Country Profile Kosovo

General Country Information

Summary

There is one national women’s helpline in Kosovo, which is free of charge and available 24/7. Ten women-only shelters offer 180 beds, and there is one shelter specialised in supporting survivors of trafficking in persons. There are three women’s centres in the country and no specialised services for survivors of sexualised violence. Public authorities collect data on primary prevention, and the National Strategy for Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women includes specific provisions on primary prevention. The state collects data on women’s specialist services, which is available upon request.

Women’s Specialist Services

There is one national women’s helpline in Kosovo, called Helpline Number (Numri i Linjës Ndihmëse, tel.: +383 80011112). It is available 24/7, free of charge and provides multilingual support in Albanian and Serbian. Therefore, the helpline is meeting the standards of the Istanbul Convention. The Office for Protection and Assistance to Victims runs the helpline, which is funded by the state. The helpline provides support to survivors of all forms of violence. In 2024, the most common forms of violence reported by callers were domestic violence, physical violence and sexualised violence

There are 10 women-only shelters in Kosovo, offering 180 beds. All shelters offer 24/7 access, and women are not expected to pay for their accommodation. On average, women stay in the shelters between three and six months, depending on their needs. The types of support offered include casework, counselling/psychological support, referrals/collaboration with other services, practical advice and legal advice.

While all shelters can accommodate women with children with disabilities and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18, most shelters can also be accessed by and are accessible to women with physical disabilities and older women. Some shelters can also accommodate homeless women, women with cognitive and sensory disabilities, and transgender women, while no shelters are equipped to support women with older sons.

Funding for women-only shelters comes from state funding, donations and international funding. Women’s NGOs run all shelters, which are located in all regions. If shelters had to decline referrals, the reason was that they were not adequately equipped for the needs of the women and children. The most common forms of violence reported by survivors in 2024 were domestic violence, psychological violence and technology-facilitated violence against women. In 2024, 596 women found support in the country’s shelters.

There is another shelter with 15 beds in Kosovo, which specifically supports women survivors of trafficking in persons; it is funded by the state and offers 24/7 access.

There are three women’s centres in Kosovo supporting women and girls survivors of gender-based violence. Additionally, women’s shelters also provide specialised services for women and girls. Women’s centres provide different forms of support, including counselling/psychological support, legal and housing advice, financial and social welfare support/advocacy, employment, referrals/collaboration with other services, representation at court and other institutions, and residential support services. Additionally, they also support survivors of sexualised violence with specialist psychological care, as well as specialist forensic and medical care in cooperation with other institutions.

In terms of accessibility, all centres can accommodate older women and unaccompanied minor girls, while access for women with disabilities cannot always be guaranteed. All centres are also specialised in supporting survivors (at risk) of forced marriage and of trafficking in persons, while half of the centres are specialised in supporting survivors with physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities, older women, girls under the age of 18 and transgender women. Women’s centres are run by women’s NGOs and receive funding from the state, donations, and international funding. They are located in all regions, and in 2024, they supported 800 women.

There are no specific services for survivors of sexualised violence in Kosovo. Women’s centres also provide support to survivors of sexualised violence through legal services, offering shelter and carrying out prevention activities.

In Kosovo, public authorities collect data related to primary prevention activities aimed at addressing gender-based violence. Kosovo has implemented the National Strategy for Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women (2022–2026), which includes a definition of primary prevention and outlines comprehensive measures for the prevention and response to gender-based violence, including provisions for data collection and monitoring of prevention activities at both national and local levels. At the local level, coordination mechanisms against domestic violence are responsible for implementing local action plans aligned with the national strategy, including activities related to primary prevention, such as awareness-raising campaigns and educational programmes. There is a specific budget allocated to primary prevention activities conducted in the country, which include empowerment activities for women and girls, school-based primary prevention programmes and awareness-raising campaigns and programmes.

In Kosovo, evaluations of the impact of primary prevention activities related to violence against women and girls are primarily carried out by civil society organisations rather than public authorities. For instance, several women’s organisations, such as the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) and the Centre for Information, Criticism and Action (QIKA), actively monitor and evaluate their own primary prevention programmes. These evaluations often focus on awareness-raising campaigns, empowerment initiatives, and educational workshops, assessing changes in public attitudes, knowledge about gender-based violence, and participation rates. However, these evaluations are usually funded by the NGOs themselves or supported by international donors. Public authorities in Kosovo currently do not have a comprehensive, government-funded evaluation framework specifically for primary prevention activities. While the National Strategy emphasises prevention and coordination, systematic impact assessments financed and conducted by the government are still lacking. Some NGOs focus exclusively or predominantly on primary prevention, including advocacy, education, and community mobilisation. These organisations tend to report qualitative results and case studies, but often lack resources for large-scale quantitative impact evaluations.

1. The latest available Eurostat population data for Kosovo is from 2022. ↩︎
2. Ibid. ↩︎
3. CEDAW was signed while Kosovo was still part of former Yugoslavia, in July 1980, and ratified in February 1982. Art. 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo includes CEDAW in the International Agreements and Instruments with direct applicability in the Republic of Kosovo and, in the case of conflict, have priority over provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions. ↩︎
4. Art. 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo includes the Istanbul Convention in the International Agreements and Instruments with direct applicability in the Republic of Kosovo and, in the case of conflict, have priority over provisions of laws and other acts of public institutions. ↩︎