Press release
Publication of the monitoring report “Our Reality”
Pristina, December 30 – The Children’s Monitoring Group “Respect Our Rights- ROR” and the non-governmental organization Syri i Vizioni, in partnership with the organization Save the Children, on Tuesday held a joint conference with institutions mandated to protect children and implement the Convention international for their rights.
In this conference, the report was published at the state level on the implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in Kosovo (ICRC), drafted by the children themselves with the continuous support of the organization Syri i Vizioni and Save the Children – office in Kosovo.
The monitoring report “Our Reality” reflects the real situation of children and their right in decision-making, how they are asked about the issues that concern them, as well as their right to education, apart from the international convention, in Kosovo are also guaranteed by the constitution and local legislation.
The report highlights that children did not ask much, or very little, about decisions that affect their interests, both in the family and at school, which means that they are not part of decision-making. The report also highlights many dissatisfactions related to the conditions of education, such as physical access to schools, the continuity of education for children in remote areas, the form of evaluation, the selection of elective subjects, uniforms and many other issues with which they face every day at school.
The representatives of the children’s monitoring group have requested that the recommendations made in this report find immediate applicability, that they be part of decision-making and have better conditions for education.
While the representative from the NGO Syri i Vizionit and Save the Children, the implementing organizations of the program and the founders of the monitoring group of the Convention, Naser Lajqi and Rebeka Qena, have said that their goal is for Kosovo to report on the implementation of the Convention , and our country should have a report at the state level regarding the implementation of this document in our country.
Igballe Rrahmani from the Institution of the People’s Advocate has said that “many of the findings of the report coincide with the demands that the institution of the People’s Advocate has accepted, both for non-participation of children in decision-making and the right to education”. She encouraged the children, as a monitoring group, not to stop monitoring the KNDF in other areas as well.
Mimoza Hasani Pllana from MEST agreed with the findings of the report and encouraged the children to continue to demand their rights against their institutions and families, for which she promised that MEST will make efforts to include as many as possible many children to be part of decision-making, especially when it has to do with their education.
The discussants at this conference agreed that everyone should do more to provide opportunities and conditions for children to be part of decision-making and have better conditions for education, since according to them they are not asking for anything more in addition to the rights guaranteed to you by the International Convention and local legislation.
The conference was attended by: Ministry of Education, Office for Human Rights and Gender Equality in Pristina, Ombudsman Institution, Kosovo Police, representatives of institutions from municipalities and primary and lower secondary schools, parents, organizations of civil society that deals with child protection and the media.
This conference is organized within the framework of the program “Governance with children’s rights-Monitoring of the KNDF”, implemented by the organization Syri i Vizioni in partnership with Save the Children office in Kosovo.
