
Directed to: Mrs. Nikolla
President of the Assembly of Albania and the Group of Deputies “Friends of Children”
For information: Mrs. Erisa Xixho, Vice-President of KDMF
Ms. Ina Zhupa, Vice-President of KDMF
Ms. Desantila Tahiraj, Vice-president of KDMF
Dear Ms. Nikolla,
On behalf of CRCA/ECPAT Albania, I express our gratitude to you and the vice-presidents of GDMF for the work and activity done to date in the promotion of children’s rights.
Starting from the case of September 28, 2022 at the “Vangjel Pulla” Children’s Home in Saranda, where the educator physically abused three children, and taking into consideration many other previous cases in residential institutions in which forms of abuse were constituted physical and sexual.
CRCA/ECPAT Albania requests from you personally, as a mother above all, and of course as the chairperson of the Group of Deputies “Friends of Children” the urgent establishment of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate all forms of violence that may have been perpetrated against children in public Residential Institutions (Children’s Homes) in Albania. This investigation should include the institutional and individual responsibilities of the managers and staff of these institutions, as well as the role played by the responsible state institutions (State Social Service / State Police, etc.) in not reporting cases of violence or exploitation of children.
Children who live in public residential institutions are under the care of the Albanian state, of which we are all a part. We not only have duties to take care of these children, but above all to protect them from any form of violence, abuse and exploitation. Albanian citizens pay taxes for these institutions to be at the forefront of the care and protection of children who, for many reasons, end up sheltering in them. As one of the main civil society organizations, as a tax-paying subject and as citizens, we cannot accept to be party to the violence and exploitation of children in public institutions. Every child who may have been violated in these institutions was also violated in your name, mine and the entire Albanian society! This is unacceptable and intolerable!
We welcome not only the creation of this Investigative Commission, preferably as independent as possible from politics, recommending the placement of a personality in the field of children’s rights (judge, lawyer, lawyer, social worker, etc.) at the head of this commission, but on the other hand, we are equally ready to assist and support his work. No child in state care should and cannot be left at the mercy of people who commit crimes against them! ACT TODAY!
Sincerely,
Altin Hazizaj,
Executive Director