On August 22nd Centre for Equality and Liberty (CEL) of Kosovo and Centre for Social Group Development (CSGD) announced the historical decision taken by the Kosovo Court of Appeals on the 2ndof August, 2019 which officially approved the request of a trans citizen to change their name and gender marker in the Central Civil Status Register and Civil Status Principal Register.

Both organizations welcomed the decision of the Court of Appeals considering it a very important step to further ensure the rights of the trans community in Kosovo. This decision is expected to be taken as a practice and positive example from the Civil Status Offices and the Agency for Civil Registry of Kosovo on how to deal with future requests of citizens who wish to officially change their name and gender markers.

The right to recognition of a persons’ gender identity is protected in Kosovo in the framework of the right to privacy as well as by the Constitution of Kosovo, European Convention for Human Rights and legal practices of the European Court of Human Rights.

CEL and CSGD took the opportunity of such an important development to remind the Kosovo media to pay much more attention to the language they use when reporting for trans persons. Read more via ERA