Last month, a 6-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by three older boys, aged between twelve and thirteen, in Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina.
A video published by local media during the weekend showed the three pre-teens physically restraining and then sexually abusing the girl. The events reportedly transpired in the “Faik Konica” elementary school.
The mayor of Prishtina, Shpend Ahmeti reported that the incident happened on April 24, outside of school property and only one of the children involved is currently a student at the educational institution in question.
“The child [the victim] was offered psychological help! Also the school student who currently does not attend classes, is working with his parents and psychologists,” Ahmeti wrote in a Facebook post, denying media reports that the case had been neglected by school administration and other relevant authorities.
Ahmeti added that both the school and the Directorate of Education had taken immediate action, implementing all the necessary measures to address the case professionally within three days.
The Minister of Education and Science, Arbërie Nagavci called on the authorities to take the legal measures required to handle the case appropriately.
“As for the part of the responsibility and obligations of educational services, we will take our institutional measures, aiming to strengthen the education of children, creating safe environments that support the health and development of our children,” Nagavci said on Monday.
The president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said it is everyone’s collective responsibility to work towards ensuring such cases do not happen again, and pointed out that this recent instance of assault is not an isolated case, but “a sad reflection of a serious situation in our society.”
“This is the last time to fight the mentality where girls are constantly harassed and grow up with the idea that they should be defending and deprived,” Osmani said, adding that boys should be educated to treat their sisters and classmates as equals.
This recent case of sexual assault highlighted the need for sex education to be integrated into the academic curriculum taught to children in Kosovo.
The Collective for Feminist Thought and Action, a local feminist group, organized a protest on Monday, May 17 at the Ministry of Education, demanding precisely the inclusion of sex education as part of the educational system. The group listed also two other official demands: that children be provided with a safe school environment and that sociologists and psychologists be employed at every school across the country.
