Observations on the content and implementation of the Law on Protection of Informers in Gjilan

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.