Constitutional Court

The Applicant filed a Referral pursuant to Article 113.7 of the Constitution seeking enforcement of a Gjilan District Court judgment requiring the Municipal Education and Culture Directorate (MDE) to afford her all rights as a secondary school student despite her use of a headscarf, alleging that non-execution of the judgment violated Articles 22, 24, 38 and 47 of the Constitution. In reply, MDE denied that it had violated the Applicant’s right to an education, adding that she withdrew from school voluntarily, highlighting that a secondary education was optional under the Law on Primary and Secondary Education. MDE emphasized that its Regulations require identical school uniforms, admonishing that policy deviations would hamper the educational process. Finally, MDE argued that the Constitution mandates that Kosovo remain a secular state in relation to religious beliefs, The Court held that the Referral’s execution claim was inadmissible pursuant to Article 113.7 and Article 47 of the Law on the Constitutional Court because the Applicant did not seek execution of the judgment in a lower court, reflecting a failure to exhaust all legal remedies. It also held that the Referral was manifestly ill-founded pursuant to Rules 36.2(a) and 36.2(c) because the Applicant had not been expelled or otherwise prevented from obtaining an education, citing Dogru v. France