Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (S/2015/303).
Code: S/2015/303 [1]
Period of time and topic: UNMIK’s mandate implementation from 16 January to 15 April 2015
Women, Peace and Security
The report’s consideration of the women, peace and security agenda, while brief, was fairly balanced between participation and protection. In regard to women’s participation, the report mentioned the Agency for Gender Equality of the Office of the Prime Minister completed a study on the participation, role and position of women in central and local institutions and political parties, with the support of UN Women as part of Kosovo’s NAP, which recommended improving the participation of women at the decision-making level.[1] The Agency also hosted a round table discussion on women’s property rights on International Women’s Day to increase the low regional rate of 8% women’s property ownership.[2] UNMIK, further, organized a televised discussion on women and entrepreneurship, with both Albanian and Serb women, which highlighted women’s concerns on corruption, difficulties in accessing financial credit and achieving property ownership, and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit among women.[3] In regard to women’s protection, the government extended the national council for the survivors of sexual violence, which supports the March 2014 amendments to the Law on the Status and the Rights of the Martyrs, Invalids, Veterans, Members of Kosovo Liberation Army, Sexual Violence Victims of the War, Civilian Victims and Their Families.[4] The report also mentioned the sentencing of a defendant for sexual abuse of persons under the age of 16, attempted facilitation of prostitution, attempted sexual assault and rape.[5]
References in need of improvement
Overall, the references to the women, peace and security agenda could have improved by including more detailed information, including gaps, challenges and next steps towards the full integration of a gender lens. The study on women’s participation in institutions and political parties could have been stronger by including women and women’s civil society organizations in the design and implementation of the study to ensure it highlighted issues of women’s participation that women wanted studied and protected and promoted women’s rights and concerns throughout the process and in the final document, including a gender lens in state authority processes.[6] The round table discussion on women’s property rights would have been stronger if it had included women and women’s civil society organizations its design to raise women’s concerns regarding property ownership, made sure the participants in the discussion were representative of women in Kosovo, and aimed to include a gender lens in the implementation of the draft administrative instruction to ensure registering property in the names of both spouses met the needs of women and respected their rights.[7] The reporting on the discussion on women in entrepreneurship did a slightly better job of including an ethnically representative group of women and highlighting women’s concerns but should have gone further by including if the group of women in the discussion were economically representative of women in Kosovo and included women and women’s civil society organizations in the design and implementation of the televised discussion to ensure it promoted women’s human rights and was accessible to its designated audience.[8]
In regard to sexual violence, while the extension of the national council for the survivors of sexual violence had the potential to be a positive development for survivors, the report could have been stronger by including how the council consults with women and women’s civil society organizations to protect the rights and address the needs of survivors and how the council planned to address stigmatization and include a gender lens in the implementation of the amendments, including through the verification process to receive benefits[2] [3] and including men in sexual violence responses.[9] The name of the amendment, additionally, could have been stronger by changing victims to survivors.[10] The reporting on the case of sexual and gender-based violence sentencing could also have been stronger by including reporting on the broader context of the situation of SGBV in Kosovo, including addressing impunity as a preventative measure and protecting the rights of survivors, witnesses, and women and girls in judicial processes through the participation of women and women’s civil society organizations.[11]
Missed Opportunities
As resolution 2144 (1999) contained no references to the women, peace and security agenda, the report did not miss any opportunities to respond to its WPS mandate.
Ideal Asks for WPS Transformation
The report should be improved with an explicit reference to and analysis of all genders, emphasizing diverse masculinities and femininities, including the dynamics between and among genders as well as the power relations and hierarchies at play, and the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, and age across all political, peace, and security processes.
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[1] S/2015/303 para. 40
[2] S/2015/303 para. 40
[3] S/2015/303 para. 40
[4] S/2015/303 para. 41
[5] S/2015/303 Annex I (2)(2.3)
[6] S/2015/303 para. 40
[7] S/2015/303 para. 40
[8] S/2015/303 para. 40
[9] S/2015/303 para. 41
[10] S/2015/303 para. 41
[11] S/2015/303 Annex I (2)(2.3)