In Albania during some six women were murdered by a current or ex-partner, 4000 more denounced domestic violence against them and some 150 protection orders were sought, according to official data, a decrease from 2021, but still a cause for concern.
Over 53% of Albanian women will suffer at least one form of domestic violence at least once in their life, while femicide increased by 13% in 2021 and more than half of Albanian surveyed by the UN in 2019 thought that women “should tolerate some violence to keep her family together”.
Mamani, a psychologist registered with the Order of Psychologists, told VOA that women with economic difficulties are at the most risk of violence.
“Families with economic problems have more cases of violence against women. Central government, local government, and associations must raise their voice, making the victim aware. The first is to denounce the violence, to make the person who violates aware that he is committing a criminal offence,” she said.
Some 20 women were killed in 2021, a 13% increase from the year before, with a third of all murders in the country being girls or women at the hands of their partner, ex-partner, or a family member.
Asides from the concerning murder rate, a recent UN Women survey found that a third of Albanian women feel unsafe in their own homes due to domestic violence. Some 53% said they had experienced violence, and 80% said they thought the risk had increased since the start of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of domestic violence incidents remain unreported due to the victim’s fear of reprisals or a lack of trust in police authorities. Domestic violence is also a driver of many asylum applications in the EU and UK from women fleeing abusive partners.
Meanwhile, according to a Council of Europe body on violence against women and domestic violence (GREVIO), Albanian law needs to close some of the loops when it comes to victims of domestic violence in custody battles.
The organisation’s third report since its inception focused on issues pertaining to custody law, visitation rights, and domestic violence, finding that many countries lack enough protection for children and domestic violence victims who seek to leave their abusers.
“Women victims of domestic violence who leave their abusers often are confronted with threats of harm to their children… and an alarming rate of homicides of both women and child victims… are reported regularly in the media across Europe,” the report notes.
The GREVIO report also highlighted that most member countries fail to provide age-specific care and protection or include provisions that take into account evidence of domestic violence when assigning custody or visitation rights.
“In Albania, Belgium, Italy, Monaco, Poland, San Marino, and Slovenia, GREVIO found no explicit reference to domestic violence as a legal criterion to be considered when deciding on custody and/or and visitation rights,” according to the report.
The report also noted that “States tend to give priority to maintain contact with both parents at all costs, regardless of witnessed violence.”
In these cases, the parental alienation defence is used to “undermine the views of child victims of domestic violence who fear contact with domestic abuse perpetrators, despite obvious risks for both adult and child victims.”
