Around 70 lawyers from Pristina region, licensed by the Kosovo Bar Association (KBA) attended the second training in capital Pristina conducted by the EUKOJUST Project Long-Term Expert for Public Legal Education/Domestic Violence and Marginalized Groups, Bardhë Krasniqi. With this training, the cycle of training of lawyers on this important segment of human rights is completed, from which more than 500 lawyers from all parts of Kosovo have benefited.
The training “The role of lawyers in representing victims of domestic violence”, which was previously held in all major Kosovo towns, Peja, Gjakova, Prizren, Ferizaj, Gjilan, and Mitrovica, aims to develop the soft skills of lawyers to understand the dynamics of domestic violence situations. The training was organized under the umbrella of the KBA as part of the continuing legal education program.
In this last training held on 15 July 2023 in Pristina, Expert Krasniqi discussed in length with lawyers the need to implement human rights standards deriving from the Istanbul Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the European Convention on Human Rights and the use of the case law of the European Court for Human Rights in the jurisprudence of Kosovo and new cases from the case law of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo and the new standards foreseen in the new Code of Criminal Procedure which has started to be implemented a few months ago.
The training aimed at increasing the standard of practice for lawyers dealing with domestic violence cases, and those dealing with other general cases, by equipping them with the necessary tools to deal with domestic violence or to screen for domestic abuse and to provide appropriate legal advice when domestic violence is identified as a problem.
The participants positively evaluated the training, too, from which they benefited both from a professional point of view and from the trainer’s good experience, and they were all given certificates. The training was organized within the specific objective of the EUKOJUST project to strengthen access to justice for all citizens in Kosovo, especially in the field of domestic violence and vulnerable or marginalized groups.
