Victim of sexual harassment in North Mitrovica: They followed me and shouted from a car, there was no police nearby

A woman from North Mitrovica, who experienced sexual harassment on the streets of her hometown, stated that she is still deeply shaken by what happened and is likely to seek professional help, especially since just a few days after her incident, her daughter also became a victim of sexual harassment.

The victim, who wished to remain anonymous, described the distressing situation to Kosovo Online. Helpless to defend herself, she said she felt intense fear.

“A few nights ago, as I was walking back from a friend’s house, it was around 9 or 9:30 PM, near the Technical School, heading toward the United Nations, a car with Albanian license plates followed me. The men inside were calling out things like, ‘You’re beautiful, get in the car.’ I was alone in that area, so I took out my phone and pretended to be on a call. I felt extremely scared. I didn’t know how to defend myself or what to say. I thought that if I said anything, they would just provoke me more. As for the police, there was none in sight,” she recounted.

As if the fear she experienced wasn’t enough, a few days later her daughter went through a similar situation, in broad daylight, while the streets of North Mitrovica were full of people.

Because of this sexual harassment, the victim is considering seeking professional help to better cope with such situations, as she is convinced they will continue to happen in the future.

“It also happened to my daughter, around 5 PM, men in a car were calling out to children, trying to lure them. She immediately turned her head and ran toward us. These provocations by Albanians who dare to enter our part of town, threaten us, and make us feel unsafe are becoming more frequent. I’m still, even now, incredibly shaken by what happened. I have even thought of seeking medical help to calm myself. And just as I got through that, this happened to my child. So I will most likely go to a health center and seek help from a psychiatrist or authorized person to help me cope with such incidents, because I’m sure there will be more in the future,” she said.

She emphasized that she feels helpless and said that women in North Mitrovica, including herself, walk through the city in fear.

“The worst and maybe most tragic part is that I have no one to turn to for help. Even if I did, like my friends have a few times, they reported incidents to the police, but it always ended with just writing down when it happened, what time, what was said, and nothing more. Women still walk in fear. Even I, even in the morning, stick to walking close to buildings to avoid any unpleasant situations. My advice to children is to be home or with parents as soon as it gets dark,” the woman added.

She pointed out that such problems didn’t happen in the past, but now they are becoming more frequent. According to her, the sexual harassment of women is another tactic used by Albanians to intimidate Serbs and drive them out of Kosovo.

“Before, none of us had problems. Sometimes a car would pass through the center of the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, but there weren’t major incidents. Now, it has become a daily occurrence, it doesn’t matter where or when, whether children are present, whether the women are old or young, or if it is a girl. They don’t choose their victims. Their only goal is to scare the Serbian population so that we leave this area as quickly as possible. I hope relevant institutions will find a way to put an end to this,” the victim of sexual harassment concluded.