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The article focuses on the politics of representation in Kosova since the United Nations took over 'peace management' in 1999. It uses UN propaganda posters (political pedagogy) and local nationalist political advertising as a way to read the multiple gendered discourses of representation. It shows how gender is used relationally between competing forces – the 'international community' and nationalists – as a tool to ensure UN's imposition of Western policies and norms and as a mechanism for local politicians to consolidate their domination of the domestic/private sphere. Moreover, it discusses the price paid to mimic the West: how Kosovar politicians have sought to 'undo' national identity in favour of a Western self-representation through a gendered abnegation of Islam. Thus, as an intrinsic part of the discourse of 'peace-building', these images represent the site of power production, domination, negotiation, and rejection, involving the collaboration of different actors, institutions, and individuals. Three specific points will be made: first, the article seeks to show that a Western political modernization discourse has, paradoxically, reinforced patriarchal relations of power and traditional gender roles in Kosova through the subjugation of women. Second, it explains the inability to resolve competing Albanian narratives – one relying on the legacy of peaceful resistance and the other on the armed struggle against Serbian domination during the 1990s. Third, through the intermeshing of international peace-keepers and local nationalist patriarchs, it will show how the militarization of culture is perpetuated through, and in relationship to, gender.

Chapter 1 Human Rights, Social Work, and Uncertainty: An Introduction to Southeast Europe -- Chapter 2 Overcoming Troubling Practices Against Roma and Among Roma People: A Human Rights Perspective in Slovenian Social Work -- Chapter 3 Integrating Social Work with Human Rights in Croatia: A Long Way to Mutual Recognition -- Chapter 4 Pathways to a Rights–based Paradigm in Social Work: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- Chapter 5 Human Rights and Social Work in Pandemic Times in Kosovo -- Chapter 6 Social Work and Local Democracy: Promoting Human Rights Through Community Action in Albania -- Chapter 7 Human Rights and Social Work Practices in the Age of Uncertainty: The Case of Romania -- Chapter 8 Human Rights and Social Work in Bulgaria: Policy, Practice, Education.

This book, grounded in a human rights framework, takes a close look at social work approaches and practices in Southeast Europe. Human rights are central in today's understanding of social work as an academic discipline and as a professional practice. Looking at social work through a human rights lens unmasks inequality and discrimination, promotes ethical engagements, and contributes to the social, political, and economic betterment of society. Moreover, human rights and social work are interdependent and have far-reaching implications at macro, mezzo, and micro levels both in the realm of social policy and in professional practice. This collection of eight chapters provides an overview of human rights practices in social work in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Romania, and Slovenia. It presents state-of-the-art research on human rights and social work through individual country-focused chapters. In addition, it includes an integrative introductory chapter that identifies and discusses the commonalities and differences across the region as well as future directions. The book takes an integrated approach with conversations among the contributors on three main questions: What is the state of human rights in social work? How are human rights practiced in social work? What are the prospects for an integrated approach to human rights in social work in contemporary Southeast Europe? Human Rights in this Age of Uncertainty is essential reading for social work academics and practitioners in Southeast Europe due to its geographic focus and standpoints from the specific countries of the region. The book also should appeal to a wider European audience (especially as the book features chapters from both inside and outside of the European Union), as well as to an international audience of social work scholars. In addition, policy-makers may find the book a useful resource because human rights discourse features prominently in the international approaches to welfare systems across Southeast Europe as part of the Europeanisation processes currently at play. .

AbstractIn this article, we explore how social workers are putting human rights into practice in Kosovo. We present a snapshot of the current human rights context in Kosovo; we discuss frameworks for rights-based practice within social work; and we explain the evolution of Kosovar social work education and the role of human rights within it. Ultimately, we focus on the results of a new survey that uses Albanian translations of the Human Rights Methods in Social Work scales to explore the use of eight rights-based practice methods by 100 social workers situated in Kosovo's Centres for Social Work. In our sample, social workers endorsed the four micro (individually focused) practice methods—accountability, strengths perspective, anti-discrimination and participation—at higher rates than the four more macro (community/policy)-focused methods—capacity-building, micro/macro, collaboration and activism. We use these results to call for further training to support rights-based practice, emphasising the interdependence of micro and macro methods in advancing human rights as well as social work ethics. In conclusion, we offer suggestions that will allow social work to act as an agent of transformative change and social justice in Kosovo.

When created, international criminal tribunals (ICTs) were not only expected to do justice but also to provide stabilization to postconflict regions, contribute to reconciliation and curb the potential denial of atrocities. Based on media content analysis, this article examines whether controversial ICT decisions triggered changes in narratives or frames about the conflicts which formed the background of the respective ICT decisions. There is no evidence for dramatic changes in the preexisting narratives about these conflicts, but we found some cases in which tribunal decisions caused changes in media frames and in elements of such frames, mostly by emphasizing outgroup victimhood and individual responsibility of ingroup perpetrators, as well as triggering effects of collective guilt externalization. Although frame changes were often observed in both democratic and nondemocratic countries, only in democratic countries with pluralist and competitive media systems could they be attributed to tribunal decisions.