After the recently published Public Call of the Office of Communities Affairs
(Financial support to NGO projects/programs for raising the level of employment of
members of non-majority communities, media that contribute to the protection and
improvement of the rights and interests of non-majority communities in Kosovo, as
well as non-governmental organizations that contribute to cultural activities that
promote culture, tradition, language, cultural heritage, and the identity of
community members) and consequently, the decision which was made by the
Commission regarding the abovementioned Public Call we announce the following:
– Decision on allocation of funds to non-governmental organizations and media,
published on July 10 on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, Office of
Community Affairs violated procedural and administrative fundamentals, which
implemented institutional discrimination, showed non-transparency, and ignoring the
obligations of institutions to respect the rights of non-majority communities.
– We point out the law enforcement inconsistency, which harmed the organizations
of non-majority communities. Namely, on the preliminary list published on the
website of the Prime Minister’s Office, most organizations come from the Albanian
community, who do not meet the criteria stated in Public Call.
– We especially emphasize that with the published list, the Government continues to
show the tendency to disobey the laws that regulate respect for the rights of non-majority
communities, and thus the rights of citizens of Serbian nationality, while constantly
applying an exclusive attitude towards citizens and civil society organizations and
the media from the Serbian community.
– And while the projects that are financed from the budget, which is published by
the Office of Community Affairs should, as stated in the “Public Call – give
priority to non-governmental organizations/media that not only work for the
community, and which have a basis in the community”, it is obvious that this is the
case an omission was made, resulting in the avoiding of the non-majority
community.
– At the same time, we draw attention to the fact of poor public communication with
members of non-majority communities, and the lack of efforts to make the Public
The call and the results of the competition are visible and accessible to everyone.
– The composition of the project evaluation committee members is also
questionable.
A number of open questions remain behind the latest decision of the Office of
Community Affairs, but one thing is clear – we are witnessing the violation of the law
(Financial support to NGO projects/programs for raising the level of employment of
members of non-majority communities, media that contribute to the protection and
improvement of the rights and interests of non-majority communities in Kosovo, as
well as non-governmental organizations that contribute to cultural activities that
promote culture, tradition, language, cultural heritage, and the identity of
community members) and consequently, the decision which was made by the
Commission regarding the abovementioned Public Call we announce the following:
– Decision on allocation of funds to non-governmental organizations and media,
published on July 10 on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, Office of
Community Affairs violated procedural and administrative fundamentals, which
implemented institutional discrimination, showed non-transparency, and ignoring the
obligations of institutions to respect the rights of non-majority communities.
– We point out the law enforcement inconsistency, which harmed the organizations
of non-majority communities. Namely, on the preliminary list published on the
website of the Prime Minister’s Office, most organizations come from the Albanian
community, who do not meet the criteria stated in Public Call.
– We especially emphasize that with the published list, the Government continues to
show the tendency to disobey the laws that regulate respect for the rights of non-majority
communities, and thus the rights of citizens of Serbian nationality, while constantly
applying an exclusive attitude towards citizens and civil society organizations and
the media from the Serbian community.
– And while the projects that are financed from the budget, which is published by
the Office of Community Affairs should, as stated in the “Public Call – give
priority to non-governmental organizations/media that not only work for the
community, and which have a basis in the community”, it is obvious that this is the
case an omission was made, resulting in the avoiding of the non-majority
community.
– At the same time, we draw attention to the fact of poor public communication with
members of non-majority communities, and the lack of efforts to make the Public
The call and the results of the competition are visible and accessible to everyone.
– The composition of the project evaluation committee members is also
questionable.
A number of open questions remain behind the latest decision of the Office of
Community Affairs, but one thing is clear – we are witnessing the violation of the law
and deepening the already large gap between the institutions of Kosovo and the citizens
of Serbian nationality in Kosovo. Bearing in mind the above, we call on the
The government of Kosovo to annul the results of this Public Call and announce a new
one, which will demonstrate the ability to indiscriminately respect the law and
citizens from non-majority communities whose rights are often not respected.
The government of Kosovo to annul the results of this Public Call and announce a new
one, which will demonstrate the ability to indiscriminately respect the law and
citizens from non-majority communities whose rights are often not respected.
Signatories:
1. Aktiv
2. Centar za mir i toleranciju
3. Etno izvor
4. Humani centar Mitrovica
5. Komunikacija za razvoj društva – CSD
6. Medija centar
7. NEW PRESS produkcija
8. Nova društvena inicijativa – NSI
9. Omladinska parteška aktivnost
10. RTV KIM
11. Udruženje poslovnih žena „Avenija“
