The Children Rights Centre of Albania (CRCA) has condemned political parties for using children in their electoral campaigns.
In a press release, they had previously called on political figures not to use minors in propaganda due to concerns that their exposure and exploitation violates the law. Albanian law is clear that the inclusion of children under the age of 14 in such material can only be done with parental approval.
The CRCA said at the start of the campaign:
“Albania has a long and terrible history of exploiting children for electoral purposes. There has been no election campaign by political parties in Albania that hasn’t used or exploited children on election posters or TV ads, treating them simply as figurines that look beautiful in ads or posters, when they have no voice, demands or expectations vis-a-vis political parties taking part in elections.”
Political parties have included children in all parts of their campaigns, whether it’s hugging them, the child waving flags, or accompanying politicians on parts of the campaign trail.
Exit has previously written about how Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj has frequently used images of him hugging and kissing children during political events. Then in 2019, Veliaj and a member of his team shared an image of a naked child in a fountain on Twitter, causing controversy.
The majority of these politicians do not use their own children for propaganda or electoral campaign purposes.
On several occasions, Exit journalists have been present in the Lake Park or playground with their children, and have seen Municipality employees taking photos of the area, including children. On one occasion, when asked to delete the images, they initially refused but eventually conceded and removed the images including the child from the phone.
Exit has chosen not to reproduce images including children for this article.
