Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

lenges. In particular, conditions
for Kosovo-RAE are closer to those
found in the least developed countries.
The level of unemployment
for RAE communities, where 75
percent of male youth aged 15-24
are unemployed, for example, is
much higher than the Kosovo average.
8 Discrimination also severely
limits the contribution of Kosovan
women – most clearly in the economic
sector – and Kosovo’s disabled,
many of whom are largely
excluded from participation in normal
life.
These challenges are, to a greater
or lesser degree, by-products of a single
causative factor: social exclusion.
In simple terms, this means denying
certain groups their right to contribute
economically, politically and socially
to their society - thereby limiting the
full potential of that society. Exclusion
can happen deliberately, through institutional
discrimination, or inadvertently,
through cultural practices that
in effect restrict individual rights and
liberties. Whatever its cause, the effect
is always the same - a self-limiting and
unequal development process.
Social exclusion as a concept (and
its counterpart, social inclusion), is
deeply connected to the human development
process. It is also becoming
a core philosophy of the European
family. In 2000 at a landmark meeting
in Lisbon, European Union leaders
agreed to establish a Union-wide Social
Inclusion Process, to co-ordinate their
policies for combating poverty and social
exclusion, and to prepare National
Action Plans (NAP) against poverty and
social exclusion. This recognized the
essential interlinkages between under-development
and social exclusion,
and - more importantly - stressed the
primacy of open, equal societies over
more traditional economic indicators
of national well-being such as GDP or
Gross National Income (GNI).
To understand where Kosovo is
headed on its road to statehood, it is
therefore more pertinent to ask where
its society going, and what key factors
will affect Kosovo’s social trajectory. Ultimately,
it is the health and cohesion
of its society that may prove the decisive
factor in Kosovo’s EU ambitions.
2. Understanding social exclusion:
Kosovo Human Development Report
2010
The Kosovo Human Development
Report 2010 examines traditional socio-economic
indicators, from poverty
and unemployment to health and education,
from the perspective of social
inclusion. It highlights how discrimination
- deliberate or otherwise - affects
Kosovo’s socio-economic balance, its
political process and its EU-orientated
policy goals. Finally, it offers some recommendations
on how the move towards
a more inclusive society might
be managed, as a fundamental precursor
to economic and political progress.
The report takes the EU approach to
social inclusion as its conceptual basis.
The EU has defined social inclusion as “a
process which ensures that those at risk
of poverty and social exclusion gain the
opportunities and resources necessary
to participate fully in economic, social
and cultural life and to enjoy a standard
of living and well-being that is considered
normal in the society in which
they live.” 9 The process should ensure
that excluded or marginalized groups
have greater participation in decision
making which affects their lives. 10
This approach to social inclusion
differs from a traditional, poverty-ori-
INTRODUCTION
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