Women’s rights are of utmost importance to her and she cannot pass a stray dog on the street without offering a helping hand. She is from Sweden and she is EULEX’s gender advisor. 

Lina’s journey with EULEX began, somewhat symbolically on March 9, a day after the International Woman’s Day – a day that she finds particularly important. As a newly appointed gender advisor her task is to provide advice to the EULEX management on mainstreaming gender issues throughout the mission’s actions, both internally and externally. Lina’s role is to ensure that every new EULEX staff member is familiarised with the meaning of a gender perspective through the Mission’s induction training. She also facilitates gender mainstreaming through the coordination of and support to gender focal points.  

Lina graduated with a master degree in political science with a focus on development studies and democratization from the University of Uppsala in Sweden. While studying, she became particularly interested in human rights and gender issues, a career path she decided to follow.

Following her studies, Lina worked for several years with an international human rights organization that supported local civil society organisations in their fight for human rights and gender issues in many places around the world. “We were working on enabling access to resources like land, water and other productive resources for communities in different places in India, Latin America, and Africa. We had a special focus on the rights of minorities and indigenous communities and of course on women, since they were often among the most affected,” Lina recalls. Lina always embraced the challenge of working in a post-conflict environment.  The fact that the former Yugoslavia is so close to Central and Western Europe, but people still know so little about it, encouraged her to accept the chance to come to Kosovo. She wanted to help strengthen civil society in the Western Balkans and support women organisations, which were struggling with a number of gender issues.  

Working as a gender advisor with EULEX is not her first work experience in Kosovo. Lina worked for the Swedish Foundation ‘Kvinna till Kvinna’ (Woman to Woman) for four years to support women in conflict-affected areas to increase women’s power and influence. “I learned a lot while working very closely with women activist in Kosovo, and I could see that they play a very important role in changing the attitudes in the society” Lina notes. 

While in Kosovo, she had also the opportunity to travel around the region and assess the status of women in the Balkans. Unfortunately, just as she dwelled deep into the issues of women, she had to come back to Sweden since her contract with the Swedish Foundation had come to an end. However, since she fell in love with Kosovo, she was determined to come back. “There are of course many challenges, but there is also a very positive working environment where you have opportunity to see real changes and progress,” Lina adds. Her previous experience in Kosovo was critical in her decision to pursue the position of gender advisor at EULEX. Her aim was to bring her expertise that she already gained whilst working together with Kosovo women on issues such as women’s access to justice. 

 “I wanted to raise gender issues within the Mission and work in close cooperation with other actors, including local civil society. We are here for the local population. As women face many barriers which men do not face we need to be aware of them. If we do not identify and recognize those barriers, we will not reach out to the women and thereby miss half of the population.”

Lina finds it essential to consider gender issues when it comes to planning the Mission’s operations.  For her, it is crucial to recognize how important women’s participation is when it comes to rule of law institutions but also in general in decision making positions. “There are some good examples of women who have progressed to higher positions in Kosovo now and I know that many women are active - from local level activists to women in business and politics. I hope this trend will continue. However, at the same time certain segments of society still live according to traditional patriarchal traditions in regards to the role of men and women, which negatively affects the women freedom and opportunities. Unfortunately, violence against women is still very widespread and despite legally recognized as a crime, it is widely accepted by the society.’ In Lina’s opinion, there ought to be a greater deal of awareness in regards to women’s rights and violence against them throughout Kosovo. “I know that many actors including women organisations are addressing these issues, even including men in the fight against sexual violence. Men should speak in public and denounce these acts of violence, otherwise it will be difficult to change it,” Lina points out.  

Lina emphasizes that Kosovo has changed since she has been here. She points to atrocities of the women that were raped and sexually abused during the 1998-99 war. “It was almost impossible to speak about it when I arrived to Kosovo, since it is a very sensitive topic. Survivors have been suffering these war crimes in silence and become stigmatised in the society. I know that women organisations were raising this as the most important issue when it comes to transitional justice.” Last March, a legal amendment extended the definition of civilian victims of war to also include victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence. As a result, a person who suffered sexual violence during the conflict now has the lawful right to pension and benefits. “Currently they are working on the administrative instruction so the law can start being applied. This is one very good result that I had a chance to observe. It is the result of a joint effort by many actors, including international and local actors and not the least the women’s organizations that have consistently raised the issue for many years. ”It was important for this change to come true that many actors came together and coordinated their efforts to break the taboo and give the survivors the recognition they deserve. Also EULEX has contributed to this process, in particular to start investigations into cases of sexual violence as war crimes.”

For Lina, as a Swedish citizen, the situation regarding gender inequalities in Kosovo is completely different from what she was used to and it is often frustrating. Since gender roles have been cemented for many generations, change takes time. However, knowing what the possibilities are, she embraces her role in contributing to this change.

Lina’s life in Kosovo is not only about the fight for women’s rights and awareness raising. She adores the natural beauties that Kosovo has to offer. “It is really an asset and I think there is great potential for eco-tourism as well.”  Lina is the perfect example herself as she spends her free days hiking in the Sharr Mountains, traveling around the region, and going to cultural events and festivals. Lina has also gotten involved in some volunteer stray dogs rescue initiatives which have already seen success. “There was one puppy which went form my street in Kosovo all the way to Holland,” she recalls and smiles.

Lina’s contract with EULEX will end next year but can be prolonged. Lina still does not know whether she will stay in Kosovo, go back to Sweden, or hit the road somewhere else. Wherever she finds herself, Lina will stay determined to fight for women’s rights and gender issues.