09 December 2008

Pristina, Kosovo: "All human beings are born free and equal," reads the opening line of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, even with a new legislature emerging, the rights of women still need upholding in Kosovo. A UNV volunteer has been helping to uphold women's rights in Kosovo by assisting policymakers develop institutions and building their confidence to put legislation into effect.

Romanian national Bianca Jinga served for over a year as a UNV volunteer External Relations Reporting Officer with the Office of Gender Affairs (OGA), part of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) established pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). She currently works with UNMIK as a UNV volunteer Political Affairs Officer.

Ms. Jinga explains that though the legal framework in Kosovo is progressing, the status of women is still a "diffuse problem". "There's a distance between the law and people's actual customs and habits," she continues. "Like Janus, there's a progressive legal face, but a hidden reality on the other side."

Though women in Kosovo have the right to education and work and are entitled to inherit property, their families or the families of their husbands sometimes restrict them from actually doing so. When women are held back from their rights to earn income, a cycle emerges which makes it extremely hard for them to escape abusive households and other situations. Even if they do leave, they risk being separated from their children and face social exclusion.

Bianca Jinga's work with OGA meant helping the emergent Kosovo administration put mechanisms in place to deal with these and other human rights issues more effectively. Her role involved monitoring the drafting of the Kosovo Action Plan for Gender Equality and helping to coordinate the various actors involved in drafting the initial Kosovo report under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW is an agreement often described as "an international bill of rights for women".

Along with the UN police gender focal point, she also worked closely with the fledgling Kosovo police to ensure that human rights and gender issues such as domestic violence were included in the police cadet curriculum.

Working alongside both UNMIK and the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Ms. Jinga says a key aspect of her work with OGA was to ensure local ownership in the shape of the newly created  Agency for Gender Equality, part of the Kosovo Prime Minister’s Office.

"It is working slowly, but making progress," she says. "When the CEDAW report we worked on is ready, this accomplishment will give the Agency the confidence to take more initiative in the future."

With the assistance of UNV volunteer Bianca Jinga and her colleagues, the Agency for Gender Equality is expected to be able to deal effectively with Kosovo's women's rights issues and put equality laws into practice.  "UNMIK has transferred responsibility for promoting gender equality in Kosovo." she remarks. "The Agency staff are beginning to see results now, having their own ideas and becoming more assertive."