Tirana, 24 January 2023 –CRCA/ECPAT Albania is extremely concerned about the latest media reports on the disappearance of foreign unaccompanied children who have entered irregularly or to seek asylum in Albania. According to the reports made public in the media by the Police, during the last six months, 36 unaccompanied foreign children, who were sheltered in a non-public Social Centre, have disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown.
On 18 January, the Top Channel investigative program “Fiks Fare” broadcasted some very disturbing data and facts regarding the disappearance of children from a Social Center that is administered by the association Initiative for Social Change -ARSIS, funded by UNICEF Albania. The program managed to interview representatives of the association as well as the National Agency for the Rights and Protection of Children in Albania, who publicly admit that several unaccompanied foreign children, most of them from countries in conflict such as Syria and Iraq, placed at the center, have disappeared and there is no information on their life, well-being, or whereabouts.
Unaccompanied children are always at risk of trafficking for sexual purposes, slavery or even organ trafficking, etc. The fact that in Albania they are placed in a Center, which aims to provide safety and protection, with the consent of the national authorities, shows that they have failed to protect the lives and well-being of all these children.
Convention on the Rights of the Child and its General Comment No. 5 (2005), ratified by Albania since 1992, requires the state party to take all measures that guarantee the “right to life, survival and development” without discrimination for all children who are in the territory of the Republic of Albania. The Law on the Rights and Protection of Children in Albania (Law No. 18/2017) guarantees, among others (Article 11/3): “An unaccompanied child by a parent or guardian has the right to be returned to them as soon as possible. The return to the country of origin is done only if it is in the best interest of the child….”
Based on the above, CRCA/ECPAT Albania requests to all responsible authorities, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police, Tirana Prosecutor’s Office as well as the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, to urgently investigate the disappearance of at least 36 unaccompanied children in Albania. We invite the “Friends of Children” Parliamentary Group of the Albanian Parliament to organize an immediate hearing session regarding the fact why unaccompanied foreign children, under the care and protection of the Albanian authorities, can disappear without a trace, while no one is held accountable for their disappearance.