Six women were murdered and 2980 others reported violence in Albania during 2020.
This is according to a status from the State Police in honour of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
Numbers have almost tripled in just one year. In 2019, 1140 cases were reported, a decrease from 2019. But one year later and with one month until the end of the year to go, there are around eight reports a day, when compared to just three in 2019.
Unfortunately, out of the 2980 individual reports, only 523 arrests were made. This is an arrest rate of just 17.55%. The police did not report any prosecution or conviction rates but it is likely that this is lower still.
In 2019, out of the 1140 cases reported, 793 were convicted- an arrest rate of almost 70%. The figures do not seem promising for this year.
It is worth noting that the vast majority of women do not report cases of violence against them. This is due to fear of further violence from the perpetrator or lack of faith in the police and justice system.
Globally, it’s estimated that only 6.6% of women report violence against them. Data is not available for Albania, but using this average, we could estimate that over 45,000 women experienced violence during 2020. This number could be even higher taking into account the surge in calls to domestic violence helplines during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the fact that Albania has a higher than average rate of domestic violence than the European average.
Multiple different studies have shown that more than half of Albanian women will suffer from domestic violence at least once in their lives. Many suffer different kinds on multiple occasions.
While the number of murders has decreased, the rate of abuse remains high and arrests concerningly low.
