Tirana, 30 July 2021 – On the International Day against Trafficking in Human Beings, CRCA / ECPAT Albania, the largest child and youth rights advocacy organisation in the country, through this public statement would like to raise its concerns that the failures of the Albanian Government and the international community, increase the risk of trafficking in children and human beings from Albania towards EU countries.
Even though from 2001 until today, the Albanian Government with the support of the international community, have implemented a series of measures and programs to prevent trafficking in human beings, 20 years later, trafficking in children from Albania, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation, to commit crimes or slavery work, continues to occur without challenges.
The US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2021, states that “Traffickers commonly force children to beg or perform other types of compelled labor, such as selling small items. Traffickers exploit Albanian children, mainly from the Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities, for seasonal work and forced begging. Isolated reports stated that traffickers exploit children through forced labor in cannabis fields in Albania, and some traffickers are likely involved in drug trafficking.”
While the latest report of ECPAT International and ECPAT Albania, noted that during 2019-2020, Albania was ranked first for the number of unaccompanied children in Italy, with about 1393 children and minors. The UK Home Office reported that at least 162 children from Albania were exploited for sexual purposes, criminal offenses and forced labor in 2020. Just three days ago Eurostat reported that during 2020, at least 12 per cent of children seeking asylum for the first time first in a country of the European Union came from Albania, or otherwise 5055 children under 18 years of age. All these children are at risk of trafficking and exploitation.
The same concern was shared by the 2021 Report of EUROPOL, which brings the worrying fact that this year the trafficking of children through the Internet has significantly increased: “Traffickers use online platforms and services to identify victims, orchestrate THB for sexual exploitation and advertise the services of victims. The use of websites to advertise the sexual services of victims to clients has become a fundamental feature of this type of exploitation.” One of the most frequently reported modus operandi for the recruitment of victims for sexual exploitation remained the lover-boy method, with offenders reverting increasingly to psychological pressure to the detriment of direct physical abuse.”
Poverty, lack of hope for the future, disenchantment with the political situation, including the pandemic, increase the risks of child trafficking and exploitation in Albania. According to World Bank data, at least 14 percent of the country’s population lives in absolute poverty, or about 414,000 people, of whom at least 185,000 are children. Poverty is one of the main factors that feeds trafficking, slavery and child sexual exploitation.
“The lack of a national program to eliminate poverty makes the situation of children more dangerous and more helpless. Poverty in Albania is not a new phenomenon, but the fact that for the last 30 years both the Government and the international community have not addressed this issue seriously, shows that their efforts to eliminate trafficking and exploitation of children have failed. Child trafficking its happening and no one is challenging it!”- said Altin Hazizaj, General Director for CRCA/ECPAT Albania and Kosovo.
CRCA / ECPAT Albania, today publicly requests the Albanian Government to take the following measures to fight towards the elimination of child trafficking:
Establish a national program for the elimination of child poverty, making this a central policy issue of the new Government to be formed in September 2021;
Urgently establish a Taskforce (at national and local level) for the elimination of trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in Albania with the power to investigate and arrest anyone under the suspicion of committing trafficking in human beings;
Create the National Fund for Children, to finance the delivery of free food, health and psycho-social services for all children living below the poverty line in Albania;
Support the establishment / empowerment of NGO community-based services for children and young people through public funding and technical assistance.
We urge and encourage the Government of Albania as well as all the members of the new Parliament, to make the issue of the elimination of child poverty a central policy issue for the next four years. The Government and the Parliament need to give hope to all children and adolescents who think that Albania is not a child friendly country!
For more information, contact:
CRCA / ECPAT Albania
E-mail: crca@crca.al
www.crca.al