Kosovo adopted its first National Action Plan (NAP) in 2014 for the period 2013-2015. The NAP was developed by the Agency on Gender Equality in the Office of the Prime Minister in cooperation with the working group, which consisted of central governmental entities and civil society members, and with the support of UN Women and OHCHR. The NAP identifies its main objectives as the promotion and protection of women’s human rights as well as the recognition of the victims of the Kosovo War. Additionally, the NAP identifies three outcomes: increased participation of women in decision-making and peacekeeping and building processes; integrated gender perspectives in security affairs and increased women’s participation in the security structures; and improved access to protection, justice, rehabilitation, and reintegration for survivors of sexual violence, torture, and other forms of violence associated with conflict/war. Each outcome has a set of indicators, as well as a corresponding budget line for estimated costs, but the NAP does not specify how monitoring and evaluation will be carried out.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, although the international recognition of its sovereignty remains contentious. The most recent armed conflict in Kosovo’s history was the Kosovo War, which lasted from 1998 until 1999 and took place between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the Kosovo Liberation Army. Marking the end of a NATO intervention in Kosovo in 1999, the United Nations Security Council authorized the establishment of an international civil presence in Kosovo–United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The International Court of Justice ruled that the declaration of independence was in line with international law, and peace talks between Kosovo and Serbia began in 2011 where the EU acted as a mediator. Despite the war’s disproportionate gendered impacts, women in Kosovo continue to be underrepresented in high-level decision-making spaces related to peace and security.