The majority of the EU equality and Human Rights principles have been directly transposed in Kosovo’s legislation. Kosovo has constitutionalized the Human Rights conventions, placing them above the internal legislation and making them directly applicable by the Courts and Public Administrations. Additionally, a set of laws and by-laws have been drafted and adopted to protect and promote Human Rights standards, covering discrimination cases and gender equality, as well as strengthening the Human Rights bodies and the mandate of the Kosovo Ombudsperson Institution. However, results related to the actual implementation remain scarce. As of 2015, Kosovo adopted the so-called “Human Rights Package of laws,” to protect and promote the rights of individuals, including anti-discrimination and gender equality provisions. The newly adopted package came as a result of the requirements of the EU Visa Liberalization Roadmap with Kosovo, which requested the adoption and implementation of legislation that calls for effective protection against discrimination as well as for full respect of domestic provisions on Human Rights. Still, two years after their adoption, the actual implementation lags behind.

The report provides for a legal analysis of the current state of play pertaining to Human Rights, starting with systemic deficiencies and continuing with the relevant applicable laws and institutions directly engaged in Human Rights protection, including that on Access to Public Documents, a question which is often ignored. All the while, it focuses on necessary actions to increase its effective implementation. It ends with a number of recommendations for improving the current delivery of Human Rights in Kosovo.

The report is part of series of publications foreseen under the project “Protecting and Promoting Human Rights in Kosovo through active civil society” under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, implemented by Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED), Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS) and Artpolis.

For Albanian version, please click here.

For Serbian version, please click here.