Gender equality begins in family, say participants in OSCE-organized meeting in Kosovo

PRISHTINE/PRISTINA, 30 October 2009 - Participants in a meeting organized by the OSCE Mission in Kosovo today called for women's equal right to property and inheritance to be promoted by public information campaigns, better co-operation among authorities and pro-active measures by courts.

At the meeting, representatives of the OSCE, civil society, local and central authorities and international organizations identified the tradition of women in Kosovo usually renouncing their share of inheritances as the main problem.

"This discrimination of women is unfair. It starts in the family when women give up their rights to a share of inheritance. This is one of the many fields where women are discriminated. If families do not treat their children in an equal way, it is very unlikely that the society will do so," said Markku Laamanen, the OSCE Deputy Head of Mission.

To prevent this exclusion of women from inheritance, which leaves them marginalized both in the family and in the society, meeting participants crafted recommendations for the relevant stakeholders.

The recommendations are:

1) Women need to be better informed regarding their legal right to inheritance, free legal aid, equal access to education and employment opportunities. Information on how and where to initiate a procedure for inheritance should be public and clear. Through different incentives, women should be encouraged to claim and retain their inheritance.

2) Better co-operation between municipal offices for gender equality, civil registration services, courts and civil society as well as capacity-building of local authorities on gender equality are necessary.

3) The courts should ensure a criminal justice response when female members of the family are deliberately excluded from inheritance process. Proposals were also made for improving some articles of the law on inheritance.

"Women should be treated equally and given access to inheritance as full members of their family and of their society. We hope this discussion will contribute to protecting and promoting the legal, social, economic, and cultural rights of women," Laamanen said.

The conference is part of the OSCE Mission's work on monitoring and promoting human rights.