Interview with Avni Mustafa, Executive Director at Roma Versitas Kosovo

Roma Versitas Kosovo was born out of the need to empower Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities to participate in public and political life in Kosovo. As in other parts of Europe (and the world), marginalised and minoritised communities are disproportionately impacted by risk of statelessness. Could you tell us a bit about the work of RVK and where citizenship rights sit within this? 

In 2013, I was a student researching why there were so few students in Kosovo from Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. I found out about a programme called Roma Versitas, which was implemented in Hungary, North Macedonia and Serbia. I reached out to different donors and friends and finally succeeded in bringing a programme to Kosovo in 2015. 

We started working with students, providing them with scholarships, tutoring, mentoring, workshops, IT courses and English language courses, preparing them for the labour market. We worked very hard, and on 18 June 2017 we established Roma Versitas Kosovo. 

I cannot be modest here – we have implemented more than 150 different programmes on education, employment advocacy, civil registration, volunteering, and political participation. We try to focus on these five main pillars and to work as much as possible with the government and institutions, but also with grassroots communities. 

When it comes to citizenship rights, in 2021 we were invited by UNHCR to attend an event on their #IBelong campaign. For me, it was very concerning hearing and reading different reports about how there are around 2000 members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities who are stateless, or who are at risk of statelessness.  

Our approach to work to end statelessness and civil registration is similar to our approach to education. We work directly with communities at grassroots level, we work with partners, and we work with institutions.  

We recently added Kosovo to our StatelessnessINDEX, a comparative tool that analyses law, policy and practice across 34 countries in Europe. Most relevant international and regional instruments have been incorporated into Kosovo’s domestic legal framework, but population data on people affected by statelessness in Kosovo is very limited. What, in your experience working on the ground, are the key issues impacting stateless people in Kosovo? 

During the 1999 war here in Kosovo, most people belonging to different ethnicities and communities – not only Roma - moved to different countries. First, they went to neighbouring countries, then other countries in the Western Balkans, and beyond to the European Union.  

For almost four years we’ve worked with ENS along with our partners in the Western Balkans. Every country in the region emphasises Kosovar refugees as one of the main communities still experiencing issues.  

When people moved abroad, the data on their civil registration remained here in Kosovo. The registry books were lost or destroyed, and those that were returned are missing some documentation. It's like a black hole and has led to so many challenges for people who fled during the war. They’ve tried to register for citizenship in other countries but don’t succeed. Or they are returning to Kosovo with zero documentation. And Roma communities in Kosovo face double the risk of statelessness or becoming stateless due to marginalisation and antigypsyism.  

This is why the Index is so important, because it connects all the dots. You can see that Kosovo still lacks data, but this data hopefully is going to become more available once new laws are approved. It was challenging for us trying to research everything for the Index, but I was so happy to finally see the data on the Index website for Kosovo.  

RVK is a country partner in our #RomaBelong project, which was developed to better understand and address Roma statelessness with a particular focus on the Western Balkans and Ukraine. How has being part of the project supported you in your work? And what do you feel has been the impact of this project – any successes or reflections? 

When we started working on this topic, there were already different local, international and national organisations who were working with Roma communities on different civil registration projects. But the community had lost trust in some of these organisations. We always had a motto – nothing for us without us. We entered that space as a new and perhaps naive organisation. But we knew that the community would trust us at the grassroots level.  

This is how ENS helped us. Their expertise and recommendations helped us know who to target and how to deal with the institutions. And then it was easy for us to work with the community.   

It’s been 7-8 years now and what we’ve done at the local level is great. The number of undocumented people has decreased because we were not hesitant to go to Roma neighbourhoods, take people to their municipality to resolve their documentation problems, get them their citizenship, and now they are Kosovars.  

Secondly, as a Roma-led organisation, we succeeded to talk with the government and add, for the first time, a sub-component of ending statelessness as a part of their strategy and action plan, which for me is one of the biggest successes we could have. The law still has not been approved by the Kosovar Assembly but I really believe that this strategy will eventually help many Roma people and other minority groups to more easily get documentation and confirm their citizenship.  

A huge congratulations on your recent win for Kosovo at the 2025 EU Awards for Roma Integration. These awards recognise the achievements and commitment of organisations who work to empower Roma communities through quality and inclusive education. What does this recognition mean to you and your team, and how has being a member of ENS contributed to this? 

When I did my speech in Brussels at the Awards Ceremony, I spoke about a child who didn't grow up in good economic conditions, who was going to school for two or three years wearing two different shoes, whose sister decided to leave school because one parent's salary cannot educate five children. She had to sacrifice her schooling because of that child, and that child was me. I’m never ashamed to say that I belong to the street people, to the people who really didn't have anything. I'm not saying I'm living in perfect conditions now, but it was impossible back then. 

Working with the international community made this award possible. We have the ability to go into the field and work with communities and try to solve problems. And then we’re able to go and meet with government officials in the same day. I believe and think that this is very rare.  

It’s important to see this recognition for our work, particularly coming from EU level, recognising our work on education. But our work is not education only. 

Without our great supporters, and ENS in this particular case, we could never have achieved these great results that we achieve now. Between 2018 and now, we have published three - soon to be four – policy papers on ending statelessness in Kosovo for Roma. That’s a great success. Not many organisations can say they’ve done that. But we couldn’t have done it without support, and our willingness for cooperation and engagement and change. 

In May 2025, we co-hosted with the Council of Europe a Regional Roundtable on the prevention and reduction of statelessness among Roma in the Western Balkans, bringing together many dedicated colleagues working in the region. What were your highlights of the event in Podgorica, and what do you feel needs to happen next? 

The Regional Roundtable in Podgorica was an important step forward, but more concrete actions are needed. Moving ahead, national governments must prioritise the full implementation of legal reforms that enable access to civil documentation, especially for Roma at risk of statelessness and those who are stateless. This includes simplifying procedures, removing discriminatory practices, and ensuring free legal aid. A regional coordination mechanism should also be established to monitor progress and promote cross-border cooperation. Importantly, Roma CSOs must be involved in this process. Ending statelessness is a matter of human dignity. 

In these challenging times, what keeps you feeling hopeful?  

The UNHCR office in Kosovo is going through changes. This means major cuts to vital legal assistance for individuals to resolve their civil registration problems. USAID was also supporting legal aid for Roma in Kosovo. This has gone too. 

But, thanks to the great friendship and partnerships we have established with different ENS member organisations in the Western Balkans, we secured an introduction to the Global Statelessness Fund. We are in the process waiting for news, but if successful, this would enable us to implement a new project from September. 

I always say, no matter how hard the situation gets, if one door closes, another door will open. It may not be at the same level, but something will be possible.  

Thanks to ENS, we who are working at the local level in the field can learn from each other, implement the knowledge we gain, and – most importantly - have concrete impact within the community. And therefore, I'm really emphasising - thank you, ENS, for everything.  

No matter what is going to happen tomorrow with the Roma Belong project or other projects, we are going to cooperate and work together. Without ENS, we can function, we can work, but we would lack the expertise, coordination and engagement that we have from being part of the ENS Network. 

This article has been produced using the funds of the Roma Integration Phase III Joint Programme of the European Union and Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union or the Council of Europe.