January 2004
Albania has substantially left behind the violence and instability that characterized its early post-communist transition, but continues to face serious human rights challenges on the road to European integration. The most prominent human rights concerns in Albania are police abuse and misconduct; restrictions on media freedom; the government’s failure to take effective measures to curb human trafficking; and discrimination and abuse suffered by minorities, especially Roma.
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- Police Abuse and Misconduct
- Restrictions on Media Freedom
- Human Trafficking
- Discrimination
- Key International Actors
Police Abuse and Misconduct
Albania’s executive and judicial authorities continue to fail to combat police violence. Torture and physical abuse of detainees are widespread and unpunished. The case of a minor brutally tortured by the Saranda police in June 2000 is illustrative of official indifference. In 2000, protests by human rights groups caused the minister of interior to fire the main suspect, police officer Rrapo Xhavara, and the public prosecutor started a criminal investigation into the case. Within months, however, Saranda prosecutors had dropped the charges for "lack of evidence." In 2001, new protests by rights groups and high-level interventions by the Albanian ombudsman forced then-Prosecutor General Rakipi to reluctantly order the re-opening of the case. When Xhavara was finally tried under reduced charges in July 2002, he received an eighteen-month sentence that was immediately converted to parole. The conviction did not affect his June 2002 appointment as commander of Saranda’s municipal police.
Restrictions on Media Freedom
Media freedom is undermined by persistent harassment and violent attacks against journalists apparently intended to suppress critical reporting of the government, particularly on corruption-related issues. Such violence often goes unpunished, and in many cases the perpetrators are police officers. Albania’s defamation laws also give government officials unacceptable privileges and special protections that further impede the media.
Human Trafficking
Albania continues to be a major point of transit and origin in the regional web of trafficking in human beings. Most victims are women and girls trafficked for forced prostitution and children trafficked into forced labor. The Albanian government has adopted an anti-trafficking strategy and taken some steps toward combating the problem, causing the U.S. Department of State to move Albania, in its 2002 report on trafficking in human beings, up to the class of countries not yet in compliance with international standards but making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for combating trafficking.
Progress notwithstanding, there remain many obstacles to the implementation of the government’s anti-trafficking strategy. Particularly problematic is the government’s reluctance to recognize that Albania is a major country of origin. Prosecution of traffickers is the weakest link in the system: only a small fraction of those arrested by the police were successfully prosecuted and tried. Even when traffickers are found guilty, they received prison sentences that were generally much lower than the new statutory minimum of seven years. Police corruption and the absence of a witness protection system also hinder investigations.
Discrimination
Albania’s Roma community continues to suffer from pervasive discrimination, miserable living conditions, and inadequate access to basic social services, which in turn reinforces their social exclusion.
Key International Actors
Albania’s interest in integration into Europe and its relations with the European Union in particular are the most powerful incentives for progress on human rights in the country. Negotiations for the much-sought-after Stabilization and Association Agreement with the E.U. commenced in January 2003, but were stalled by Albania’s limited reform progress. The annual E.U. Stabilization and Association Process (SAP) report issued in March 2003 identified the key human rights issues it expects Albania to address before it can successfully conclude a Stabilization Agreement with the E.U. Unfortunately the report was too vague, and its follow-up too inconsistent, to catalyze significant progress.
In its human rights dialogue with the E.U. and other bilateral partners, the approach of the government of Albania has been to try to mask problems rather than address them. Albania’s bilateral partners seem to accept this approach, and with the exception of the trafficking area, have failed to sufficiently press the government of Albania to acknowledge its human rights shortcomings and develop plans to address them. Albania’s compliance with its U.N. human rights reporting obligations is symptomatic of its approach. Since acceding to all major human rights treaties between 1992 and 1994, Albania has not submitted initial and periodic reports on its compliance with treaty obligations.
Perhaps signaling a move toward a more transparent engagement with international human rights bodies, in January 2003, Albania took the welcome step of publishing the reports of the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) regarding four visits carried out between 1997 and 2001.
