Tirana, 4 April 2023 – The Child Rights Centre Albania (CRCA/ECPAT Albania), the leading organisation for the protection of the rights of children and young people, is extremely disappointed by the failure of the Albanian authorities to establish the National Register of Sex Offenders, eight months after the law was passed and two months after it came into force.
On 21 July 2022, the Parliament of Albania adopted the law on the “Register of Sex Offenders ” with 124 pro votes and only 1 abstention. The law is a product of many years of work by some of the best experts of CRCA/ECPAT Albania, while was proposed as a legal Initiative by MP Erisa Xhixho, vice-chair of the Parliamentary Group “Friends of Children”.
On 22 January 2023, 6 months after its adoption, the law came into force. During this time all responsible institutions had sufficient time to create the Register; to register all those convicted of sex crimes and make the Register available to stakeholders in the Government portal e-Albania. On 3 March, CRCA/ECPAT Albania sent a request to the Parliament of Albania to inform us of the state of law implementation and the steps taken for the establishment of the Register. A few days later we were informed that the work to create the registry was going on and we will be kept informed.
On 22 March, marks 8 months since the day of the law’s adoption and 2 months from entry into force, while authorities have not yet announced a date on when the Register will be functional. During this period all the public institutions, schools, gardens, hospitals, health centres, social services, sports, and residential care centres have continued to employ people who have access to children, without any knowledge of whether any of them have been convicted of sexual crimes against children or other vulnerable persons. The question we pose for public authorities is: Who are you protecting by not establishing on time the National Register of Sex Offenders?
The establishment of the Register is an urgency for Albania. It protects every child and adult from sexual violence, harassment, and exploitation. This law it is very important for the protection of children, thus we urge the Parliament of Albania to call for an urgent hearing session the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Interior and the National Agency for Information (AKSHI) to inform us when the Registry will become functional and who will be held accountable for not establishing it on time. The failure to establish the Register at the time set by law is it shows lack of responsibility of public authorities, including the Parliament, to protect children from sexual violence and crimes in Albania.