02.10.2023. » 19:57

Advancing human rights through increasing public awareness

Funded by UNMIK

The project is designed to respond to the current human rights situation amid repeated allegations of human rights violations in northern Kosovo and the persisting human rights protection gap. Through enhanced cooperation, accessibility, and awareness, the project aims to empower residents, strengthen trust in institutions, and promote effective mechanisms for addressing human rights challenges in northern Kosovo.

As such, the project builds on the achievements of the previous UNMIK project, “Facilitating Access to Justice and Human Rights in the Mitrovica Region”, which created a Forum of Cooperation between the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo (OiK) and CSOs.This project also aims to offer space for grievances and discussions between the population/civil society and human rights actors such as the OiK, both at central and local levels.

Designing and embedding an online complaint form within the OIK’s institutional mechanisms will increase access to complaints to seek redress, especially for the most vulnerable, including elderly people, people with disabilities, people living in remote areas, and people on the move. The developed reporting template containing human rights indicators will be applied by the OiK in their monitoring activity to collect and disaggregate information and data on protected grounds of discrimination.

Furthermore, the purpose of the project is to increase awareness of the residents of northern municipalities on their rights and fundamental freedoms in the context of increased police presence and operations in the area.

The project will seek to achieve the following outputs: a strengthened Forum of Cooperation between the Ombudsperson Institution of Kosovo (OiK) and Civil Society; a functioning online complaint form on the OiK’s website; increased awareness of human rights and redress mechanisms; a developed reporting style template for the OiK based on human rights indicators; enhanced monitoring, reporting, and increased awareness of the human rights situation.