By Hareem Ali
Welcome to the first student blog post for Peace Lab Kosovo June 2021! Although unfortunately we cannot physically visit Kosovo this time again, Anne and Nini Pieters (AUC alum helping coordinate the course) have managed to make the most out of the situation and given us a feeling for Kosovo from Amsterdam. We began by diving straight into Kosovo’s history, culture, and people for the first week of the course to prepare for the following two weeks of our virtual field trip to Kosovo.
On Tuesday, 8th June with both nervousness and anticipation, we began our first planned meeting with the Executive Director of the Kosovo Women’s Network, Igballe Rogova, known as Igo. Igo was just as funny and a great storyteller as Anne introduced her to be. Having been an activist on women’s issues for three decades, Igo’s journey began close to home. As she recalled and shared her childhood with us, we got to know her motivation behind starting the Women’s Network. She talked about growing up with her sister in a family that encouraged freedom and female empowerment, which a lot of women in Kosovo were not used to at the time. But the moment that really convinced for her to initiate the Network was the day she and her sister visited the outskirts of Pristina. Not too far away from home they met women who were illiterate. At that moment she thought to herself how being deprived of such a basic human right to read and write – the right she herself and her sister had – was unacceptable. From that point on, Igo has been doing amazing things, working with various organizations and six programs to further strengthen the feminist movement in Kosovo. In this way, she involves not only young girls and women, but also believes in working closely with young boys and men who are vital agents for change.
As the meeting progressed, I found myself relating the circumstances and difficulties of women in Kosovo to the circumstances and stories of women in Pakistan, my home country. Igo mentioned how at the time after the war, when the UN mission came to Kosovo and began pushing women away from taking part in the political narrative, they were also being told that Muslim women cannot be political or feminist, as it goes against their religion. Women in Pakistan too are bombarded with such misinformed opinions, threatened, and discouraged to take part in empowering positions and political narratives. They too are told their place is limited to the household. Therefore, in some ways – if not all – I could feel and relate to the frustration and struggle of women in Kosovo and those who are allies and fight alongside them for their rights.
After a wonderful start to our virtual tour, we also met with the Executive Director at Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) Kosovo, Marigona Shabiu. Marigona started off talking about how the organization which was first founded in 2003 in Belgrade, then in 2004 opened an office in Pristina as well. The program works on building connections between young people across the Balkans, especially the minority groups. In doing so, YIHR stresses the importance of youth participation in peace building as it enhances their participation in the transitional justice process – a concept we learnt in our first week of class - working together for human rights and preventing the emergence of ethnic conflicts as it happened in the past.
In dealing with youth empowerment in Kosovo, Marigona mentioned that there is special attention given to bringing together young people from both Albanian and Serbian communities so they can learn together and from each other. Participants get to visit different memorials, talk about the causes that led to violence and conflict, and overall are given a first-hand experience. In this case, differences in language are used as a way of bringing both groups together, rather than letting it become a barrier. Following this information, when asked about how YIHR deals with setting a balance between educating young people about the conflict and violence but also doing it in a way that is not overwhelming or traumatizing, we learned about the necessary and well-thought-out psychological support systems, guidelines, precautions, and debriefings that are made available to all participants, especially to those who have lived through conflict.
Towards the end of the meeting, students from the course got the chance to ask interesting questions. And since we wanted to keep the conversation going, Marigona very generously spent an extra fifteen minutes with us, talking about her journey to becoming an Executive Director. Moreover, the offer was made by one of our AUC students--from Rwanda--to get in touch with YIHR in order to exchange information, successful strategies and methods between youth peacebuilders in Rwanda and Kosovo.
Overall, we all learned a great deal from experts in their work and we are grateful they took the time out from their busy schedules to meet with us. Looking forward to the remaining meetings!
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