The Collective for Feminist Thought and Action organized a protest calling for the killing of women to be declared a national emergency.

The gathering began in “Zahir Pajaziti” Square and continued in front of the Ministry of Culture, and later outside the Government building.

Vasfije Krasniqi and several deputies from the Alliance also attended the protest.

The protest took place a few days after a woman was killed by her husband.

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A protest organized by the Collective for Feminist Thought and Action is taking place today in Pristina.

The event is being held in Zahir Pajaziti Square under the slogan “Femicide Must Be Treated as a National Emergency.”

The protest calls for a stronger response from institutions, as well as concrete measures to protect women and prevent gender-based violence.

The organizers are calling for the killings of women and cases of violence to be treated as an urgent matter by institutions, while concrete steps are taken in parallel to prevent such cases from recurring.

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A 25-year-old pregnant woman was killed on August 24 in Malisheva. Her husband is suspected of having committed the crime.

The case has brought renewed attention to the question of whether legal changes and measures adopted in recent years have brought greater safety for women in Kosovo.

Nearly four years earlier, another pregnant woman was killed in the courtyard of Kosovo’s University Clinical Center in Pristina. In that case too, suspicion fell on the victim’s husband.

The killing of a 35-year-old woman in November 2022 sparked protests and increased pressure on institutions, which were urged to change the way violence against women was prevented and addressed.

Afterward, legal changes were approved and shorter deadlines were introduced for investigating and adjudicating cases of domestic violence, while 600,000 euros were allocated to create an electronic system to monitor people against whom courts impose protective measures.

Nevertheless, the August 24 killing shows that the question of how much impact these measures have actually had on protecting women remains unresolved.

Data from the Kosovo Police, obtained by Radio Free Europe, show that 11 women have been killed over the past four years. Three of these cases have occurred so far this year.

In most cases, the suspects or perpetrators were the victims’ husbands, followed by their fathers and sons.

According to organizations that defend women’s rights, the challenge is no longer limited to the existence of laws. The problem also lies in their implementation: monitoring reported cases, compliance with protective orders, the speed of the institutional response, and the consequences when institutions fail.

Arrita Rezniqi of the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI) says that reported cases of domestic violence are not being monitored at the necessary level.

Luljeta Demolli, executive director of the Kosovar Center for Gender Studies, believes that the killings of women should be declared a national emergency.

Ongoing problems are also acknowledged in the latest assessment of the National Strategy for Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women, which, alongside progress, identifies shortcomings in the functioning of the system.

The report published in 2026 mentions discrepancies in data between institutions, differences in access to services from one municipality to another, and the uneven implementation of measures by the justice system, social services, and the healthcare system.

The electronic system became operational after 20 months

One of the tools intended to increase women’s protection was electronic monitoring.

In April 2023, several months after the killing of the pregnant woman in the courtyard of the University Clinical Center of Kosovo, the Government of Kosovo allocated 600,000 euros for the “Electronic Monitoring System” project.

According to the official decision, the funds were to be used to finance the project during that year.

However, the system was not publicly presented until December 10, 2024, around 20 months after the money had been allocated.

During the presentation, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that electronic tags would be placed on the hands or feet of people suspected or convicted of violence.

The project was also conceived as an instrument for protecting victims of domestic violence.

If the monitored person approached the victim in violation of the protective order, the system was supposed to alert the police at the local and central levels, allowing them to intervene.

Available data, however, point to limited use of this mechanism.

A document from the Ministry of Internal Affairs shows that by April 2025, courts had issued only eight decisions on electronic monitoring, which were being implemented by the Kosovo Police.

There is no data on how many of these decisions concerned domestic violence.

It is also unknown how many people are currently under electronic supervision.

In its response to Radio Free Europe, the Kosovo Police said it had been implementing electronic monitoring of protective orders since December 2024 and that the system was operating in all regional police directorates.

People whose movement is restricted by a court are equipped with electronic bracelets. According to the police, the system also includes GPS trackers, which are given to the parties involved in the proceedings.

The police said they had a sufficient number of bracelets and GPS trackers for real-time monitoring of cases.

However, it did not disclose how many people were being monitored or how many of the cases were related to domestic violence.

Rezniqi says that the lack of these statistics makes it difficult to assess whether the mechanism is achieving the purpose for which it was created.

According to her, merely putting an electronic device in place is not enough if an alarm is not followed by an immediate institutional response.

“The bracelet alone is not enough—in these cases, there must be an immediate police response in order to avert any risk to the victim,” Rezniqi told Radio Free Europe.

Deadlines were shortened, but implementation remains a problem

Electronic monitoring was not the only reform undertaken after the tragic cases.

In November 2023, Kosovo amended its Criminal Procedure Code, classifying cases of domestic violence and rape as matters that must be handled as a priority.

The amendments stipulated that investigations into these offenses must be completed within one year of their initiation. When a case is complex, the deadline may be extended by an additional six months.

For the first time, specific deadlines were also set for trials: 60 days when a case is heard by a single judge and 90 days when it is handled by a trial panel.

These periods are shorter than the previous general deadlines, with the aim of ensuring that cases of domestic violence do not remain in the justice system for a long time.

But Rezniqi believes that shortening deadlines alone does not address the heart of the problem.

She says that cases of domestic violence are generally handled within a relatively optimal period, while the main difficulty lies in identifying and managing risk, as well as implementing the mechanisms that institutions already have at their disposal.

Rezniqi stresses that accountability must also be examined in the way the justice system punishes the perpetrators of killings of women.

“We have seen cases in which the perpetrators of women’s killings were sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance. Some of these decisions were also upheld by higher courts, while in other cases the decisions were sent back for retrial or changed. Therefore, there must be consistency in the handling of these cases,” Rezniqi says.

Demolli points to another shortcoming: the state has no mechanism for analyzing every killing of a woman to determine whether the system failed and at which point that failure occurred.

She considers this analysis particularly important when the victim had previously reported violence or turned to institutions for protection.

“Most murdered women had previously sought help from institutions, so there must be accountability when a woman who sought protection ends up murdered. It must be determined where the system is failing: the police, the prosecution, the courts, healthcare, or other institutions,” Demolli says.

Killings of women worldwide

The latest joint report by UN Women and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says that around 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members during 2024.

On average, this translates into 137 women and girls being killed every day.

These cases accounted for around 60 percent of all intentional killings of women and girls during that year.

The report emphasizes that the phenomenon occurs in every region of the world, while warning that the actual figures may be higher because complete statistics are lacking in many countries.

Aggravated murder in Kosovo is punishable by at least ten years in prison or life imprisonment.

The suspect in the Malisheva killing is receiving hospital treatment for injuries that, according to reports, he is suspected of having inflicted on himself with a firearm.

The incident was criticized and condemned by representatives of civil society, current officials, and former state officials.

“Our society cannot be safe as long as women are not safe even in their own homes,” said, among others, Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu.

But the significance of this statement will also be judged by the actions taken after the public reactions have subsided.

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Online harassment and abuse targeting women working in the media in Kosovo remain a concerning problem. According to the data, 61 percent of the women who took part in the survey said they had faced such forms of violence while carrying out their profession.

The findings were presented in a report by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK), prepared in cooperation with UNMIK and the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. The report is titled “From Analysis to Action: Empowering Women’s Leadership and Combating Gendered Disinformation in Kosovo”.

Getoarbë Mulliqi, executive director of the AGK, described as alarming the percentage of respondents who reported online harassment. She said female journalists often become targets of fake news and attacks motivated by their gender.

“The first figure I want to mention, which is somewhat alarming, is that 61% of the women surveyed stated that they had experienced online abuse or harassment related to their professional work. 61% is a very high figure. Women who have experienced online abuse have reported being targeted with false information related to their gender, and they often say that they were not attacked because of their professional work, but because of their gender, while the personal aspect is always present as well,” Mulliqi said.

Journalist Ardiana Thaqi-Mehmeti said that this summer she had a new experience with online harassment, which she described as more serious than the first case.

“But this latest incident that happened to me this summer was perhaps more serious than the first one. The reason is that I was not prepared to face something like that—not because of fear, but because perhaps I had not dealt in time with the psychological impact, with what had happened inside me during the two years of dealing with the ‘AlbKings’ case, precisely because I am now the parent of two children and have a family that I will not even mention at press conferences,” Thaqi-Mehmeti said.

Aleksandra Jovanović, director of RTK2, said that the report included several ways in which pressure is exerted on female journalists.

“And today’s activity actually shows us that female journalists face online harassment, sexist insults, pressure and attempts at professional degradation,” she said.

Gynesh Veshall, an activist from the Roma community, said that offensive comments on social media are a phenomenon the community has faced for years. According to her, these cases require institutional measures and action.

“For several years now, as a community we have been facing offensive comments on social media, and we have continuously advocated for measures to be taken against such things. We have also had ongoing cooperation with the AGK… For several years now, as a community we have been facing insulting comments on social media, and we have continuously advocated for measures to be taken against such things. We have also had ongoing cooperation with the AGK,” Veshall said.

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A city can be selected in a matter of seconds, while the search can be filtered further by nationality, age, height, weight, hair and eye color, and even sexual preferences.

With just one click, users are shown dozens of profiles of women advertising escort services in Kosovo.

However, Kosovo authorities say that some of these accounts may not belong to women acting of their own free will, but to victims of human trafficking.

Radio Free Europe identified a large number of profiles of women from Latin American countries on a platform that the Kosovo Police has also flagged for the sale of sexual services.

The platform, which operates across Europe, claims that it has verified some of these profiles.

Zana Sadiku-Sertolli of the Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina told Radio Free Europe that people brought in from abroad, particularly from Latin American countries, are recruited through regular contracts.

“Those recruited from abroad, especially from Latin American countries, are recruited with regular contracts. They are registered as regular workers in Kosovo, with residence permits, and are provided with employment contracts,” she said.

According to Sadiku-Sertolli, who serves as coordinator for human trafficking offenses, this method of organization and recruitment has made it more difficult for the authorities to prosecute cases.

RFE asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the institution responsible for issuing work and residence permits to foreign nationals, for clarification about its strategies and policies to combat this phenomenon. No response was received even after three weeks.

Questions were also sent to the Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications regarding the escort platform, specifically whether any request had been made to block access to the website in Kosovo. ARKEP did not respond either.

In previous cases, ARKEP has ordered mobile operators and internet service providers to block the websites of sanctioned Russian media outlets in Kosovo. Meanwhile, many online betting platforms operating from abroad remain accessible in Kosovo, even though their services violate the law.

The Kosovo Police told RFE that it was monitoring suspicious websites, including the platform featuring women from Latin America, but stressed that “at this stage, we cannot provide any further information.”

In a report published last year, the police assessed that Kosovo “continues to remain a country of origin, transit and destination for trafficking victims.” The document also identifies the provision of sexual services through online escort websites as a new form of trafficking.

The report says that the victims are usually between the ages of 18 and 30 and arrive in an organized manner from countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru.

In 2024, a Peruvian national was arrested in Pristina on suspicion of being one of the organizers of this trafficking network.

RFE contacted the Special Prosecution Office for more details about the continuation of proceedings in this case but received no response.

Several months ago, Kallxo.com reported that it had obtained part of the investigation file. According to that portion of the file, the organizers are suspected of taking more than 50 percent of the trafficked women’s earnings and beating them if they failed to follow instructions.

Cases linked to the same platform have also been identified in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Prosecutor’s Office there told RFE that several Brazilian nationals who had been sexually exploited were identified during 2025 and 2026.

According to the office, the victims’ transportation and accommodation were arranged by an organized criminal group, while the proceeds were transferred to the organizers through cryptocurrencies. Brazilian authorities, Europol and Interpol have been involved in the investigation.

In Kosovo, legal cooperation with the countries from which victims originate has proved more complicated when Kosovo does not have diplomatic relations with the country of origin, according to prosecutor Sadiku-Sertolli.

“There are countries that do not recognize Kosovo, and a bilateral agreement must exist with the country from which the victim originates, because it must be assessed whether it would be safe for the victim to return there [or not],” she said.

However, Sadiku-Sertolli added that this obstacle is usually overcome through the Office for International Legal Cooperation, which operates within the Ministry of Justice.

The trafficking of women for sexual exploitation is not limited to the Western Balkans.

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, says that trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including cases involving women from Latin America, is carried out through criminal networks spanning several continents.

In June of this year, Europol, Interpol, Frontex and Ameripol coordinated an international operation against human trafficking. Kosovo’s authorities also took part.

The operation resulted in more than 1,000 arrests and the identification of a large number of victims from Latin America.

“During the operational phase, the participating countries carried out targeted law-enforcement actions, including intensified checks at hotspots such as borders and airports, as well as proactive investigations into ongoing cases requiring high-level operational cooperation,” Europol said in a response sent to RFE.

Kosovo is not mentioned on the list of countries where arrests were made.

Media outlets in Albania have also reported a situation similar to that in Kosovo, involving escorts from Latin American countries. However, Albanian state authorities did not respond to RFE’s questions on the matter.

Serbia has recorded an increase in the number of identified trafficking victims. However, the national rapporteur for such cases, Zoran Pashalliq, told RFE that there have so far been no data on victims from Latin America.

Unlike in Serbia, statistical data for Kosovo show that the number of identified trafficking victims has declined in recent years.

Although the statistics do not indicate how many of them were sexually exploited, the Kosovo Police considers this one of the most widespread forms of trafficking. It also acknowledges that the true number of victims is believed to be higher.

During this month, the Kosovo Police carried out an operation at massage parlors and nightlife venues with music, arresting several people.

However, those arrested were not suspected of human trafficking, but of the criminal offense of facilitating prostitution.

According to prosecutor Sadiku-Sertolli, the distinction between these offenses concerns a person’s freedom. Trafficking occurs when a victim is recruited, kept under control or forced to be exploited, while facilitating prostitution means organizing prostitution or profiting from it.

She said traffickers take care not to leave physical evidence. As a result, investigative bodies in Kosovo have difficulty obtaining evidence other than victims’ statements.

“Another challenge here is convincing the victim that they are a victim of trafficking,” Sadiku-Sertolli said, emphasizing that this difficulty is particularly evident among victims under the age of 18.

A Kosovo Police report shows that 42 victims in this age group were identified from 2021 through 2024. Eight of them were between the ages of 12 and 14, while most are believed to have been exploited for sexual services.

However, according to Sadiku-Sertolli, the lack of physical evidence left by traffickers is not the only obstacle to prosecution.

The prosecutor said interinstitutional cooperation is good, but some institutions continue to have limited capacities. She specifically cited staff shortages in social services and a lack of work equipment for police officers.

Data obtained by Radio Free Europe from the Kosovo Judicial Council show that only two prison sentences for human trafficking have been handed down over the past three years.

Under the Criminal Code, human trafficking is punishable by five to 12 years in prison. In the most serious cases, the sentence can be as severe as life imprisonment.

Kosovo’s sentencing policy is specifically criticized in the US State Department’s 2025 report on trafficking in persons.

It says that sentences below the minimum prescribed by law and “the imposition of fines as the sole punishment undermine efforts to hold traffickers accountable, weaken the deterrent effect, create potential concerns for victims’ safety and fail to reflect the seriousness of this criminal offense.”

The document also highlights another concern raised by prosecutor Sadiku-Sertolli: the lack of necessary expertise and training.

According to the report, most judges and prosecutors lack sufficient experience and training, particularly when cases involve the emotional or psychological control of victims. This can lead to more lenient sentences or cases being reclassified as criminal offenses carrying lighter penalties than human trafficking.

Radio Free Europe asked the Kosovo Judicial Council to explain the difficulties courts face when handling human trafficking cases and the measures being taken to strengthen judges’ capacities in this field. By the time the article was published, the Council had not responded. / RFE

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The Ministry of Labor, Family and Liberation War Values (MPFVLÇ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have formalized the Implementation Agreement for the “Economic Empowerment of Women (EEW)” project. The initiative aims to improve structural, individual and social conditions for women in Kosovo by expanding their access to the labor market and employment opportunities. Particular attention will be paid to women from rural areas and underrepresented groups.

The ministry announced that the project will help develop and improve employment services, strengthen institutional capacities, provide career guidance and deliver vocational training. It will also promote the implementation of active labor market policies with the aim of creating more opportunities for women to participate in economic life.

The project envisages close cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, Family and Liberation War Values and the Employment Agency of the Republic of Kosovo to support social enterprises. According to the announcement, a joint working group will be established and a needs assessment will be conducted. The findings of this assessment will serve as the basis for planning future activities in line with the project’s objectives and the available resources.

This agreement is part of the development cooperation between the Republic of Kosovo and the Federal Republic of Germany. It will be implemented within the framework of the agreements and arrangements reached between the two governments on economic and technical cooperation, reaffirming the close partnership between the two countries in support of Kosovo’s economic and social development.

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