Adelina Berisha: Institutions must be held accountable for failures in cases of violence against women

Adelina Berisha of the Kosovo Women’s Network commented on the protests held after the case of Arlinda Zekaj, stressing that the public’s response should serve as a demand for institutional accountability and for changing the way cases of violence against women are handled.

According to her, institutions’ responsibility should not be evident only in the first few days after an incident, but should become a consistent standard of action.

“We hope this has been and will remain the purpose of the public’s response: to hold institutions accountable not only during the days when we are out in the streets and when the incident is still fresh in our memory, but also to make this a regular practice and change the way cases are handled. There must be criminal prosecution. The prosecution must clarify whether there were grounds for punishment for failure to act. If failure to act in cases of violence against women is considered a criminal offense, then the appropriate measures must also be taken,” Berisha said.

She expressed concern about police officers returning to duty after their suspension, stressing that the lack of proportionate punishment could encourage tolerance of violence and institutional failure to protect women.

“We have seen cases where police officers have returned to work after two or three months. We believe that through these practices, the state is, in a way, tolerating and promoting violence, since there is no proportionate accountability either for perpetrators of violence or for officials who have a legal obligation to protect women but have failed to do so,” she said.