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities, as well as people with special needs.<\/p>\n\n The government continues the tradition of ad-hoc financing of social schemes without a strategy for their codification<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The Government of Kosovo has allocated 8.5 million euros to benefit recipients of social and pension schemes by paying a 30% increase above the monthly amount for beneficiaries of the social assistance scheme, as well as an additional payment for pension scheme beneficiaries who receive less than 100 euros per month, covering the months of April, May, and June 2021. A total of 192,171 citizens have benefited from this measure.<\/p>\n\n IPS Musine Kokalari considers that such a practice of ad-hoc actions and support for all schemes must come to an end. In this regard, the Government should focus on developing a clear strategy to bring the codification of all schemes to the Assembly.<\/p>\n\n Total neglect of LGBTQA+ individuals and persons with special needs \u2014 symbolic support for ethnic minorities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The Government of Kosovo has reported the construction of 2 houses and 8 others currently under construction, along with the provision of 10 harmonized family packages and 68 income-generating grants (stimulating funds), as well as construction materials for 10 families. Meanwhile, under the “EU Programme for the Stabilisation of Communities \u2013 Phase Three,” 41 individual projects have been supported for the establishment of small businesses, along with 7 infrastructure projects for communities.<\/p>\n\n In the 100-day report, many marginalized communities such as the LGBTQA+ community and persons with special needs are not mentioned at all.<\/p>\n\n IPS \u201cMusine Kokalari\u201d considers that the promotion and protection of community rights should not be reduced solely to the technical aspects of living conditions, but must also include the provision of access to education, healthcare, and overall wellbeing, not only for ethnic minority communities but also for other marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n Delays in the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and neglect of Social Work Centers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Rightfully, the Government has appointed the National Coordinator for Protection against Domestic Violence, through whom the inter-ministerial group for addressing domestic violence issues has been functionalized. This group is tasked with “drafting the strategy for addressing domestic violence issues, conducting initial analyses related to the implementation of matters arising from the Istanbul Convention, and creating budget lines for shelters to protect victims of domestic violence”.<\/p>\n\n However, IPS Musine Kokalari considers the implementation of the Istanbul Convention to be slow and insufficient. The necessary amendments to the Penal Code are stagnating, which prevents the Istanbul Convention from becoming part of the specific legislation. There is a need for thorough research and for seeking support from countries that have taken significant positive steps, in order to ensure the effective implementation of this Convention.<\/p>\n\n Through this report, the Government has also announced the introduction of manuals for comprehensive sexual education, which include content that can be used from grades 1 to 12. The rise in cases of sexual harassment remains a persistent issue, with girls in particular facing violence and abuse even within school premises. IPS Musine Kokalari considers that manuals alone are not sufficient and calls on the Government to develop policies during its mandate to integrate Sexual Education into the school curriculum as a mandatory subject.<\/p>\n\n The Centers for Social Work, which operate both under local governance and the Ministry of Finance, Labor, and Transfers, and serve as professional public institutions at the municipal level responsible for protecting citizens in social need, were not mentioned in any paragraph of the government\u2019s 100-day report. Beyond administering the social assistance scheme, these Centers are the only institutions in the country that provide 85 types of social services, including family-related social services.<\/p>\n\n Thus, the previous year, as a consequence of the pandemic, has left deep impacts, acting as a catalyst for the economic and social crisis. It also revealed the lack of capacity among social workers in managing many cases related to social and family services, which is why social policies need to be developed for reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Government of the Republic of Kosovo, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kurti, completed its first 100 days on July 1 of this year. The report on the 100 days of work was submitted by the Government to the Assembly, and today, Monday, August 2, 2021, it is being discussed in the Assembly of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7010,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009\/revisions\/7010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}