D4J Street Action Showcases Kosovo’s Empty Prisons and Corrupt Officials Swimming Free to Mark On International Anti-Corruption Day

D4J Street Action Showcases Kosovo’s Empty Prisons and Corrupt Officials Swimming Free to Mark On International Anti-Corruption Day

Pristina, December 9, 2016 - The Demand for Justice Program (D4J) led a provocative Street Action showcasing the justice sector’s failure to hold Kosovo’s public servants accountable for the corruption plaguing Kosovo. Led by Youth Initiative for Human Rights Kosovo (YIHR), Community Building Mitrovica (CBM), and NGO AKTIV on Mother Theresa Square, the D4J “Big Fish” Street Action aimed to awaken citizens to the alarming situation by adorning the Square with an open, empty jail cell surrounded by Kosovo’s “Big Fish”, a colorful set of human-like fish symbolically dressed as the politicians, judges, doctors, police, and professors who either commit or condone the corrupt acts that have damaged Kosovo’s economic and social development.

The Big Fish street action message was driven home by a series of 8 fact-based banners set about the Square – symbolizing 8 years of Kosovo’s post-independence failure to curb corruption. Each banner presented hard evidence of corruption in the justice sector alongside an empty, anti-corruption platitudes uttered by Kosovo’s political and judicial leaders. As citizens read one such banner highlighting the causal link between Kosovo’s failure to fight corruption and the 5-year ban on the free movement of its citizens in the European Union, YIHR’s Albert Selimi voiced the message: “On one hand Kosovo is the most corrupt country in the region and Europe, while on the other hand [our] judicial system is slow, inefficient, and unwilling to carry out its duties to prosecute individuals, officials, and criminal groups suspected of corrupt activities.”

The stark contrast between high-level official promises to fight corruption and the justice sector’s ineffective or unwilling response to this task defined this D4J Street Action which serves to trigger citizen engagement to participate in the fight against corruption.

The Demand for Justice Program is a five-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of State/INL and implemented by the National Center for State Courts to support the development of robust, evidence-driven demand for justice in Kosovo. Through D4J, NCSC is mobilizing CSO partners to act as agents of change to foster accountability, transparency, and integrity in the justice sector.