Albania State Department: Albanian Officials involved in Child Trafficking

September 6, 2007

Comment: The Report of the US Department of Labour is a very important document which reflects the situation of child labour in various countries based on a large number of sources, information and data. Regretfully, the current article simply provides a translation into Albanian of the information provided in the report. The article does not seek to analyze such information by putting it in a time-frame and looking at it from the perspective of how the situation of child labour in Albania has evolved.

The US Department of Labour Report provides information on child labour in Albania starting from 2000 and till presently, including information on evolution in forms of child labour, governmental measures, problems faced and current policies. A professional media reporting should have tried to make the link between all this information highlighting the current gaps and what the government and other actors can do to address them.

This is what is expected under “the watchdog” role of the media in a democratic society. Of course, the media professionals might often lack the expertise to comply on their own to such a role. This is why the media needs strong links with other civil society actors.

Many inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, coordinating their efforts against trafficking, abuse and exploitation of Albanian children, in a framework of a national coalition (BKTF), could have assisted this journalist in reporting on the findings of the US Department of Labour. This would have ensured adequate information to Albanian citizen on policy and implementation gaps still needed to be addressed in Albania.