Gjilan, August 30 – FOL Movement, within the series of debates organized in municipalities on “Law on Protection of Informers’ held the next meeting in Gjilan on the topic “Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers”. In this debate was discussed about the level of implementation of anti-corruption laws, respectively the Law on Protection of Informers and how public officials denounce irregularities or illegal acts of corruption cases within their respective institutions.
At the beginning of the debate, Elbasan Racaj from FOL Movement presented the findings and legal gaps of the law in question, both, in terms of provisions and sanctions as well as the perspective of experiences of public officials about the existence and content of the law. Among other things, he said that “about 73.6% of the officials are aware of the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers, while 23.4% are not aware of the existence of the law in question.” Furthermore, Elbasan Racaj added that public officials are even little informed when it comes to the content of the law “where only 15.3% of these officials seemed to have deeper knowledge, about 60% about average, 21% have too little, while 4% stated that they do not have any idea at all. “

The President of the Court in Gjilan, Zyhdi Haziri said that “every citizen of Kosovo, according to constitutional provisions is obliged to report corruption affairs that occur at the institutions which are in the service of these people.”Haziri specified that “the court where he is working, there are individuals appointed to supervise the irregularities and at the same time, there is a special room where people who want to report corruption can go and make their allegations, thus their identity will be protected. “

The next one to talk was, Qemajl Mustafa, the mayor of Gjilan Municipality who stated that “the initiative of FOL Movement is a good initiative in order to inform citizens and public institutions about the law on Protection of Informers and it is the citizen who profits from reporting corruption allegations. ” Then Mr. Mustafa stated that “there is corruption in the societies in transition, but we should find mechanisms to prevent and fight this extremely harmful phenomenon”.
Regarding the research published by FOL Movement, Mustafa specified that “encouraging people to report corruption allegations should be made by promoting the institutions that will preserve the anonymity of these individuals. Concerning this, our municipality has established a phone line for those who want to report cases of misuse in the institutions where they work. “The mayor also stressed that ” there is the municipal attorney’s office, which is responsible for receiving information on misuse cases but the number of the reports is very small .”

Later during the debate, Mr. Ismail Kurteshi from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) stated that “the problem is not the Law on Protection of Informers; it is all about the distrust that people have to report corruption allegations. According to him “if there is no political will on the part of public institutions to deal to the end with corruption and misuse cases, then every law and every report will remain in the drawer”. Kurteshi emphasize that “it is not a matter of fear of citizens to report, because there are people and organizations that have openly denounced and continue to denounce corruption at various levels. But, there is a lack of commitment of institutions to prevent misuse cases and corruption in general. “Alban Hyseni, from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) said that “the law is generalized and does not guarantee the protection of informers”.

Fadil Gashi from AAK party stressed that “naming the Law on Protection of Informers is to blame the most, and it should be changed over time.” Gashi also emphasize that “it is strange that the Assembly could approve a law like this which contains so many legal gaps”. Further, Gashi said that “one of the most disturbing components that come from the research carried out by FOL Movement is the low level of knowledge of public officials about the existence and content of the Law on Protection of Informers”.

Gazmend Murseli from NGO ANP-Gjilan stressed that “there is no promotion of the Law on Protection of Informers by public institutions”. According to him we should continue promoting the law and at the same time we should require more responsibility from officials who are obliged to fight corruption.

Prishtina, August 23, 2013 – Today, representatives of FOL Movement met the Chief of Kosovo Judicial Council Mr. Enver Peci. During the meeting they discussed the possibility of further cooperation between this institution and FOL Movement, particularly preventing and fighting corruption in the country.
At this meeting was also discussed the establishment of the Justice Access Forum in Gjakova and Peja and the possibility of creating such forums in seven other municipalities, where the main goal will be getting closer citizens with justice institutions. Mr. Peci promised to support FOL Movement in this matter.

Further, Petrit Zogaj from FOL Movement informed the Head of the Judicial Council, about the engagement of FOL for creating a unified statistics platform on anti-corruption. Mr. Peci promised that FOL Movement will continue to have access to all anti-corruption statistics issued by this institution.

Prishtina, August 14, 2013 – Today representatives of FOL Movement had a meeting with the State Chief Prosecutor, Mr. Ismet Kabashi. During the meeting they discussed about the possibility of further cooperation between this institution and FOL Movement, especially preventing and fighting corruption.

In meantime, Petrit Zogaj from FOL Movement informed the State Chief Prosecutor about the work of the organization, and specifically its commitment to create a unified statistics platform on anti-corruption and then he also stressed the importance and the need for a greater cooperation between prosecution and civil society in general.

During this meeting Mr.Kabashi, promised FOL Movement that they will continue to have access to all anti-corruption statistics issued by their institution and there will be cooperation in the future as well.

August 7, 2013 – Today, FOL Movement, within a series of debates in municipalities regarding the “Law on Protection of Informers’ held the next meeting in Mitrovica on the topic” Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers “. In this debate was discussed about the level of implementation of anti-corruption laws, respectively, the Law on Protection of Informers and on how public officials denounce irregularities or illegal acts of corruption cases within their respective institutions.

At the beginning of the debate, Elbasan Racaj from FOL Movement, presented the findings and legal gaps of the law in question, both, in terms of provisions and sanctions as well as the perspective of experiences of public officials about the existence and content of the law. Among other things, he said that “about 73.6% of the officials are aware of the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers, while 23.4% are not aware of the existence of the law in question.” Furthermore, Elbasan Racaj added that public officials are even little informed when it comes to the content of the law “where only 15.3% of these officials seemed to have deeper knowledge, about 60% about average, 21% have too little, while 4% stated that they do not have any idea at all.”Then the debate was opened for discussion.

The Director of the Administration in Mitrovica Municipality, Abdullah Bejtullahu, said, “This law should have been discussed earlier.” He then added that, “there is not that much information about this law in the Municipality of Mitrovica, only 60 % of them are aware about the existence of this law. He went on, “Mitrovica Municipality has no official person to supervise the irregularities, and thus the informant usually passes the information directly to his superior, which means in a hierarchical manner.” He further stated that, “based on my personal experience as director of public administration we had no whistleblower reporting irregularities.”

Later on, Director of Procurement, Sefik Fazliu said, “I heard about the law in question just recently.” He then said that there was no any reporting in the department where he works. According to the Director of Procurement, “the informant should be careful denouncing false information and should respect the provisions of this law.”
While Avni Alidemaj from Civil Initiative for Protection of Human Rights in Mitrovica said that he had not any knowledge about the law in question, until this meeting organized by the Movement “FOL”. In this case, Alidemaj, blames it on the respective institutions for not promoting enough this law. He also stated that except gaps in the provisions of this law, on the other hand there is no Administrative Court, which would probably be the most competent body to process these cases, because other courts, respectively the Basic Courts don’t take it seriously reporting of any possible about any affair of corruption or any irregularities committed by municipal officials.

Hysni Syla, municipal official in Mitrovica said, “the percentage shown from the research of Movement “FOL”, which states that 73% of public officials have knowledge about the law, does not correspond with reality, because it is thought that there are less officials who are aware of the law. “He further added that,” this law has major deficiencies, which initially did not ensure anonymity of the reporter and does not provide protection for reporter. “

During the discussion Selvije Kurti, a Civil Society activist said, “The law is confusing especially in Section 2.1.1, where it is not clear if this law refers only to public officials or to citizens at the same time.”She further added that,” this law should be promoted because according to this law the administration in the municipality of Mitrovica has no knowledge regarding the law. “

Fahrije Kabashi, also activists of Civil Society in Mitrovica stressed that “civil society should be involved in this law along with other categories provided in Article 2.1.2 of of Law on the Protection of Informers”.

Podujeva, August 6, 2013 – FOL Movement, within the project “Getting closer people to justice institutions”, which is funded by the American people through USAID / ATRC, held the first meeting for the formation of the “Justice Access Forum” in Podujeva Municipality. At this forum were representatives of the Court, Police, representatives of the Chamber of Attorneys, NGOs, media and interested citizens in the municipality of Podujeva.
Kenan Tora, Project Coordinator at FOL Movement, initially presented to the participants the idea of the formation of the forum and its goals, and then Granit Thaci, the local coordinator of FOL Movement, presented the findings on the difficulties encountered to access the information on court cases, on the attempts to monitor hearing sessions on the cases of corruption and abuse of authority. He stated that even the most basic information such as the number of the cases that are in the court of Podujeva, has been impossible to obtain from the court in question, thus we had to contact Kosovo Judicial Council to provide these information.

Minir Hoti, a judge, informed that according to the new law, cases of corruption and abuse of authority now are in charge of the Department for Serious Crimes of the Basic Court in Pristina, and all the cases were transferred there and no longer are in Podujeva, but the transferred cases have been recorded in the database. In addition to this, he said that there is a monitor to inform interested parties about the time of the court hearings but he couldn’t tell how functional this monitor was. Likewise, Mr. Hoti stressed the lack of capacity in the court of Podujeva and the large number of the cases which harden the work of judges.
Hasan Përvetica, a lawyer said that in Kosovo’s justice system were done only experiments and the results of reforms were minor. Përvetica also mentioned the lack of a residential prosecutor in Podujeva and except of delays in proceeding there are also delays in the enforcement of verdicts.

During the discussion Fadil Halimi, a journalist stated that during his work as a journalist he has monitored hearings and affirmed that there are difficulties in accessing relevant information in court and he hoped that the meetings of the Justice Access Forum will have a positive impact in this matter.
Fatmir Potera, from Kosovo Police promised his support to the forum and noted that the lack of a residential prosecutor in Podujeva is causing problems and delays to the work of Kosovo Police.

Nexhat Tovërlani, a reporter from Koha Ditore said that there are cases where court officials seem to be uninformed about their competences. He then said that once he had to contact the Kosovo Judicial Council to provide accurate information since that court officials had no idea about the respective case.
Malsor Neziri a citizen from Podujeva told a personal case of his own, where the trial had lasted 10 years, and expressed his concern about the impact that can be made on certain judges from interested parties.

All participants expressed their support to continue the work of the Forum because they believe that they can have a positive impact in improving the performance of the justice system.

FOL Movement hopes the Forum meetings will be regular in future.
This project is funded by the American people through USAID / ATRC.

Prizren, August, 06 – Today, FOL Movement, within a series of debates in municipalities regarding the “Law on Protection of Informers’ held the next meeting in Prizren on the topic” Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers “. In this debate was discussed about the level of implementation of anti-corruption laws, respectively, the Law on Protection of Informers and on how public officials denounce irregularities or illegal acts of corruption cases within their respective institutions.

At the beginning of the debate, Elbasan Racaj from FOL Movement, presented the findings and legal gaps of the law in question, both, in terms of provisions and sanctions as well as the perspective of experiences of public officials about the existence and content of the law. Among other things, he said that “about 73.6% of the officials are aware of the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers, while 23.4% are not aware of the existence of the law in question.” Furthermore, Elbasan Racaj added that public officials are even little informed when it comes to the content of the law “where only 15.3% of these officials seemed to have deeper knowledge, about 60% about average, 21% have too little, while 4% stated that they do not have any idea at all.
On the other hand, under-Ruzhdi Rexha, the Mayor of Prizren said that, “He was notified from FOL Movement regarding the law in question when he received the invitation for meeting. He further said that this law is in contradiction with law on civil servants, namely Article 56 of this law, which obliges public officials to maintain confidentiality within the workplace. He also said that the law was confused with Kosovo Intelligence Agency. Rexha further said, “The Municipality of Prizren on 16 July of this year, with a legal action has appointed responsible individuals, where one of them is thought to be an official for receiving information on irregularities within the municipality, based on this law.”

The Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution in Prizren sees it as necessary the implementation of this law in practice, recommending at the same time changing the name of the law. He further added that, “There are officials who denounce irregularities”, but he didn’t give any concrete figure.
The business community was represented by, Liman Asllani, who said that the law itself is confusing and is often confused with the law on Witness Protection. He also added that the law has many deficiencies, it doesn’t protect the identity of the informers, and according to this law the rights of the informers are protected by his superior.
On the other hand Arber Rexhaj from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-determination), said, “Whistleblowers should be encouraged when giving information.” He further added that, “justice in Prizren is politicized and selective”. Rexhaj stated that, “there are people, in Prizren, who were fired because of reporting corruption affairs.”

Munir Basha from Conservative Party said that “the law has many deficiencies and does not provide sufficient protection for informers.” He further added that, “there should be political will to fight corruption in the municipality of Prizren.”It is exactly the lack of political will that made this law have many disadvantages.
The participant, Afrim Tejeci from Business Association in Prizren, stressed that the implementation of this law should have an impact on the country’s businesses. Lack of safety of informants when reporting and the lack of their protection by municipal structures, according to Tejeci, will have implications on foreign investments in Kosovo.

Elmedina Baxhaku, a representatives from civil society, respectively the NGO “Ec më Ndryshe”, showed her practical experience when monitoring the Municipality of Prizren, mentioning that officials are afraid to issue a document which is public and let alone to denounce any irregularities within their municipality. Further she added that, “there should be a greater promotion of law and that the officials who are responsible for receiving the information must be appointed as soon as possible by decision makers in the municipality of Prizren.

Bariu Zenelaj from organization “ATTA” stated that the mistakes were done during the drafting of the law, since in many cases the competent personnel in the drafting of this law were not invited. He further said that there was no public debate on this law and the same law should be amended.

Prishtina, August 5 – Today, FOL Movement published its regular report “Procurement Monitor” for the period April-June 2013. This report reflects law violations and irregularities of the ministries, public enterprises (KEC and PTK) and municipalities in the development of public procurement procedures identified by the PRB.

Kenan Tora from FOL Movement presented the purpose and methodology of the report and said that “the trend of law violations and irregularities by the Ministries, Public Enterprise (KEK and PTK) and Municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo during the public procurement procedures has increased in this period of this year. In the period April-June, the above-mentioned institutions have committed violations in 29 different tenders. The Procurement Review Body returned 14 tenders out of 29 for re-evaluation, seven were returned for re-tendering, and 3 were canceled, while the in other 5 was interfered in the tender dossier.

According to the findings of this report, the ministries did not respect legal provisions of the Law on Public Procurement in 8 different tenders, the Ministry of Infrastructure has committed violations in four different procurement activities, while the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Trade and Industry in one tender.

Public Enterprises (KEC and PTK) have committed violations in nine different procurement activities. KEC has committed violations during the procurement procedures in five procurement activities, while PTK in four.
Municipalities of the Republic of Kosovo did not respect legal provisions of the Law on Public Procurement in total 12 different tenders. Prishtina Municipality has violated 4 tenders, while the Municipality of Gjilan, Lipjan, Partesh, Prizren, Vitia, Gjakova, Mitrovica and Peja in one tender.

Except this, FOL Movement has conducted direct monitoring of 37 procurement procedures in the ministries which they have a Memorandum of Understanding with. As a result, in 23 of these tenders were announced the winning economic operators, among them 11 were canceled with the recommendation of FOL Movement in order to prevent law violations, and in two tenders the winner was announced just in Lot I, while another tender is still in the procedure.

Gjakova, August 02 – Today, FOL Movement, within a series of debates in municipalities regarding the “Law on Protection of Informers’ held the next meeting in Gjakova on the topic” Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers”. In this debate was discussed about the level of implementation of anti-corruption laws, respectively, the Law on Protection of Informers and on how public officials denounce irregularities or illegal acts of corruption cases within their respective institutions.

Participants at this meeting were: Deputy Mayor of Gjakova Mr. Agim Koci, the director of the Office of Procurement, Heads of Political Parties in Gjakova, Municipal Public Utility Representatives, Media and Civil Society. At the meeting were absent representatives from the Basic Court in Gjakova, prosecution and police.

The meeting was opened by Elbasan Racaj, he presented the findings of the research conducted by FOL Movement regarding the implementation of the Law on Protection of Informers. Among other things he said that 73.6% of officials are aware of the existence of the Law on Protection of Informers, 20.1% are not aware of its existence, and 6.3% do not know whether it exists or not.

Agim Koci – the deputy Mayor of Gjakova, initially congratulated FOL Movement for this initiative and for the debate. He said that “the way of thinking of the citizens regarding this law should be changed. He also said that institutions should have more contacts with citizens and show them that the law has no negative characteristics. According to Mr. Koci Gjakova municipality has a supervisor for reporting irregularities “. He further added that “NGOs should be responsible and not contribute to the reduction citizens’ trust in local institutions.”

Mr. Ali Tafarshiku said that “people know the law but in Gjakova they have no place to report such cases. There are officials who are willing to report to their supervisor about any case. They doubt about the correctness of their supervisors because they have little knowledge of the law. He further added that the legal office should hold meetings to inform the officials about the law and should appoint an officer for reporting corruption since there is not. ”
Luan Gola from LDK, said that “there is close connection between the prosecution and police, because there are cases of reporting corruption, but they hide them instead of investigating them.” He further said that “it makes us keep up with the awareness of citizens, officials need to read the laws and citizens shouldn’t be afraid reporting corruption.”

Teki Dobroshi from Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) said that “there are cases of reporting irregularities, but such a phenomenon should be fought all the way.” He further said that “such cases in Gjakova are going on deaf and soon are being forgotten.”

The discussion went on between representatives of Public Companies in Gjakova, civil society and media, who agreed that there is courage for reporting by officials, but they do not know that there is a person responsible for receiving the information on irregularities and do not have confidence in institutions as prosecution and court, because according to them they are politicized.

Gjakova, July 31-FOL Movement within the project “Getting closer citizens to justice institutions”, which is funded by the American people through USAID / ATRC, held the first meeting for formation of the ” Justice Access Forum ” in Gjakova Municipality. In this meeting participated representatives of the Court, Prosecution, Police, representatives from the Ombudsman, Legal Assistance Centre, representatives from the Chamber of Attorneys, NGOs, media and interested citizens from Gjakova Municipality. Absent at the meeting were representatives from the Basic Court in and Prosecution in Gjakova.

Kenan Tora, from FOL Movement presented the idea and stressed the assistance that the function of the forum would provide for institutions and citizens’ access to justice . Meanwhile, Drenusha Mula, local coordinator of FOL Movement in Gjakova presented the findings of the project. “Difficulties regarding access to court are various like appointment of meeting the Head of the Basic Court in Gjakova , then not providing a list of cases of corruption and misuse of public money, they only provided figures but not a copy of that list”, said Mula. Avdi Berisha , Kosovo police captain said that Police guarantees serious treatment of each case. “Kosovo police cooperate with Prosecution in time for certain procedures. He mentioned that there are different forms of access to the Police and especially Police Inspectorate, where in many cases proved to have positive results, “said Berisha.

Faton Canhasi, an RTK reporter from Gjakova said that the lack of competence of the court for information on cases made less important the information about the cases. “Closing the case for information helps concealing illegal actions that can occur during a process in court,” said Canhasi.

Remzi Gjikolli a lawyer said that for civil affairs one should wait 5-6 years until it starts a hearing session. “This is because of the large number of cases and the small number of judges,” said Gjikolli.

Flamur Gojani from the Independent Trade Unions of Gjakova region called the judges to ask for their work conditions. “With the fulfillment of work conditions then the judge will feel safe and free to perform his job correctly. He also asked the court to be more accessible and prosecutors and judges should use internet which would facilitate their work as well as citizens’ access to the Court. “

Fatime Boshnjaku from Network “Qeliza” among other things, stated that “we, as a society lack the courage and the when it comes to justice in Kosovo, people are disappointed. There is no justice here and it takes a long time and a greater awareness of the citizens to understand that everyone can give his contribution. “

FOL Movement hopes that the meetings of this forum will be regular in the future.

This project is funded by the American People through USAID/ATRC.

Prishtina, July 24 – FOL Movement, after the publication of the report “Transparency Index” has organized focus groups in seven municipalities in Kosovo with the media and civil society. The purpose of these focus groups is to have an external evaluation regarding the transparency of Municipalities, that is NGOs and local media.
So far the focus groups were held in Ferizaj, Gjakova, Peja, Kamenica, Prizren while it is expected to be held in Podujeva and Mitrovica.
The findings of the report of Transparency Index and other issues arising from the discussions in the focus groups, will be sent to the above mentioned municipalities.
Also there will be a focus group at central level with representatives of civil society and media where they will discuss the findings of the report “Transparency Index IV”

Prishtina, July 22, 2013 – Today’s debate was the fourth and the last of a series of debates that FOL and PIPS organized with leaders of political parties in the country. In this debate was discussed: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina, July 19, 2013 – Today FOL Movement published, for the third year in a row the Analysis “Transparency Index IV”, presenting the findings about the level of transparency of central and local institutions, and public enterprises in Kosovo in 2012.

This year, FOL Movement is mainly focused on the progress made since last year’s study in the function of internal structures of institutions and public enterprises that were responsible for public communication and information. This study focuses on what level institutions and public enterprises have developed their capacities of formal structures to ensure full and effective implementation of constitutional and legal provisions that guarantee the right of citizens to access public documents; that is public communication and information, to strengthen the transparency and accountability to the public.

Mexhide Demolli-Nimani, from FOL Movement, stated that “Transparency Index of central and local institutions and public enterprises” for 2012 focuses on the implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents by the Public Communication Office at the respective institutions.
According to her, the questionnaire was sent to 32 institutions and public enterprises, 19 of them responded, and only one is listed as open institution – Kosovo Customs, that is Public Communication Office, which received 93 points out of 100. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare according to our evaluation took only 26 points out of 100, and is listed as a closed institution.

Unlike the previous years, this year’s Transparency Index report includes the municipalities of Kosovo as well. “Regarding the local level, the questionnaire was sent to 32 municipalities, but only 17 of them responded. The findings of this evaluation show that municipalities that were part of the last year pilot project made a significant progress in all aspects of public communication and information policy, “said Demolli-Nimani.

According to her, most municipalities have approved sub-legal acts for public communication and information, and some of them even policy documents that define clear goals and activities in this matter. However, as this report shows in detail, there are still inconsistencies in the definition of concepts and the scope of the legal framework.

This includes also the lack of precise definition of the responsibilities of the offices responsible for public communication and information. On the other hand, similar to the findings in the central level, at the municipal level, there is a lack of clarity about the concrete measures and enforcement mechanisms defined by the framework and implementing legislation. In this case, the uncertainties are due to different understanding of the nature and capacity of legislation and policies for public communication and information, as well as their different interpretation of the municipal structures responsible for public communication and information.

Furthermore, the field of public communication and information continues to be considered simply as a policy area limited in enabling citizens to have access to public documents. More specifically, these policies, which are in most municipalities, when they were drafted, they didn’t include the involvement of different interested parties in their drafting, implementation, and monitoring, evaluating and implementation of the legislation and local policies in all sectors and areas.
The lack of a ranking for Kosovo municipalities is a result of almost similar weak performance of all municipal communication offices that have responded the questionnaires.

Prishtina, July 16, 2013 – The third debate of the series of debates that FOL and PIPS are organizing with leaders of political parties on: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina, July 11, 2013 – The second debate of the series of debates that FOL and PIPS are organizing with leaders of political parties on: The next local elections, the Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Ferizaj, July 10, 2013 – FOL Movement in a series of debates on the Law on Protection of Informers held the next meeting in Ferizaj on “Anti-Corruption Legal Package: Law on Protection of Informers”. In this debate took part representatives of municipal government, representatives of the Basic Court and Prosecution, representatives of political parties of local level, private sector representatives, as well as participants from non-governmental organizations and media.

Initially, Armend Mazreku, a researcher of FOL Movement presented the findings of the report regarding the Law on Protection of Informers, when Ferizaj was one of the municipalities that FOL had tested the knowledge of officials of this municipality regarding this law.

The Basic Court judge, Ibrahim Idrizi, and the prosecutor of the Basic Prosecution, Rasim Maloku, stated that the law in question is a progress regarding the norms of reporting by public officials, among other things, they mentioned that during investigation and court proceedings there were also denunciation by various municipal officials.

The head of Vetëvendosje (Self-Determination Movement) of Ferizaj municipality, Faton Topalli, among other things he asked municipal executive several questions, “how many public officials report corruption, if Ferizaj municipality has appointed a responsible person for supervision of irregularities and what did Municipality do about informing its officials regarding the Law on Protection of Informers”.

On the other hand, the director of Health Department in Ferizaj, Vesel Zhinipotoku said that “Municipality of Ferizaj is dedicated to promote and implement such an important law”, he then added that “the legal office is essential to address which is obliged to inform and notify public officials about the existence and content of the laws. “

Faik Grainca, the vice president of LDK, branch in Ferizaj, said that “when he and political party were in power, had personally provided assistance to the prosecution authorities to investigate several corruption affairs that were committed at that time, while now corruption is rooted to the highest municipal leaders. “

But, Grainca’s accusations were rejected by the PDK parliamentary group chief, Rafiz Sejdiu, who said that “violations are mostly minor and of administrative nature, even the representatives of the Self-determination Movement and LDK have said the same thing. “

The Chairperson of the Assembly, at the same time candidate for mayor of the city of Ferizaj from AAK Xhavit Zariqi, criticized police, which according to him often hinders the development of investigations with numerous and complex procedures.

Bashkim Fazliu from Civic Initiative said that “corruption cannot be fought by people who are themselves involved in corruption”.

Meanwhile, a representative of the organization INPO, Alban Haliti said that “the trust of the citizens in our institutions is extremely low due to the closure of the institutions to citizens, especially the procurement”. At the end of this debate, participants gave recommendations regarding promotion and implementation of the Law on Protection of Informers.

This project was funded through the grant of American Embassy in Prishtina

Prishtina, July 9, 2013 – FOL Movement welcomes today’s decision of the Government of Kosovo to begin the procedures for membership in Open Government Partnership (OGP). FOL from 2012 and forth has asked country’s institutions to take appropriate steps for Kosovo’s membership in this organization which is very important for building an open and accountable government to citizens and other institutions. Within its efforts to coordinate actions and institutional steps towards this membership, FOL during this period has been in constant communication with representatives of OGP, and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, including Presidency and Government. Therefore, today’s decision is a proper and concrete step towards Kosovo’s membership in OGP.

At the same time, the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in Open Government Partnership is not as a goal in itself, but first of all and above all, means taking major responsibilities within, but also internationally regarding the raise of the level of transparency and accountability of public institutions.

Responsibilities of each member are as follows:
• Fiscal Transparency – publication in time of essential budget documents and an open budget system;
• Access to information – Law on access to information which guarantees the public’s right for information and access to government records;
• Publication of the data on the public or elected officials – Publication of data on income and wealth of public or elected officials;
• Civic engagement – Participation and engagement of citizens in policy-making and decision-making processes.
The progress in these four areas will be measured by objective indicators and the results will be verified by international experts. Depending on the results of the measurement, the countries will be assessed whether or not suitable for membership. To be assessed as suitable for membership, countries that claim to join, should receive 75% of the maximum points.

The next step is the draft of a “National Action Plan”. In this plan should be described the commitments for concrete actions for an open government. Commitments are structured around some key challenges faced by governments, and these challenges are: Improving public services, Growth of public integrity, more effective management of public resources, Creation of safer communities and the Growth of corporate accountability. Moreover, the commitments should reflect the four main principles of an open government: transparency, citizen participation, accountability, Technology and Innovation. Governments should start drafting this plan by presenting their insofar actions and ongoing strategies and programs related to key challenges set by them. Commitments can be built on the grounds of actions taken so far, to identify new steps for the continuation of reforms or initiate action in entirely new areas.

Being at a high level of corruption, lack of transparency and extremely low accountability, made citizens distrust public institutions. Being at this level of government, the decision taken today by the Government is a great obligation for internal function of our institutions, in relation to open government, accountability and international responsibility that comes as a consequence of this situation.
Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative involving governments, civil society and business sector, which aims to ensure commitments for concrete action by governments to promote transparency, empower active citizenship, fight against corruption, and use the new technology to strengthen good governance.

This initiative officially began operations on 20 September 2011, within the UN General Assembly in New York; it is now fully operational and has made its impact on the opening of governments, specifically enhancing transparency and accountability. In this occasion the eight founding countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States) have approved the declaration of OGP and declared their National Action Plans.

Besides founding state governments, until 17 April 2012 another 39 other state governments have approved the declaration of OGP and have developed their ‘National Action Plan’, and until 24 April 2013 another 10 other state governments have formally approved OGP’s statement and have developed their National Action Plan.

Region states that have approved the declaration of OGP and have developed and submitted to the supervisory committee their National Action Plan are: Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey.

July 5, 2013- Series of debates with leaders of political parties in Kosovo on Local elections, Constitutional and Electoral Reform and Kosovo – Serbia agreement.

Prishtina , July 3 – FOL Movement calls the management and members of the Assembly to remove from the agenda the approval of the draft law on amnesty. FOL believes that this draft law, as it is shown in its content, is against the basic premises of liberal justice and the principles applied by open societies and democratic states. As such, the draft law violates the basics of constitution and law of our Republic. Brought without any prior debate, and as a result of negotiations between the prime ministers of the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia, the draft law in question essentially violates the freedoms, rights and basic principles of human rights, freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution.

As a unique case in the world, this draft law would cause a instability in the system which remains very weak, non- functional and in a part of the territory completely ineffective.

Therefore, FOL sent a request to all Members of the Assembly that this draft law be removed completely from the agenda for the next meeting, and thus enable the opening of a broad social debate on issues related to this draft law and consequences that would bring it to the very foundations of the state of Kosovo.

On the contrary , if the draft law is passed in the Assembly tomorrow, it would be a huge blow to the spirit that the Republic of Kosovo represents itself, and would represent a dangerous precedent and extremely disadvantageous to the process of state – building and the general interest of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo .

Transparency Index IV Policy brief: Assessment of Transparency of Central, Local Institutions and Public Enterprises in Kosovo for 2012

 
Transparency Index IV

Prishtina, June 25 – Today is the fourth universarry of the establishment of FOL Movement. Since its establishment until today, FOL Movement was engaged in raising the level of transparency and accountability, encouraging citizen participation in political and public life, and supporting the processes of state-building and democratization of the country.

FOL began working with only one computer and the staff consisted of three people, nowadays there are fifteen people in the organization, about 300 activists, and over fifty members who within the Assembly Members govern directly the organization.
During these years FOL has organized several round tables, various petitions, protests and public performances, various publications, several schools for active citizenry, and hundreds of different activities with the aim of involving civil society in the process of state -building, a process our country is going through.

Our achievements during these four years are many: hundreds of high school students have benefited from the debate program, which offers the best opportunity for young people to develop their potential for critical thinking, active participation and reaction. FOL was the first organization to open procurement offices for inspection by civil society, something that has contributed directly to reduce the opportunities for misuse. We have also tried to bring togetjer public institutions with citizens, we have participated in many working groups drafting anti-corruption laws, and we published regular reports on the level of corruption, transparency and malpractice in public procurement. A one-month campaign in 2011, in cooperation with the State Prosecutor has opened this institution, reducing traditional prejudices about prosecution. Our work has encouraged other organizations of civil society to further this initiative.

FOL Movement, during this year’s was actively involved in the membership of the Republic of Kosovo in the Open Government Partnership – OGP, where membership in this organization will mean the opening of the institutions regarding spending public money.
FOL is committed to continue with its efforts and contribution to bring institution together with citizens, to decline corruption in the country, and to enhance transparency and accountability of public institutions about spending the state budget.
FOL thanks all the members of the Advisory Board, the members of the Assembly of FOL, activ members and supporters, media and donors for the great help and support they have provided over the years.