Kosovo Police should encourage its employees who are victims of violations of human rights in the workplace to lodge appeals to the Ombudsperson, proposed Kosovar Centre for Security Policy (KCSS).
By Mateja Agatonović (BCSP)
One of the most important institutions tasked with oversight of the Kosovo Police (KP) in the area of respecting human rights is the institution of the Ombudsperson. During 2015, the Ombudsperson and KP intensified their collaboration through joint meetings of the heads of these two institutions. After these meetings, the Police issued an instruction that requires all police staff to communicate regularly with the Ombudsperson regarding timely access to KP’s data and information.
Even though high levels of cooperation exist, the Ombudsperson considers the mechanism of complaints as one of the most problematic in the KP in the area of human rights. The Ombudsperson did not receive any complaints by police officers regarding violation of their human rights in 2015 and has assessed that this might indicate potential discrimination of police personnel in their workplace. According to the Ombudsperson, the police personnel, similar to other public sector employees, are afraid to file complaints related to their human rights violation as they fear they may become victims of any revenge acts or may become the subject of various pressures, which may also result in their dismissal from their duties by their superiors.
This is why the KCSS proposed to the KP that they should encourage police officers and civilian staff who are victims of violations of human rights in the workplace to lodge appeals to the Ombudsperson.
In 2016 there were 80 complaints filed by citizens to the Ombudsperson, which constitutes less than 5% of all complaints processed by this institution. In the same year, Kosovo Police Inspectorate implemented two recommendations issued in reports for cases investigated by the Ombudsperson, while Kosovo Police implemented four out of five recommendations.
Other problems also exist: national and international mechanisms for human rights have raised concerns about the Police stepping over their authority during the protest in November 2015. The Ombudsperson has asked the Prosecutor’s Office to conduct criminal investigations into allegations of disproportionate use of force during the KP operation of 28 November 2015. However, this case is at the Prosecutor’s Office and the results of the Ombudsman’s petition failed to produce results.
Ombudsperson found that there were serious claims for violation of human rights by the Police on these protest, but has also assessed that the police officers had not exceeded their authority or behaved wrongly against protesters during any other protests.
In 2016, new changes in the legislation on the Ombudsperson regard this institution as a National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Ombudsperson was provided with authority to conduct inspections in all places where people are deprived of their freedom, such as prisons, customs detention, immigration detention or police stations.
One more of the major challenges for the KP, as is for any other public institutions in Kosovo, is the application of legal norms regarding gender equality. Since 2015 when the Law on Gender Equality was adopted, equal representation of both sexes in public institutions has become mandatory. The law explicitly states that “equitable gender representation in all legislative, executive and judicial and other public institutions is reached when a representation minimum of 50% of both sexes is reached, including their governing and decision-making bodies”.
Such special measure will be challenging to implement knowing there are huge discrepancies in terms of gender representation in the security sector in Kosovo. Just over 13% of all employees in KP are females, which makes it difficult to meet this standard. The law in question has been criticized by the Ombudsman, expressing the view that this provision should provide for a transitional period of up to five years to achieve the balance of gender representation in public institutions, including the KP.
A crucial element in the protection of human rights and freedoms at country’s national level remains inter-institutional collaboration. Ombudsperson seems to have enough expertise and levels of cooperation with state institutions, but challenges of implementing of its recommendations remain constant in Kosovo.
Civil society organizations
dedicated to oversight of police integrity.