02 - Pristina and the Basics
Week 1 - Pristina
After a long weekend of delayed flights and missing bags, I finally settled into my first week in Pristina. The Court itself was rather preoccupied with the reelection of it's President (equivalent to a Chief Justice), Gresca, but now that things are settling down we all can get back to the case load.
In light of the recent 'Alb-kings' arrests made in Kosovo, I assisted some of the staff with legal research on domestic violence law, gender violence law, and cyberstalking law in the European Union. Being a young country, Kosovo's laws are often brief and lacking in detail. For example, though harassment is a crime, it's elements and scope are less than clear. To supplement, the Courts often turn to cases coming from the European Court of Human Rights and international agreements. The issue with this practice, however, is that international agreements are usually just as ambiguous or unclear as local laws. Often these international agreements simply create a positive requirement that signatories implement laws criminalizing things like domestic violence or harassment, and leave the specifics to the member countries.
In other news, I'm planning on exploring more of the surrounding towns and villages this coming weekend! Check my following posts for pictures and more.
Courtroom of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo:
