Sexual Harassment in Kosovo

Graph 6. Percent of Women and Men Who Experienced Sexual Harassment in Their Lifetimes
% of Kosovars % of men % of women
Being forced to do something sexual that you didn’t
want to do
2.2%
1.7%
2.7%
Having a teacher touch you in a sexual way that made
you feel uncomfortable
2.4%
1.9%
3.0%
Being touched in an unwelcome sexual way
9.3%
9.6%
9.0%
Being shown sexy or sexual pictures that you did not
want to see
7.7%
7.9%
7.5%
Having someone flash or expose themselves to you
7.0%
8.7%
5.3%
Having someone post revealing photos of you on the
Internet
2.0%
2.6%
1.4%
Having someone make unwelcome sexual comments
or jokes about you on the internet
11.9%
12.8%
11.0%
Being called gay or lesbian in a negative way
3.4%
3.4%
3.5%
Having someone make unwelcome sexual comments,
jokes or gestures to or about you (including on the
street)
15.4%
31.6%
47.4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Even with assurances of confidentiality, few people report sexual violence. This is not only true
in Kosovo, but throughout the world. 81 Just because it is not reported to police or in social surveys,
does not mean that sexual violence does not exist. People may simply be afraid of reporting it or may
consider it a personal issue, even in instances when it constitutes a criminal offense. Only 2.2% of
survey respondents said that they had been forced to do something sexual that they did not want to
do at some point in their lifetimes (1.7% of men and 2.7% of women). 82
81 For example, in the United States it has been estimated that 68% of sexual assaults in a period of five years went
unreported (Rape Abuse Incest National Network - RAINN), Reporting Rates, at: https://rainn.org/getinformation/statistics/reporting-rates).
In the EU, “on average 6% of women disclosed having experienced sexual violence by
a person that was not a current or previous partner, ranging from 1% in Greece and Portugal to 12% in the Netherlands and
Sweden […] in the EU at least 11 million women have experienced sexual violence by a non-partner since the age of 15”
(European Institute for Gender Equality, Gender Equality Index 2015, Measuring gender equality in the European Union 2005-
2012, 2015, at: http://eige.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/mh0215616enn.pdf). If a higher percentage of persons
report suffering sexual violence this may mean that there is higher incidence. However, another interpretation is that people
(in the Netherlands and Sweden, for example), are more aware, sensitized to, and culturally willing to report sexual violence
compared to other people (in Greece or Portugal, for example).
82 For example, one respondent said she was deceived and then abused sexually at gunpoint in Prishtina (age 40, Gllogoc,
KWN survey, 2015). Later, she suffered violence from her husband as well. In another case, a 20-year-old man said he had
bad memories of two men harassing and “touching” him approximately two years ago (age 20, Prishtina, KWN Survey, 2015).
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