Prishtina, 31 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has published the report: “Publik Procurement Monitoring in Kosovo Increasing Institutional Accountability in Spending Pubic Money. This report presents the findings from the quarterly monitoring of large value contracts from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Prishtina, 31 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has published today the report Social Dialogue_Role and Mandate of the Social Economic Council
Prishtina, 31 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL today has held an open discussion on the topic “Social Dialogue: How to Involve Youth in Dialogue and what has KES done in this regard”. Panelists in this discussion were: Brikena Hoxha from the Kosovo Stability Initiative, Fjolla Bajraktari, Innovation Lab Kosovo / PEN and Rashit Mehmeti from the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo (BSPK).
Gersi Gashi from Movement FOL presented the findings of the report “Social Dialogue in Kosovo: The role of CES and the involvement of youth in dialogue”. Gashi said that this policy paper is divided into several parts where they have been analyzed: the legislation and consequently the mandate of the Economic and Social Council in Kosovo (KES), the work and achievements of the KES since its establishment, the comparison of KES with other countries and recommendations to increase the impact of KES. “Social dialogue is a very important process for the proper functioning of the state and for a democratic governance system. In Kosovo, as a term, but also in politics, social dialogue is not well-known to the general public. ESC in Kosovo has the role of pushing ahead of social dialogue. As a mechanism that brings together representatives of employers, employees, and the Government, it is clear that the ESC has a duty to ensure inclusiveness in dialogue, raising awareness of social dialogue and encouraging the entire society to be part of it, including here also youth, “said Gashi.
Brikena Hoxha from Kosovo Initiative said that even after nine years of independence, Kosovo remains a country with great poverty and unemployment. “Since 2009, progress reports have highlighted the need to improve legislation in the social field. The term modern slavery is the best description of the situation of workers in the private sector, and especially in small businesses, “said Hoxha, adding that only in 2017 there are 15 deaths in the workplace, most of them in the construction sector. She said the challenge remains the non-implementation of the collective contract, especially in the private sector. “I think Kosovo must take three measures to increase employment: Increased commitment of youth to the Syndicate, state support with StartUps grants and compilation of practices that add to the engagement of young people,” said Hoxha.
Rashit Mehmeti from the Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo (BSPK) said that by 2011 members of KES did not receive compensation and this could have had an impact on the fact that ESC was not very effective. “The minimum wage has been many times in the agenda where we asked for it to be 220-250 €, but this does not suit business representatives,” said Mehmeti. Moreover, he added that youth involvement is now the target of BSPK, and internal reforms are underway that will push this forward.
Fjolla Bajraktari, from Innovation Lab Kosovo / PEN, said that the education system in Kosovo itself does not promote educational debate in schools and so young people are not ready to debate. “We have held workshops every three months in the villages of Kosovo municipalities, where at first there was hesitation of young people to participate and sometimes there was also hesitation of decision-makers to cooperate,” Bajraktari. But most of the cases have turned out to be stories of success, and it has been seen that there is a desire for young people to engage in greater involvement, especially in decision-making, Bajraktari added.
This activity was supported by Enhancing Youth Employment – EYE Project – project of the Swiss Cooperation Office and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Cooperation and MDA.
Prishtina, 26 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has held today a conversation with mr. Zef Prendrecaj, Office of the Disciplinary Prosecutor. The topic of this conversation was: “Integrity in the judiciary / prosecution as a condition for gaining public trust”.
The lecture was held at the Center for Education and Anti-Corruption (AEC) in the Lëvizja FOL, where the audience of this lecture were students from Public and Private Universities.
This conversation was supported by the Dutch Embassy in Prishtina within the project “Promoting Integrity in the Judiciary Sector”.
Prishtina, 23 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL held today a conversation with former Supreme Court President, Fejzullah Hasani. The topic of this conversation was the integrity of the judiciary in Kosovo.
The lecture was held at the Center for Education and Anti-Corruption (AEC) in the Lëvizja FOL, where the audience of this lecture were students from Public and Private Universities.
This conversation was supported by the Dutch Embassy in Prishtina within the project “Promoting Integrity in the Judiciary Sector”.
Prishtina, 20 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL today has held a conversation with the judge of the General Department-Civil Division at the Court of Appeal, Albert Zogaj.
During this lecture was discussed about the mechanisms of the integrity of the justice system as well as the Code of Ethics of Judges, in particular the Court of Appeals.
The lecture was held at the Center for Education and Anti-Corruption (AEC) in the Lëvizja FOL, where the audience of this lecture were students from Public and Private Universities.
Lëvizja FOL has started a series of lectures / conversations with the Court and various Prosecutors.
This conversation was supported by the Dutch Embassy in Prishtina within the project “Promoting Integrity in the Judiciary Sector”.
Prishtinë, 18 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has published the report “Municipalities & Their role in youth employment”. This policy brief aims at reminding the general public that municipalities have a direct role in developing the economy and generating jobs through local policy choices and strategies that are within the legal competences of municipalities.
Gjakova, 18 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has hold today FOL Hapur with the candidates for mayor of Gjakova, where was also published the analysis “Municipalities & Their role in youth employment”.
Jeton Zulfaj from the Lëvizja FOL said that FOL is holding a debate with candidates for mayor of Gjakova regarding the municipality’s influence on development and employment. He said that the research conducted by FOL results that municipalities can develop strategies and policies through subsidies and grants, tax incentives, and other policies to directly affect employment and economic development. “Municipalities can and should work on economic development plans and strategies, as they are responsible for licensing business activities, applying taxes and payments, providing infrastructure and basic education, and adopting regulations that affect economic development and the creation of jobs – said Mr. Zulfaj.
Mimoza Kusari-Lila, the candidate from Alternativa for mayor of Gjakova / Djakovica, said that the municipality of Gjakova has developed projects that have had direct impact on employment such as the grant scheme, the completion of dairy farm in Reka e keqe, assistance for the NGO “Thirrjet e Nënave” and “Shtëpia e Sigurt”. Municipality of Gjakova has received support from USAID’s project for transparency and accountability. The GIZ project has enabled the municipality to empower youth through a fair where there were 800 new jobs, and about 300 has contacted directly the companies. We have also received professional training and information from employers and jobseekers. “Qendra Bone Vet, the innovation center in Gjakova are just some of the steps taken in the service of innovation,” said Kusari-Lila, adding that with their program they plan to continue the grant scheme and create joint working spaces.
Fazli Hoxha from NISMA for Kosovo said that the Initiative as part of its program has the empowerment of young people. “Since there has so far been no room for developing a public-private partnership, we will be assured of increasing this potential. Grant allocation will be done equally, cooperating with businesses operating in Gjakova, and companies that will benefit will have the workforce from Gjakova, “said Hoxha.
Edmond Dushi from Aleanca Kosova e Re stressed that their work will be on raising awareness to young people’s to attend vocational schools. “It will be offered one-year practice for all new graduates in order to be the same as those who have had work experience, so the competition to be equal,” said Dushi, who promises that if he wins these elections he will open Center youth.
Bekim Ermeni from the Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës said that if he comes to the head of the municipality of Gjakova, he will work to reduce the youth unemployment rate by promoting the professional training of young people, reducing informal employment or formalizing business.
Ardian Gjini from Aleanca për Ardhmërinë e Kosovës, said that it should be governed by the concept of budget investment rather than spending on it. Young people will be encouraged to innovate. “There will be work on granting scholarships for deficit directions so that students return to work in Gjakova,” Gjini said.
This activity was supported by Enhancing Youth Employment – EYE Project – project of the Swiss Cooperation Office and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Cooperation and MDA.
Mitrovica, 18 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL today has hels FOL Hapur with the candidates for the mayor for the municipality of South Mitrovica, where the analysis “Municipalities and their role in employment” was published.
Jeton Zulfaj from FOL emphasized that there is an approach and perception that the role of municipalities is poor in economic development and employment. This approach and this perception can be best seen at this time of elections where no one wants to ask the candidates if they have any plans on how to boost economic development and create jobs, “said Zulfaj. According to him, Municipalities can and should work on economic development plans and strategies, because they are responsible for licensing business activities, applying taxes and payments, providing infrastructure and basic education, and adopting regulations that affect economic development and job creation.
Qazim Shala, NISMA candidate for Kosovo, said capacity building and economic development should go hand in hand. “We have German associations training the cadres, but we do not know that these cadres are being trained to work in Kosovo or Germany,” said Shala. In the absence of this information we do not know the effect of the implemented policies.
Valdete Idrizi, candidate from Partia Demokratike e Kosovës, stated that young people should be stimulated as much as possible in order to be more active. “To promote vocational schools and to break the negative perceptions of these schools,” she said. The promotion of vocational schools would help in the development of young people and would thus create great opportunities for their employment. According to her, volunteering and practical work can be done in cooperation with the municipality where the municipality would pay for 1 year the practical work of the youth.
Fehmi Ferati candidate from Lëvizja VETËVENDOSJE, said the city lacks a market where products can be sold. While there are no opportunities to practice, youth remains inexperienced, and thus makes it more difficult to get involved in the labor market. “Young people should be prepared for the labor market by practicing at least six months, as is the case in America,” Ferati said. Creating merit-based systems and policies would increase confidence in institutions and, consequently, youth employment. “Young people have mostly harmed politics, especially when there is a lack of meritocracy as a criterion for employment.
Nystret Preteni, the candidate of the FJALA Party, said that Mitrovica’s youth should be prepared for the domestic market rather than for the international market. “We will create access to employment, and education so our young people will not deviate” – said Preteni.
This activity was supported by Enhancing Youth Employment – EYE Project – project of the Swiss Cooperation Office and implemented by Helvetas Swiss Cooperation and MDA.
Prishtina, 17 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL held today the discussion with the Minister of Justice, Abelard Tahiri, where was discussed about the mechanisms of integrity of the justice system and legal reforms in the fight against corruption, including the law on the Anti-Corruption Agency and the law on the Protection of Informers. Also was discussed the future of the disciplinary prosecutor’s office.
The lecture was held at the Center for Education and Anti-Corruption (AEC) at Lëvizja FOL, where the audience of this lecture were students from Public and Private Universities.
Movement FOL soon begins the series of lectures / conversations with the Court and various Prosecutors.
This conversation was supported by the Dutch Embassy in Prishtina within the project “Promoting Integrity in the Judiciary Sector”.
Prishtina, 13 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL, as part of coalition Demokracia në Veprim, has published the report on monitoring of the media during the electoral campaign for the early elections. The detailed report can be found here: Election campaign monitoring report for central elections.
Raporti i monitorimit të fushatës zgjedhore për zgjedhjet qendrore.
Peja, 13 October 2017 – Representatives of Lëvizja FOL met today with Mr. Kreshnik Radoniqi, President of the Basic Court in Peja. During this meeting were discussed about the work of the Basic Court of Peja, the large number of cases in this court as well as the working conditions of the judges. “The Peja Court is heavily charged with cases, in particular the Serious Crimes Department, as it is known that the city of Peja faces major crime problems,” Radoniqi said.
At this meeting, representatives of the Movement FOL presented to the Chief Judge the annual statistics of 2016 for corruption cases where the Court of Peja from 53 cases of this nature, only 29 of them has resolved. Meanwhile, in the first six months of this year, Peja had 68 cases out of the corruption offense chapter, and only 26 of them have been completed. According to them Peja has a large number of cases of this nature, which was not contested by Mr. Radoniqi. He said the reason for this large number of these cases is the lack of judges as well as the working conditions in this court. “We still do not have a court spokesperson, as well as we do not have a separate office, which is handled with statistics,” Radoniqi said.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Gjakova, 13 October 2017 – Representatives of Lëvizja FOL in the framework of meetings with the President of the Basic Courts of Kosovo met today, Vaton Durguti, President of the Basic Court in Gjakova. The discussion topic of this meeting was the work and working conditions in this court. The topic of discussion was also statistics on counter-corruption cases.
“The Basic Court of Gjakova faces a small influx of corruption cases, because we treat these subjects with a high priority. At the Basic Court of Gjakova there are currently 15 judges, 5 of whom work in the Department for Serious Crimes. For this reason we do not have cases older than 2 years, “Durguti said. According to him, the meetings with the parties are regular every Monday, where in these meetings is present also he as chairman of the court.
The Basic Court of Gjakova, currently works in the old building, because the new building has not been inaugurated. Also, this court does not have a special office of statistics as well as no court spokesperson.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Gjakova, 12 October 2017 – Representatives from the Lëvizja FOL met today with the President of the Basic Prosecution of Gjakova, Mr. Ali Selimaj. During this meeting were discussed about the work of the Gjakova Basic Prosecution Office, in particular on cases of corrupt nature. Mr. Selimaj said that “corruption cases always have priority in Gjakova Basic Prosecution”. We are currently with a number of prosecutors and therefore we are good at the subjects of this nature.
Meanwhile, regarding the object of this Prosecution, “the object is too old, the conditions under which our prosecutors are in a miserable state. Although the object is under construction, due to the procurement procedures, which are re-tendered, the transfer to the new facility has been postponed, “he said.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Ferizaj, 06 October 2017 – Representatives from the Lëvizja FOL met today with Mr. Shukri Jashari, Chairman of the Basic Prosecution in Ferizaj. During this meeting was discussed about the work of the Basic Prosecution in Ferizaj, in particular on cases of corrupt nature. z. Jashari said that “cases of this nature are a challenge for the Basic Prosecution in Ferizaj, especially in this period where we are with a very small number of prosecutors. Many prosecutors left the State Prosecution, some in Specials. Due to the lack of prosecutors, cases of corrupt nature cannot reach the zero point, “he said.
During January-June 2017, the Basic Prosecution in Ferizaj from 125 cases has solved 45 of them.
Meanwhile, regarding the working conditions, the facility of the Basic Prosecution in Ferizaj has been inaugurated for several months and fulfills all the working standards.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Prishtina, 03 October 2017 – Lëvizja FOL held a press conference where it presented the anti-corruption statistics of the Basic Courts. Jeton Zulfaj from FOL said that the data presented are statistics for the period January-March as well as April-June for 2017. According to him, the statistics are official and have been received by the Kosovo Judicial Council. “These data were taken from the group of criminal offenses: ‘Official Corruption and Offenses against Officials, Articles 422 – 437, Chapter XXXIV of the Criminal Code of Kosovo’. Meanwhile, measuring the efficiency of Courts in the field of fighting-corruption has been done mainly relying on the methodology used by the European Commission on Efficiency of Justice, “said Zulfaj. According to him, the work of the Courts is measured on subjects and the measurements do not indicate the quality of the cases and the quality of the judges’ work but only the performance in dealing with the inflow of cases.
“Fields in which FOL measures the performance of the Courts are: Flow of cases, case resolution rate, case turnover rate, course of case resolution, duration of case handling and index of collected cases,” said Zulfaj .
At central level, the courts have managed to cope with the flux and have shown a positive rate of solving the cases by solving more subjects than they have received, however, 120% for the first quarter (January-March) and 114% for the second quarter (April -June) are insufficient to reduce the number of collected materials. The Pristina Court in particular has a high number of cases.
The Basic Court of Ferizaj / Urosevac in April-June worked at a rate of 350% by accepting 5 cases for the same period and solving 15. This rate has led to a reduction in the number of transferred cases for the following period, which made time for justice diminish considerably.
Gjilan on the other hand in April-June received only 8 cases in the field of corruption and solved only 2, thus increasing the number of transferred cases.
Performance in coping with the flow of new cases in relation to the solved cases influences the reception for justice. This is because unresolved cases are added to the total of transferred cases. Prishtina with a turnover rate of 0.15 and a 161% case rate for the period January to March, takes 600 days to solve a case, whereas in the period April to June, Gjilan with a turnover rate of 0.03 and a 25% course of case resolution, made a subject handled for 3000 days.
Gjilan has a bad performance in both reporting periods (January-March and April-June).
FOL hopes that these statistics will first inform the public on the efficiency of the courts in the field of anti-corruption but also assist courts in improving the efficiency of case resolution.
*Statistics are official statistics published by the Kosovo Judicial Council.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Prishtina, 21 September 2017 – Lëvizja FOL participated at the roundtable “From Facts to Action”, organized by the “Seak for Justice” program. Gersi Gashi, from Lëvizja FOL, presented how the e-Court project has helped to increase the transparency of the judiciary. Of the 54 decisions published at the beginning of this project, there are now over 2,000.
The e-gjykata.org platform is only the first step towards digitalization of the judiciary and consequently increased transparency. The platform provides the ability to filter decisions through 13 different filters, provides access to trial schedules, and visually presents judges assets.
This project is part of the “Seak for Justice” program funded by the US State Department / INL and implemented by the National Center for State Courts.
Prishtina, 15 September 2017 – Lëvizja FOL held a press conference where it presented the anti-corruption statistics of the Basic Prosecutions and Special Prosecution Office. Jeton Zulfaj from Lëvizja FOL said that the data presented are statistics for the period January-March as well as April-June for 2017. According to him, the statistics are official and have been received by the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council. “These data were taken from the group of criminal offenses: ‘Official Corruption and Offenses against Officials, Articles 422 – 437, Chapter XXXIV of the Criminal Code of Kosovo’. Meanwhile, measuring the efficiency of the Prosecution in the field of counter-corruption has been done mainly relying on the methodology used by the European Commission on Efficiency of Justice but also in other methods, “Zulfaj said. According to him, the work of the Prosecution is mainly measured by persons and that the measurements do not indicate the quality of the cases and the quality of the work of prosecutors.
The flow of anti-corruption cases at the national level for the period January-March is: unsolved cases 1151, new cases 203, cases at work 1354, solved cases 228, unsolved cases – 1126. Meanwhile for the period April-June are: unsolved 1083, new cases 160, cases at work 1243, solved cases 271, unsolved cases 972.
The case resolution rate is an indicator of the performance of the Prosecutor’s Office. Based on the performance for the first quarter of 2017, it appears that the Prosecution has worked effectively above 100% at the central level, the case resolution for the first three months is 112%, while for the period April to June it is 169 %.
While the disposition time at the national level stands at 450 days for the period January-March. Meanwhile, for April – June is 333 days. Regarding the index of cases that shows us the nationally collected cases, the index stands at 5.0 for the first three months, and 4.0 for the third quarter.
“Fields in which FOL measures the performance of the Prosecution are: case flow, case resolution rate, case turnover rate, case resolution trend, disposition time and backlog index,” said Zulfaj .
Meanwhile regarding the findings for the Basic Prosecutions, Zulfaj said that “Pristina’s Basic Prosecution has the largest number of transfered cases for January-March, which are 595, has received 102, and has resolved 28. Similar performance has indicated the Basic Prosecution of Prishtina for the second trimester, where it has inherited 574 cases, 71 has accepted as new and has 114 “.
The Basic Prosecution of Ferizaj with the Basic Prosecutor of Prizren has the best case resolution for the period January-March 2017 with PTHF = 200% PTHP = 177%, meanwhile poor performance during this period have shown Mitrovica and Prishtina PTHM = 41 % PTHP = 27%. In the second three months, Mitrovica Basic Prosecution has the highest case resolution rate of 470%, while the Special Prosecution Office has the lowest of 90%.
Based on the trend, the Basic Prosecution of Prizren and the Basic Prosecution of Ferizaj are expected to level the cases in the next five years, while the Basic Prosecution of Peja for 32 years. Meanwhile for the period April – June, the Basic Prosecution of Gjakova is expected to level the courses in the next 4 years.
The time to resolve the cases shows that Mitrovica is the worst for the first three months after the prosecution there receives 4500 days for dealing with cases (persons) escorted by Pristina’s Basic Prosecution with 2250 days. Regarding the second three months of this year, the Special Prosecution takes 1000 days to handle cases for persons, while Pristina receives 428 days.
* Clarification: The work of the Prosecution is mainly measured by persons and that this measurement does not indicate the quality of cases and the quality of the prosecutors’ work, the quality of the administration service or the integrity and professionalism of prosecutors.
* Statistics are official statistics published by Kosovo Prosecutorial Council. In some cases, the number of separate prosecution cases does not reflect the total number of cases at the central level. These inaccuracies in numbers should be addressed to the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council.
This grant is funded by the Democratic Society Promotion (DSP) project – funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Kosovo (SCO-K) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) and managed by the Kosovo Civil Society Foundation (KCSF).
Prishtina, 15 September 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has published the report “Beyond Numbers – Prosecution Performance in the Fight Against Corruption for the period January-June 2017.
Prishtina, 12 September 2017 – Lëvizja FOL has published the report “The Minimum wage and its effects on employment”.