Pejë, January 27, 2015 – The Kosovo Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED) and the implementing partner Syri i Vizioni (SiV) organized a round table to present and discuss Border Management, Illegal Migration and Smuggling.

This was the second table organized within the project “Meeting EU requirements for good governance, for the further European Integration of Kosovo”, a project which was financed by the European Commission, Liaison Office in Pristina.
Members from the key institutions of the rule of law in Kosovo at the central and local level took part in this round table, such as: the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kosovo, the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor – Office for Protection and Assistance to Victims, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Kosovo Police, Customs Kosovo, the Commission for Borders, the Basic Courts (Pejë and Gjakovë), the Gjakovë Basic Prosecutor’s Office, as well as representatives from civil society organizations.

Initially, the initial findings of the project were presented by KIPRED and SiV, to continue further with the discussions of the actors present at the table.
The table was opened by the executive director of Syri Vizioni in Peja, Veton Mujaj, who presented to the participants the general data about the project and the findings from the monitoring at the local level.

“When it comes to the management of Kosovo’s borders, the situation is not so satisfactory due to a number of irregularities found at Kosovo’s border crossing points. As for cross-border cooperation in the fight against illegal activities, the biggest challenge in the issue of smuggling and illegal migration is the lack of cooperation with Serbia due to the issue of their attitude towards Kosovo. Also, the increase in asylum seekers from Kosovo is also related to the lack of the perspective in Kosovo but also the lack of visa liberalization for Kosovo” – said Mrs. Ariana Qosaj-Mustafa, manager of this project and at the same time senior researcher at KIPRED.”

The participants at the table agreed with the initial findings from KIPRED and SiV and expressed their opinions regarding the most efficient solutions to the problems we are encountering as a country on the way to the EU. Even according to the representatives of the institutions present, the implementation and technical side presents a significant challenge, but a lot of work is being done to overcome these problems as soon as possible.