Albania Human trafficking decreased four times

May 21, 2009

Frame :

Prosecution on trafficking in Albania

• 2005: 40 cases
• 2006: 23 cases
• 2007: 10 cases
• 2008: 15 case

Comment: The purpose of the article is the visit of Albanian Minister of Justice in the Congress in Italy where he emphasized the decrease of human trafficking phenomenon in Albania.

In the article, the statistical data mentioned by the Minister includes only the cases of human trafficking when prosecution had started against the offenders, not taking into account the numerous cases that the trafficker is not identified or it had not been categorized as trafficking case. Therefore, official low numbers do not necessarily mean a decreasing trend in child trafficking but a failure to identify cases (see BKTF, Situational Analyses Report) This problem was emphasized even in the European Commission Progress Report on Albania: “There has been some progress in fighting against trafficking in human beings. However, much remains to be done mostly in the area of victim protection and identification”.

The problems of identification was also pointed out during the training program organized by CILSP for border police and anti-trafficking structures since standardized questions for the identification of victims of trafficking/ presumed victims of trafficking are not used by the border experts.

The Minister, in his speech, also left out any evidence related to the number of victims identified. According to the BKTF Situational Analyses Report numbers are not decreasing. Taking into account these facts, it is evident that this article does not present a comprehensive picture of the situation and does not explain the context of the problem, but stays limited only to the presentation of the State official in one of the international meetings. The article is not argumentative and there are no additional facts or figures that give the reader the possibility to have a critical attitude on the topic.

(This Press review is under the framework of EIDHR funded project, implemented jointly with the Legal Clinic for Minors, Albania)