Florina Imeri, 19 years old, says that she voted for new deputies in the assembly in order to have positive changes for all.
“Compared to the potential of other European countries, Kosovo does not fulfill the youth`s demands for education and employment,” she says.
Valentina Bunjaku, who is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (DLK) and was elected deputy for the first time, said to KosovaLive that she will focus on opening new jobs for Kosovar youth.
“It is obvious that the youth is the future of a country and its development. The advancement of the educational system and the opening of new jobs is a step in making them aware that their future is in Kosovo and not in other countries,” Bunjaku-Rexhepi says.
She considers that these goals can be achieved through basic changes and reform.
“These are not personal aims but common ones. We hope that all of us will contribute to this issue,” she says.
New deputies say that they will work for the youth by opening centers for them, creating jobs, and offering as good an education as possible.
Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) has organized a debate at European Information and Culture Centre (EUICC) with some of the new elected deputies to look into regional cooperation. Special attention was paid to youth empowerment.
This is a regional organization, part of the international youth forums who act as a part of the political parties from different countries. Apart from Prishtina, it has centers in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica and Zagreb. Its objective is the political education of youth on human rights.
The new elected deputy Betim Popaj, member of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AFK), thinks that the youth wants to leave the past behind.
“The youth do not see any future in this country. Every second a person thinks how can they migrate outside Kosovo. Thus, the elected should do our best to give space to the youth, because we have talent not only in politics but in culture and sport also,” he says.
Mimoza Grabani, a civil society activist, says that the government does not provide support for students.
“There are few possibilities for graduates in Kosovo,” Gabrani says.
Popaj thinks that we should not keep our focus only on students but should be more present in the field.
“We should research in deeper areas, and not look only at positive things but pay attention to the negative side as well. We have youngsters who travel 5-6 kilometers per day on foot; our youngsters are migrating by the age of 15-16. We are working very little on this direction, youth are fleeing more every day,” Popaj says.
The deputy Korab Sejdiu, a member of New Kosovo Alliance (NAK), says that his colleagues, mainly those who are new in the Assembly, should focus more on youth empowerment.
“I entered the deputies’ competition with three main goals; one of them is youth empowerment. The two other main points are opening a center for the students who want to study abroad, and the other is paid internship in companies and lower business taxes (by the government),” Sejdiu says.
The deputy Saranda Bogujevci, a member of “Lëvizja Vetëvendosje,” says that she will engage herself in creating free university studies and to have students` practical work gain legal recognition, and in creating more space for them to work.
“The youth in Kosovo are dropping out of primary school. Many youngsters under the age of 18 do physical work and there is no inspectors in the field,” Pepaj says.
Many youngsters think their interests should be a priority for the new deputies as well as for their colleagues.
Teuta Hoxha, the director of YIHR, says that keeping in mind that the system of education has failed, our youth is seeing some hope for informal education as well as some NGO-provided education.
“In working with them it is evident that they are pretty interested in making changes. This is also because they have better opportunities, compared to older generations. Of course, free movement does not count here. The fact that our parents had more travel opportunities than we do because of visas is really concerning,” Hoxha said for KosovaLive.
However, she considers that the results of these elections showed a civic awareness for youngsters, but also by not giving their vote to those youngsters who have not been active in raising the problems of the youth in the Assembly of Kosovo.
“I think that the youth`s interests should be one of the main priorities of the newly elected deputies, keeping in mind that 65% of our population is from 18 to 30 years old,” she says.
Hoxha also considers that the youth should not address their interests only to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, but to the Ministry of Economy as well.
She says that only an all-inclusive cooperation will bring the needed/proper results.
The student Fitore Hyseni hopes that the young deputies will stay true to their promises and will not be only a number in the assembly.
“There should be more activities where youth meet the deputies and they should play a role in the decision-making process for different issues, and there should be more activities for youth,” she says.
Our youth are still hoping that with the last election and with the new young deputies, there will be changes.
Njomza Berisha
