Human Trafficking in [Albania] [other countries]
Street Children in [Albania] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Albania] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

The Republic of Albania [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Republic of Albania [map] is located on the Adriatic Sea coast of the Balkan Peninsula, between Serbia and Montenegro on the north, Macedonia on the east, and Greece on the south. Tiranë is the capital and largest city. Poor and backward by European standards, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy. The government has taken measures to curb violent crime and to spur economic activity and trade. The economy is bolstered by annual remittances from abroad of $600-$800 million, mostly from Greece and Italy; this helps offset the towering trade deficit.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Albania. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country (Albania), and Years Missing

National Plan of Action

U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs

INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - The trafficking of Albanian children as young as 6 years old to Western Europe for prostitution and other forms of exploitive labor remains a problem. There have been reports that children are tricked or abducted from families or orphanages and then sold to prostitution or pedophilia rings. Internal trafficking, on the other hand, is reported to be rising, with increasing numbers of children in the capital of Tirana falling victim to prostitution and other forms of exploitation.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2006

CHILDREN - Child abuse, including sexual abuse, occasionally occurred but was rarely reported. In May the media reported widely the arrest of a British national, who operated an orphanage, on charges of child molestation and selling access to the children to foreign sex tourists. According to the Ministry of the Interior, in 2005 20 cases of sex crimes against children were reported.

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS - The country remained a source country for trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, but was deemed by international observers to no longer be a significant country of transit. The relatively few foreign women and girls in transit originated primarily in Serbia and Montenegro (Kosovo), and, to a lesser extent, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and China. Most trafficked women and girls were transported to Italy, Greece, and other European countries, such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway. There was a significant increase in the trafficking of children to Kosovo for begging or sexual exploitation. Traffickers largely used overland routes through Greece (via Macedonia) or Montenegro or falsified documents to transport their victims by plane or ferry.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2005

[70] The Committee notes the concerns expressed by the State party at the extent of the problem of sexual exploitation of children in Albania. It also welcomes the measures taken by the State party to combat trafficking in children, such as the establishment of an anti-trafficking centre in Vlora. However, the Committee notes with concern that the sale of children is not criminalized in domestic legislation, that children reportedly continue to be trafficked, in particular to Italy and Greece, and considers that additional efforts must be vigorously pursued to combat this persistent phenomenon.

Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - Reports [DOC]

STATE REPORT - Albania recognizes street children as a vulnerable marginalized group. Unsourced information reveals some 800 children on the streets of Tirana as beggars, vendors and shoeshine boys. Many of the street children are believed to be Roma who are involved generally in begging and in some cases end up in prostitution.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES [Para 56] With specific reference to Roma children – they generally live in poverty and under difficult social conditions and “the most part of these children beg in the streets . . . a number of them fall victim to prostitution, physical and moral violence, and are ill-treated and exploited by groups involved in illicit activities.” They are not generally regular school attendees and measures have been taken to ensure they return to school.

UN Special Rapporteur ends visit to Albania

In the area of child trafficking, Albania has several achievements to report: the legislative and policy frameworks are in place; there is more awareness in society; the police is better trained to deal and investigate this crime; border control improved; the establishment of the court of serious crimes and the prosecutors' office for serious crimes increased the prosecution capacity; NGOs gained a valuable expertise in delivering rehabilitation programs for victims of trafficking and in providing social services to communities. All this did not exist 5 years ago. They are important achievements.

UN expert fighting sex trafficking calls for child protection system in Albania

The new Government of Albania has improved the legal framework necessary to reduce the flow of trafficked children, but it must develop a national child protection system aimed at combating the poverty that drives exploitation, a United Nations human rights expert said after completing his visit to the Balkan country.

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – ALBANIA – The trafficking of Albanian girls for sexual purposes to Western European countries such as Italy, Greece and Belgium is a major problem. The majority of victims are from poor and ill-educated families, and they are kidnapped or lured by false offers of employment or marriage. In some remote areas, the kidnapping of young girls on their way to school is so frequent that 90% of girls have abandoned high school due to their parents’ fear of abduction. In rural areas it is also very common for girls to marry before the age of 16. In some regions, the migration of males is as high as 90%, therefore finding a husband for a girl can be quite difficult. As a consequence, traffickers find it easy to recruit victims with false promises of marriage.

Report by Special Rapporteur [DOC]

[25] In January 2002 the Government of Albania approved a Country Strategy Against the Trafficking of Human Beings and more recently a National Strategy for Children.  Both strategies are strengthening the partnership and networking between the Government and NGOs.  The Criminal Code has been revised, resulting in stiffer penalties for those found guilty of organizing human trafficking, particularly that involving women and children.  During 2001, 266 people were arrested for the organization of human trafficking and during the first half of 2002, more than 187 cases were reported and 283 people charged.  Children aged between 14 and 18 can be prosecuted if they are involved in the trafficking of others and can receive a custodial sentence, which would normally be half the length of time that an adult committing a similar offence would receive.  Concerning rehabilitation of child victims, several programs, mainly dealing with female prostitution, are being implemented by the Government in partnership with NGOs, including the establishment of several centers for young girls of Albanian and other nationalities.

Republic of Albania - [from Amnesty International Report 2007]

Trafficking - Despite increased, and to some extent successful, measures to counter trafficking, Albania continued to be a source country for the trafficking of women, often minors, for sexual exploitation. ….. According to official statistics, in the first six months of the year, 119 criminal proceedings were registered with the Serious Crimes Prosecutor's Office relating to charges of trafficking women for prostitution, and five to charges of trafficking children. - htcp

ECPAT: Over 4,000 Minors From Albania Came Unaccompanied to Greece

Over 4,000 minors from Albania came unaccompanied to Greece in the past few years hoping for a better future. However, this development has proved that many of them have fallen victims of exploitation, sexual or other, while in many cases their traces were lost and they are listed as missing.

For Albanians, It's Come to This: A Son for a TV

In Albania most documented cases of child trafficking have involved older children who are sold or rented by their families to minders, or pimps, who take them to Greece and Italy, where they work as beggars or child prostitutes.

UNICEF Calls For Eradication Of Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Children

In Albania, UNICEF works with a local non-governmental organization that runs reintegration classes for street children, 80 per cent of whom have been exploited in Greece or Italy.

The Scope of Human Trafficking

HOLMES GIVES TWO EXAMPLES - A second girl was from Albania. Her auntie sold her, and then she was raped daily by her trafficker while he forced her into prostitution with other clients. Most of these girls from Albania are Muslims, so if they are deported, and their families find out about the prostitution, the girls will be sent to a worse place if returned because of the shame to their families.

Dying to Leave

VICTIMS - Ranging in age from 14 to 35, girls trafficked from Albania are among the youngest victims worldwide, with as many as 80 percent of them younger than 18, according to a 2000 Save the Children report. They are brought to work primarily in Italy as street prostitutes, the most dangerous and unpredictable form of prostitution.

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Human Trafficking in [Albania] [other countries]
Street Children in [Albania] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Albania] [other countries]