Kosovar women fight patriarchy - 20 years after the war

The art installation Thinking Of You, by the Kosovan-born, London-based artist Alketa Mrripa-Xhafa, in Pristina, Kosova – 2015. Photograph: Hazir Reka/Reuters

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This month, 20 years ago, the 1988-89 Kosovo war ended. It was a particularly brutal conflict that led to allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity, and the controversial involvement and bombings from NATO. During that war, 90 per cent of the population was displaced and some 20,000 women and girls were systematically raped - a crime that was used as a weapon of "ethnic cleansing."

In this predominantly traditional ethnic Albanian country, the rape’s stigma is so strong that many women have never talked about what happened to them during the war and never sought help. Some of their husbands have left them, unable to endure the shame.

Two decades later and despite years of international supervision that was supposed to bring gender equality, rates of sexual assault and domestic violence remain worryingly high. In a 2015 survey, 68% of women reported that they had suffered from domestic violence at one point in their lives.

In Europe’s newest country (which declared independence from Serbia in 2008), women struggle every day for social and economic equality in a rigid patriarchal society where men have the final say in all family matters and women are left with very limited access to education, health, property, protection and job opportunities. More than three quarters of women don’t have jobs - Kosovar women have the lowest employment rates and education levels in all Europe. Many have been widowed during the war and placed in the role of primary provider for their families, but without access to skills and resources, they are unable to make ends meet.

But many are fighting back.  Some have formed associations that give women the tools and resources they need to rebuild their lives and their communities, while others have run for office.  Others yet have launched small business, like Zarie Malsiu, from Kacanik municipality, a mother of five who married young and dropped out of school, like many young women at that time. After the war, she enrolled in a training for social and economic empowerment run by local NGO Kosova – Women for Women. She has formed her own agriculture association, collecting and selling medicinal and aromatic herbs and forest fruits. Her organization now counts 100 women. Kosova – Women for Women, a local independent organization affiliated to Women for Women International, has trained over 33,000 women in over 30 communities across the country, in life and vocational skills and rights awareness.

Women have also fought for justice and campaigned for women’s rights.

Among them is the amazing Dr Feride Rushiti, a physician who is the executive director of the Kosovo Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims in Pristina. Through almost two decades of research and advocacy, she has secured access to healthcare and justice for civilian victims of war. In 2017, her campaigning work led to a landmark government decision to fund pensions for Kosovo’s victims of wartime sexual violence. And now, after many years of silence, hundreds of survivors have started to come forward.

Kosovar women’s braided stories show the enormous challenges women still face in the country, but also how they have managed to become self sufficient and obtain recognition and reparation - and the impact it has on themselves, their families, communities and the next generations.

I wanted to report this story with Arben Llapashtica, a brilliant photographer based in Pristina, as well as a cameraman and documentary filmmaker, but sadly we couldn’t get a commission. If you know a publication that might be interested, please let us know.

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Britons amongst most supportive of refugees’ right to seek asylum

Contrary to what many might believe, British people are among the most supportive of the fundamental right of refugees to seek refuge – including in their own country - to escape war or persecution. Seven in ten (72%) agree that people should have this right (compared with 61% globally), according to a new Ipsos global study. These findings are rather heart-warming in the actual political landscape where immigration has been such a loaded issue.

The study, conducted to mark World Refugee Day, finds that a majority across 26 countries believes that people should have the right to seek refuge – including in their own country - from war or persecution.  Those in Latin American countries are more likely to agree (Argentine 74%, Chile 73% and Peru 70%) than those in Europe (Hungary and France 43%, Belgium 50% and Germany.)

However, the survey, conducted online among adults aged under 74, finds that broader opinions towards refugees still include some negative attitudes, and there are some signs that they could even be hardening compared with two years ago, although this is less the case in Britain. 

Kully Kaur-Ballagan, Research Director at Ipsos MORI says: “These findings show that Brits are very compassionate about people’s fundamental right to seek refuge from war and persecution and they are among the least likely globally to want to close the borders to refugees.  However, in practice there is widespread concern about people taking advantage of the system and the public remains relatively divided over the extent to which refugees will successfully integrate into their new society.” 

It is clear that countries’ policies and the number of refugees arriving in each country have a direct impact on people’s perceptions, but I am wondering whether the media are also playing an important role in molding people's attitudes?

Half of Brits are skeptical that many refugees are genuine. Those most likely to doubt the authenticity of refugees coming into their country are in India (70%), Turkey (69%) and South Africa (66%), while those among the least likely to question whether refugees are genuine are in Canada (45%) Spain (45%), Brazil (40%).

Brits are relatively divided over whether refugees will integrate successfully into their new society; 45% agree they will integrate compared with 38% who disagree.  Countries that are most optimistic about refugees successfully integrating into their new society are India (68%), Argentina (58%) and Saudi Arabia (55%).  Those most likely to disagree that refugees will successfully integrate are in South Korea (67%), Sweden (64%) and Turkey (63%).

Brits are also more positive about welcoming in refugees than the global average with just over half of Britons (54%) disagreeing that the country’s borders should be closed to refugees (46% globally) compared with a third (33%) who think that borders should be closed at this time (40%).  These figures have seen little change since 2017.

Countries where views have hardened most about closing their borders since 2017 include Mexico and Peru, which have both seen an increase in people seeking asylum from neighbouring countries according to UNHCR.  In Serbia agreement has also increased 13 points from 38% to 51%. In contrast, the desire to see their borders closed has fallen in Hungary (down 17 points from 61% to 44%) and Poland (down 6 points from 45% to 39%) – perhaps reflecting the hard-line stance the Polish and Hungarian governments have taken on restricting entry to refugees.

Emma Harrison, CEO, IMiX – migration communications hub says: 

“We know Britain welcomes refugees because every day we hear stories of kindness and of welcome. Concerns about integration are real but they could easily be resolved by government investment in English lessons for new arrivals and enabling people to work while their asylum claim is being processed.

“More than anything, refugees want to build a new life for themselves and their families - having made their perilous journey here and having lost so much already. We also know that people don’t make the decision to leave their home lightly -far from it. These decisions are made when the bombs are dropping on your city, when soldiers are storming your hospitals and schools, when you are being persecuted because of your sexuality or your beliefs.  When you are not safe in your own home it makes sense to move – and here in Britain we respond more often than not with friendship and compassion.”

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