[Prishtina-E] Fwd: Re: Human Right Cente

[monica tailor]

>From: Kathleen Kirwin <kdkirwin at yahoo.com>
>To: WUS Austria - Prishtina Office <pristina at wus-austria.org>, lord at un.org, 
>  sebastian.von-muenchow at omik.org, y.du.pont at academictraining.org,  Zenonas 
>Petrauskas <zenonas.petrauskas at omik.org>,  sandra.horina at univie.ac.at, 
>seci2 at osce.org, b.scholdan at oefse.at,  Zuzana Finger 
><Zuzana_Finger at hotmail.com>,  "Theodore S. Orlin" <torlin at utica.ucsu.edu>, 
>hrap at utica.ucsu.edu,  ssalvatici at iom.ipko.org, shmaliqi at hotmail.com, 
>rolf.welberts at omik.org,  t.petovar at idea.int, cdhrf at albanian.com, Kari 
>Vanhanen <kvanhane at EUnet.yu>,  Kari Vanhanen <kvanhane at unet.com.mk>, 
>Lindita Tahiri <ltahiri at kfos.org>,  Klaus Kapper <autcoord at eunet.yu>,  
>Ivana Roagna - Boano <coepristina at omik.org>, ivana.roagna-boano at omik.org,  
>ibrahimmakolli at hotmail.com, iberisha at kfos.org, 
>heinzhabertheuer at hotmail.com,  hriegler at compuserve.com,  Walter Hoeflechner 
><walter.hoeflechner at kfunigraz.ac.at>,  arjetabc at yahoo.co.uk, 
>gregory.fabian at omik.org,  Elisabeth Sorantin <ceepus at ceepus.org>, 
>edvillmoare at yahoo.com,  Robert Busse <wusckosovo at yahoo.ca>, frank at hrk.de,  
>REKTORATI <rektorati at uni-pr.edu>, andreotti at un.org
>CC: colette.rausche at omik.org, Gjylietam at hotmail.com
>Subject: Re: Human Right Cente
>Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 06:40:52 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>
>Dear Enver:
>
>        The purpose of this letter is to inform you and the other members 
>of the Steering Board of the Human Rights Centre at the University of 
>Prishtina of some serious and far-reaching matters regarding the selection 
>of the Director of the Centre last week.
>
>        First and foremost, as a duly appointed member of the Commission 
>delegated with the authority to interview and choose said director, I 
>hereby officially protest the rejection of Ms. Gjylieta Mushkolaj as 
>Director of the Centre. My reasons for doing so are as follows.
>
>        During the meeting of the Steering Committee on Saturday, December 
>2, 2000, there was considerable discussion regarding the procedure to be 
>utilized in choosing the director. The Steering Committee reached a 
>concensus that the five person interviewing Commission would interview the 
>candidates and, based on those interviews and after otherwise considering 
>their respective resumes, would thereafter make a final recommendation to 
>the Committee at large. It was specifically agreed at the meeting that the 
>ratification of the Commission’s selection would be a “mere formality.” 
>Ironically, there was concomitant discussion regarding the “transparency” 
>of the selection process, followed by discussion concerning specific 
>compliance with the enabling Statute of the Centre in electing the 
>director. As Chair, you personally appealed to the Committee for volunteers 
>to sit on the selection Commission. You specifically asked for 
>internationals to assist. I volunteered my time and energy to sit on the 
>interviewing Commission in order to assist the Human Rights Centre in 
>meeting the severe time constraints it was under to choose a director. I 
>made it known I had previous commitments on the day of the interviews, but 
>would work around them so as to have time to participate in the selection 
>process. I studied the resumes over the weekend as requested so I would be 
>adequately prepared for the interviews. After the first two candidates, 
>Melinda Lord and I were advised by the other members of the Committee that 
>we were asking too many questions of the candidates. But for Ms. Lord and I 
>asking the relevant questions, the interviews would have more been more of 
>a pretense than they apparently already were.
>
>        Two days after what I thought would have been the ratification of 
>the selection by the Steering Committee, I found out that the decision we 
>had come to in selecting Ms. Mushkolaj for the position of Director had 
>been unilaterally changed with no notice to me and certainly without the 
>requisite formality of reconvening the Commission for further discussion as 
>would have been called for under any “transparent” and democratic 
>procedure.
>
>        It has also been made known to me that you advised Ms. Mushkolaj 
>that the only reason Ms. Lord and I voted for her was based on the fact 
>that she was a woman.You are well aware that is untrue and I am highly 
>insulted that you would impute such a demeaning mindset to me personally 
>and professionally and that you would otherwise use that line of defense in 
>attempting to justify your abuse of your own process in changing the 
>selection of the Director. You know full well that we engaged in lengthy 
>discussions regarding the outstanding qualifications of Ms. Mushkolaj. And 
>I will remind you of what I did say regarding the fact of Ms. Mushkolaj' s 
>gender, and that was, how "far reaching" it would be for this new Human 
>Rights Centre to find such an outstanding candidate in her and that her 
>gender was a "bonus" given the long standing status, or lack thereof, of 
>women in Kosovo. Ironically, I would also remind you that you 
>wholeheartedly agreed with Ms.Lord's and my assessment that the director 
>you have now chosen gave disappointing and inappropriate answers to the 
>questions regarding remedying the status of women in Kosovo, such that it 
>caused you to vote against him.
>
>      As a result of all that I have experienced with you and the Human 
>Rights Centre in this regard, I no longer wish to associate myself with it. 
>It is already impaired by biases and prejudices unsuited to a Human Rights 
>Centre. Further, unless this matter is immediately addressed and corrected, 
>I have been advised that Mr. Ed Villmoare is considering withdrawing 
>ABA/CEELI from any further affiliation with the Centre.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Kathleen D. Kirwin, Esq.
>
>
>
>   WUS Austria - Prishtina Office <pristina at wus-austria.org> wrote:
>
>
>Best regards,
>
>Enver Hoxhaj > ATTACHMENT part 2 application/msword name=Human Rights 
>Centre.doc
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