On September 4th, the mayor of Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North, Goran Rakić, announced that the Kosovo police and EULEX had informed him of an assassination plot directed at him. The police allegedly have arrested one member of the Kosovo Albanian community involved in the plot. There is now a police car stationed outside the house of the mayor. Mayor Rakić stated that he has full confidence in the Kosovo police to properly handle the situation.

In a separate, unrelated, incident on August 28th, one Kosovo Albanian man was shot and killed, while two others were injured, near Kolloverga/Koshtova, a Kosovo Albanian village close to the Serb-majority municipality of Zubin Potok. One of the victims reported that the shooting was initiated by a man wearing a Serbian army uniform. This incident occurred the day after a member of the Serbian special police unit, the Gendarmerie, was shot and killed near the Kosovo-Serbia border.

Since February 2014, ECMI Kosovo has worked to reinforce the economic attractiveness and promote local tourism and agriculture in the Serb-majority municipalities of Gračanica/Graçanicë, Novo Brdo/Novobërdë, Klokot/Kllokot, Parteš/Partesh, Ranilug/Ranillug and Štrpce/Shtërpcë, through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finlandfunded project ‘Towards Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for All Newly-established Municipalities in Kosovo (TSIGAN)’. To achieve these goals, ECMI Kosovo has been committed, on the one hand, to strengthening the existing structures that promote tourism and agriculture in some municipalities and, on the other hand, creating the necessary conditions required for their establishment in the municipalities where they are not yet present.

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This legal handbook provides an overview and assessment of the central and local-level legal framework in the five newly-established municipalities of Gračanica/Graçanicë, Klokot/Kllokot, Novo Brdo/Novobërdë, Parteš /Partesh, and Ranilug /Ranillug, related to local economic development; land use and expropriation; registration, inspection and taxation of private enterprises; and issues related to publicly-owned enterprises, public property and public services.

Today, on Human Rights Day, the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) Kosovo would like to reiterate its unwavering support for the advancement of human rights and minority rights in Kosovo. An organisation dedicated to fighting for the human rights of all citizens, particularly those belonging to minority communities, ECMI Kosovo would also like to call on government institutions and the international community to strengthen their efforts to respect, protect and fulfill human rights in Kosovo.

From 3 to 6 December, ECMI Kosovo organised a media training for fourteen civil society activists from northern Kosovo, originating from seven different civil society organisations. The training session took place in Strpce/Shtërpcë and was delivered by Violeta Matovic, from Radio Kontakt Plus. It focused on issues such as: press releases, interviews, public statements, and social networks. This training was supported by the Finnish Embassy in Prishtinë/Pristina.

On Wednesday 4 December, ECMI Kosovo in partnership with NRAEWOK held the Conference on the Economic Empowerment of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women in Kosovo. The aim of the conference was to present the report which advocates for increased support to Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women’s self-entrepreneurship. The event saw the participation of officials from key central and local-level government institutions, civil society organisations, business associations, donors and beneficiaries.
This activity was conducted in the framework of the project ‘Promoting the Economic Empowerment of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women,’ supported by UN Women, UNDP and the EU.