Trafficking

In January 2001, Albania amended its Criminal Code to prohibit trafficking in persons. Article 110a punishes trafficking in persons for purposes of material or other profit. The sentence ranges from five to fifteen years and increases if certain aggravating factors are present. If death of the victims results, the prison sentence increases up to life imprisonment. Article 114b punishes trafficking of women for prostitution, and Article 128b criminalizes the trafficking of children. Articles 113, 114 and 115 also criminalize prostitution and associated offenses.

According to Legislationline, the Albanian government announced on 10 October 2003 that it would sign an agreement on security with Montenegro, aimed at combating organized crime, terrorism and trafficking in persons.

Domestic Violence

The Law on Measures Against Violence in Family Relations (entered into force 1 June 2007) was designed to prevent and reduce domestic violence, and to guarantee victims’ protection. Several Albanian women’s non-governmental organizations had presented the draft law to Parliament in 2006 through a citizens’ petition of over 20,000 signatures. The law defined domestic violence as “any act of violence … committed between persons who are or used to be in a family relation,” violence being “any act or omission of one person against another, resulting in violation of the physical, moral, psychological, sexual, social and economic integrity.”

The law also organized the government into a coordinated network against domestic violence by identifying five “responsible authorities” (the lead authority is the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities). It empowered the judiciary by identifying more than ten protection measures which courts could include in protection orders. Additionally, it provides for expedited victim assistance through an emergency protection order, which a court must decide on within 48 hours of the filing of the petition. Recently, the Ministry of Labor reorganized to integrate a new domestic violence unit. With UN help, the unit reinforced the capacity of social workers, health workers, the police, and local authorities to tackle domestic violence. But prevention is still a problem, because failure to fully implement the law has led to low enforcement.

Sexual Harassment

At present, there is a draft law entitled On An Equal Gender Society (MS Word, 7 pages) that would broadly define sexual harassment as “an offensive behavior of sexual nature that includes words or actions against a person at work, business or other dependence relations,” but as of late 2008 it was still under consideration. If passed, this law would impose new duties on employers (among others), including the duties to take measures against, and to protect employees from, sexual harassment (Articles 4, 6).  The scope of the law is limited to public life; religious and private are expressly excluded from the law (Article 1).

Compiled from:

Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania, adopted by People’s Assembly of the Government of the Republic of Albania, 27 January 1995 (No. 7895), most recently amended 24 January 2001 (No. 9733).

Law On An Equal Gender Society, draft law before the Assembly of the Republic of Albania (No. 9198), unofficial translation provided by OSCE Presence in Albania (26 February 2004) (MS Word, 7 pages).

Law on Measures Against Violence in Family Relations, Parliament of the Republic of Albania, 18 December 2006 (No. 9669), entered into force 1 June 2007, translation provided to The Advocates for Human Rights by the Albanian delegation to the Regional Conference on Domestic Violence Legal Reform, held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on February 12-14, 2008 (MS Word, 14 pages).