Sexual Harassment in Kosovo

INTRODUCTION
Sexual harassment remains a fairly new concept in Kosovo. In 2014, a small action to “Take Back
the Night” surprised women’s rights activists by igniting heated debate on social media. Stories
emerged from the shadows. Youth called for reform. Other youth suggested there was much ado
about nothing. Activists realized that little data existed in Kosovo regarding citizens’ awareness about
and the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. A 2010 study by the Kosovo Gender Studies Centre
(KGSC) looked at sexual harassment among civil servants. However, no data was available beyond
public institutions, such as related to street harassment or sexual harassment at school. No other
known research had dealt with this issue.
Debate surrounding the “Take Back the Night Campaign” strengthened KWN’s convictions that
there was a great need to measure citizen awareness and attitudes, as well as the incidence of sexual
harassment in Kosovo. This research aims to address the dearth of data about sexual harassment in
Kosovo. It also seeks to monitor implementation of the relevant legal framework by the public
institutions responsible. More specifically, KWN set out to answer the following research questions:
1. What is the incidence of sexual harassment in the street, at work, and in university environs?
2. What is the extent of Kosovo citizens’ knowledge regarding their rights pertaining to sexual
harassment?
3. What are Kosovo citizens’ attitudes towards sexual harassment?
4. What is the institutional response to sexual harassment?
In this report, KWN takes a holistic approach to examining sexual harassment. While attending
to legal definitions of harassment in accordance with Kosovo law, sexual harassment also can be
understood more broadly as a form of sexual violence. Further, different forms of sexual violence can
be interrelated. For example, sexual harassment can be part of and/or lead to other forms of sexual
violence such as sexual assault or rape. Sexual violence can involve physical as well as psychological
violence. In order to take a holistic approach to understanding sexual harassment, as well as to address
the absolute dearth of information related to the extent of rape and other forms of sexual violence in
Kosovo, KWN looks briefly into other forms of sexual violence beyond sexual harassment in this
report, including rape and sexual assault.
Research Methods
This study is part of a broader research that KWN conducted starting in early February 2015
with the purpose of measuring the pervasiveness of two forms of gender based violence: domestic
violence and sexual harassment. 1 The research involved mixed methods including a review of the legal
framework to identify remaining gaps in the legal outface and its implementation; a review of statistical
data gathered from relevant institutions; and a survey of 1,315 Kosovars (51% women and 49% men)
to measure awareness, attitudes, and incidence of sexual harassment. The survey was conducted in
both rural (59.2%) and urban (40.8%) areas . All ethnic groups were represented using Multistage
Random Sampling Method. The research also involved interviews with approximately 200 different
representatives of institutions and civil society. This research received generous support from the
Austrian Development Agency with significant in-kind contributions from several dedicated individuals.
For further information about the research methodology, please see Annex 1.
1 Last year KWN published the first report resulting from this research, which focused on domestic violence: KWN, No More
Excuses, An Analysis of Attitudes, Incidence, and Institutional Responses to Domestic Violence in Kosovo, Prishtina: KWN,
2015, at: http://www.womensnetwork.org/documents/20151124105025622.pdf.
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