International connections in the fight against femicide
The call of ‘not one more’ echoes from Kosovo to Mexico.
In April 2024, after two femicides in the preceding week, President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani declared a day of mourning “in remembrance of all the women and girls murdered in Kosovo as a result of gender-based violence.” Protesters and human rights groups in Prishtina and other cities called for justice for the two women, all those who have been killed and those who could be.
Members of Kosovo-based human rights groups, including Leonida Molliqaj, Executive Director of the Center for Information, Critique and Action (QIKA) advocacy group, have repeatedly voiced concerns about the number of underreported cases of gender-based violence and femicide. Women in Kosovo who experience forms of gender-based violence have little confidence in the authorities, given the constant lack of accountability for offenders.
A 2023 Amnesty International report concluded that women in Kosovo who turn to the police in cases of economic, psychological and physical abuse are often not taken seriously and, in some instances, even encouraged not to report them. The report featured several interviews with survivors of domestic abuse and examined their interactions with the local police. One woman from North Mitrovica recalled that the police “told me there is no such thing [as economic abuse]. They also said that my husband had the right to deny me financial support because he was the one working and making money in the family.”
Kosovar authorities’ inability to protect women who report cases of abuse leaves women with no other option but to demand justice and safety through protests and consistent advocacy.
Another woman from Prishtina explained that when she went to the police with visible evidence of physical abuse, they were supportive and provided her with resources. However, when she had called authorities from her bathroom as she was hiding from her husband’s violence, she was told that she “should solve these problems [herself]” and that she should not “call the police for everything.”
Kosovar authorities’ inability to protect women who report cases of abuse leaves women with no other option but to demand justice and safety through protests and consistent advocacy. Movements against gender-based violence in Kosovo echo the messages spread by protests organized by women across Latin America since the early 2010s.
Ni una menos
Thousands of women took to the streets of Argentina in 2015 in response to the murder of a 14-year-old girl by her boyfriend. Protesters carried signs that read “Ni una menos” — “not one less” — to draw attention to repeated cases of femicide unacknowledged by local authorities. The phrase appeared at protests, became a prominent social media hashtag and ultimately became a collective symbol of feminists across Latin America, from Argentina to Mexico. “Ni una menos” symbolized the demands of women in Latin America, calling on their governments to ensure that not one more woman becomes a victim of femicide.
These movements demand increased protections and stronger institutions to be established to secure women’s safety against gender-based violence, preserve abortion rights and limit further infringements on human rights.
The movement was a catalyst for protests across Latin America, which has
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of the 25 countries with the highest femicide rates.
with the highest femicide rates. “Ni una menos” extended to Bolivia and Peru and inspired other movements, such as Las Tesis in Chile. These movements demand increased protections and stronger institutions to be established to secure women’s safety against gender-based violence, preservation of abortion rights and a stop to further infringements on human rights.
Much like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru, Mexico has seen many calls against gender-based violence. The Ni una menos movement has taken women’s rights issues to the forefront of Mexican politics, reminding officials that authorities are failing women.
Between 2018 and 2019, Mexico reported that femicide was the cause of death for
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women a day.
That statistic remains consistent with current data on femicides. Much like in Kosovo, instead of relying on local law and policy to protect them, women in Mexico have taken on the responsibility of protecting each other from gender-based violence and femicide.
Organizations such as Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa — Our Daughters Return Home — have been created by Mexican women-turned investigators to carry out their own research and look into the disappearances and deaths of women across the country.
Femicide and impunity
Institutional neglect leaves criminals free to perpetuate abuse without facing repercussions. The systems in both Kosovo and Mexico do not adequately address cases of gender-based violence and in many instances further the violence.
In Kosovo, women have difficulty leaving abusive relationships because they lack financial independence, as concluded by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. In 2021, only about 18.5% of women between the ages of 20 and 64 were employed, which leaves many reliant on their husbands or other family members for economic support.
Cycles of abuse persist because women cannot trust authorities and rely on their abusers for livelihood.
Women have been expected to remain in the domestic sphere while men maintain matters of economy and politics. Now, there is a clash between such patriarchal social norms and the push to close the gender gap in the workforce. Cycles of abuse persist because women cannot trust authorities and rely on their abusers for livelihood. In the most extreme cases, those cycles lead to femicide.
Similarly, Mexican women are subjected to passive treatment by the police in cases of femicide and gender-based violence. The embedded patriarchy in the Mexican state, despite outwardly progressive policies, allows gender discrimination and violence to continue and be perpetuated by the lack of legal prosecution in cases of gender-based violence, contributing to a culture of impunity.
Improving institutions
The overwhelming majority of cases of femicide in Mexico are not treated as such. Data from Mexico’s Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System concludes that over
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women were killed in 2023, only 830 of which were categorized as femicide.
Journalist Gloria Piña told the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights that many women who survive gender-based attacks remain in constant fear that they’ll face a repeat attack from the same offenders.
Kosovar women face parallel situations. One example is the case of Gjyljeta Ukella, a woman from Peja murdered in April 2024. Her abuser had previously been charged and fined by the police, but evaded prison by paying a 300 euro fine. Other criminal offenders in Kosovo, convicted on domestic violence or gun charges, have avoided jail time by paying fines.
Sebahate Morina’s case is similar. Morina’s ex-husband had been detained on domestic violence charges in 2019, but was released after paying a fine. A civil restraining order was active on him until three months before she was murdered. This exemplifies the impunity around gender-based violence. The stigma women face for reporting abuses to the police combined with the general corruption in law enforcement allows for rampant injustice.
Ni una menos pushed for a vast media presence to draw attention to issues with the justice system. Collective activist groups in Kosovo are doing the same. Protests in Kosovo over the past several years have spread the same message as those in Mexico, with protesters carrying signs with “Asnjë ma shumë,” the Albanian equivalent of “Ni una menos.”
QIKA, the Collective for Feminist Thinking and Action and UN Women programs actively work to conduct research and establish institutions that improve the response from law enforcement and the judicial system. Many extensions of UN Women in Kosovo have coordinated trainings for law enforcement and judicial officials to improve their responses to domestic violence and integrate human rights law practices into local governance.
Both Mexico and Kosovo face the challenge of reforming their legal systems to ensure the integration of preventative policies that aim to hold offenders accountable before irreversible situations arise.
Both Mexico and Kosovo face the challenge of reforming their legal systems to ensure the integration of preventative policies that aim to hold offenders accountable before irreversible situations arise. As Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cristina Rivera Garza has written, “Impunity cemented the deadly contract that kept women in their places — the kitchen or the coffin. Silence sealed the patriarchal pact that kept men on top.”
Women in Kosovo and Mexico are owed protection by their local authorities and their governments. Crimes of gender-based violence should not be treated with low regard. Yet, it is unclear whether the work being done by activists, local and global organizations will result in policymakers taking concrete steps to improve existing institutions and earn the trust of women they’re meant to serve.
Feature Image: Atdhe Mulla / K2.0.
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- This story was originally written in English.