By Viktoria Kaffanke
Longer than a week back and I have still not had
enough time to reflect and take in all the new experiences made in Kosovo!
Kosovo was a time filled with many interesting
encounters which had the effect that even though we gained more information and
insights into the situation in Kosovo, paradoxically all of it seemed more
complex.
Together with Anette I worked on a project to
understand the situation of the LGBT+ community in Kosovo more. Our project was
to create a sort of ‘Beginner’s guide’ to queer Kosovo. It
consists of blog posts on various topics: the differences between the
constitution and family in regards to marriage, the annual report of 2017 of
the Ombudsman institute, pink washing in Kosovar politics, introduction to non-governmental
organisations in Kosovo who work on LGBT+ rights, introduction to the nightlife in
Pristina, summaries and commentaries on one movie and one documentary that
depict some of the issues the LGBT+ community faces in Kosovo, and a selection
of quotes from interviews we had with individuals all around the country.
Even
though we spent 10 days learning more about the situation, I cannot say that I
am an expert in queer life in Kosovo. The project had the main goal to start
understanding what life is like in Kosovo and the articles should not at all be
seen as having complete authority. We were there for only 10 days, not more and
not less and thus, if you are particularly interested in the topic, I suggest
getting in contact with some NGOs in Kosovo that work on LGBT+ rights. That
being said Anette and I decided not to publish our blog posts as LGBT+ rights
are still a very sensitive topic in Kosovo and thus, we do not know the
consequences our articles would have.
But I can share what my main impression
of the situation is: there does not seem a lot of attention paid to the LGBT+
community and its rights. Some people are strongly against the LGBT+s while
others say their friends are out of the closet and have no problem. Most NGOs
and IOs (international organisations) tend to focus on other human rights, for
example right to education and women’s rights. Many, when asked about the
situation for the LGBT+ community in Kosovo, point to the Pride Parade, without mentioning the catalyst for action towards more rights it is meant to spark. Even
though it did not seem a big discussion point in Kosovar society, we got such a
diversity of opinions and statements that any conclusion or main impression is
necessarily generalized to cut through the complexity in a way.
In light of the project, I learnt that the laws of a
country do not necessarily reflect the situation and that the implementation is
equally important to having progressive laws. For example, in the case of Kosovo, the analysis of the Ombudsman on legislation regarding issues that the
LGBT+ often faces, e.g. marriage, hate crime etc., is in accordance with the
European Court of Human Rights and progressive, but the implementation of
these laws is not ideal. For example, the police report might not take into
account that a violent attack was due to sexual harassment and thus, it is
‘merely’ classed as a violent attack and not a hate crime on the ground of
sexual orientation. This is one of the main things I learned during my time in
Kosovo.
This entire trip and particularly this project changed
how I look at countries and what I think about when I consider them. During the
trip, we talked extensively of the role and position of minorities in Kosovo.
And I find this is something super interesting and I would like to learn more
about how the situation for minorities is in the Netherlands or Germany.
Obviously growing up in Germany, I do know something about minorities in
Germany, but it seems very superficial and in need for deepening.
With this in mind, I wish you all the best reading all
the other posts and that you have a great summer.
Best wishes,
Viktoria
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