Democracy throughout Europe is in distress and member states of the Council of Europe now face a choice whether to continue with democratic backsliding or work together to reverse the trend.
๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐.
The latest annual report on the state of #democracy, #humanrights and the #ruleoflaw across Europe, by the 47-nation Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejฤinoviฤ Buriฤ, is out.
๐ https://t.co/JBbGNl9ctq pic.twitter.com/kSIk1qG4gb
— Council of Europe (@coe) May 12, 2021
This is according to the CoE Secretary-General Marija Pejcinovic Buric following the publication of the annual report on the state of democracy human rights and the rule of law throughout the 47 CoE states, including Albania.
The report provides a summary of the situation across the continent, which highlighted a โClear and worrying degree of democratic backsliding.โ
โIn many cases, the problems we are seeing predate the coronavirus pandemic but there is no doubt that legitimate actions taken by national authorities in response to Covid-19 have compounded the situation. The danger is that our democratic culture will not fully recover.โ
Albania made several appearances in the report. The first of which relates to the โanti-defamationโ package that is still on the agenda of the Albanian parliament.ย
The laws would bring all online media under the control of a state-appointed body who could act ex-judicially to fine, limit access, and enforce popups on any media they deem to have violated a number of vague provisions.ย
The EU made bringing the laws in line with Venice Commission recommendations (who basically said to scrap it and support self-regulation), a necessity to sit at the table of the first intergovernmental conference.ย
Strangely the European Commission has said Albania has fulfilled this condition, despite the fact the law is still in parliament and a new draft has not been presented. Claims from MEP Isabel Santos that it had been withdrawn, were found to be false.
The authorities were also called out for their handling of the protests against the murder of Klodian Rasha by a policeman in December 2020. Police were criticized for their use of tear gas, excessive force, violence, and the arrest and detention of journalists.ย
The Commissioner called on the authorities to โshow restraint in policing demonstrations and ensure thorough, independent and effective investigations into all allegations of excessive use of force.โ
In terms of money laundering, the report noted that in 2020 a total of 126 new money laundering cases were referred to the prosecution, but only four of these resulted in a conviction. When it comes to human trafficking and drug trafficking, 141 cases were indicted, but itโs not clear if there were any convictions.ย
The low conviction rate for serious crimes remains an issue in Albania. Domestic violence, drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering, and human trafficking, are blighted by an extremely low number of convictions.
Issues were also noted with Albaniaโs lack of conformity with the right of children and young persons to not be exploited for employment under the age of 15. They said that the situation was not properly monitored and the situation was problematic in practice. Albania did not comply with the right of young workers to have a fair wage either. This was a failure to protect children against physical and moral dangers, the report said.
Womenโs rights were also an issue in 2020. The CoE noted how the dismissal of pregnant employees or those on maternity leave was occurring in spite of the Convention of Human Rights which is designed to protect them. In Albania, there was also no adequate remedy or compensation in cases of unlawful dismissal.
While during 2020, Albania did revise anti-discrimination legislation adding extra protection to people on the basis of their sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, there remains no effective implementation.ย
The report added โhate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity continue to be under-reported. The main challenges also include difficulties for victims to access the justice system, the rise of hate speech in social media, and the fact that public officials making homophobic or transphobic statements are rarely sanctioned.โ
