16 women and girls did not survive domestic violence during 2018. More than 100 women and girls have been killed and massacred during the last 8 years of transition in Albania. This year alone over 4000 court protection orders were given to women and girls across the country. Since 2010, some 106 women and girls have killed in Albania because of domestic violence, 73 killed by their husbands. In 90 per cent of the cases, the perpetrators are males.
Girls and women account for almost half of the Albanian population (around 1,431,714 people–INSTAT).
In Albania, domestic violence continues to be widespread in all strata of the population. According to INSTAT / UNDP, over 53% of them or about 750,000 women and girls in Albania, claim to have been victims of domestic violence at least once in their lives. The extent of domestic violence is even greater because most of the cases are not denounced and survivors of domestic violence consider the issue to be a private one.
“Weapons do not kill people, people kill people!” – wrote Ariela Murati, a 22-year-old female student of Law School in Tirana, who was killed on 21 January 2018.
CRCA Albania, a major organization for the rights of children and youth in the country, in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, through this public statement, would like to express its deepest concern over the grave situation of violence against women and girls in Albania that remains unresolved.
“Albania is turning into a battlefield for the rights of women and girls! On the one hand, we have an ever-growing society movement fighting to achieve equality between men and women, but on the other hand, traditional and cultural values that consider and treat daughters and wives as male properties produce violence and murders. In this regard, we see as the main responsible bodies the Municipalities everywhere in Albania, that in 28 years of the system change they have not managed to build almost any community services for the empowerment of families and conflict resolution” – said Altin Hazizaj, Director of CRCA and one of the members of the National Council for Gender Equality in Albania.
Reports show that victims of domestic violence face a lack of social services or indifference of public institutions. Domestic or community services on preventing domestic violence are almost non-existent, despite the fact that municipalities have a duty to offer them to everyone. While violence prevention, conflict resolution and learning new attitudes of communication since early childhood have not yet given their expected impact, the culture of violence still prevails largely in schools, society and in the family relationships.
On this day, CRCA Albania calls, not only the Government but especially the leaders and local government representatives of all municipalities in the country, to fund immediately community services for the prevention and treatment of domestic violence. We also urge the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to set up a National Program for the Prevention and Treatment of Violence in Schools, as schools are one of the main environments where the consequences of domestic violence are manifested since childhood.
25 November was selected as the International Day for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence by the General Assembly United Nations. The date coincides with the macabre assassination of the three Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic in 1960, a murder that turned into a popular movement against violence and is remembered every year.
More than a third of women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives.
WOMEN AND GIRLS KILLED DURING 2018 IN ALBANIA
- January 20-2018, A. M, was killed at the Faculty of Medicine, 22 year old student in Tirana.
- January 21- 2018, was killed in her home S. H, a 73 year old in the city of Vlora.
- April, 5-2018, a mother of 6 children, T, 68 years old was killed in her home.
- April 27-2018, was killed in her home S.SH, a 58-years old, in Shkodra.
- May 27-2018, a 52-year-old, E.T was killed in her home, after many lethal blows.
- May 30-2018, was killed in her vehicle, a 34 year old, F.N, even in the eyes of her minor
- June 7-2018, was killed at her home, named Z. S a 50 years-old, in Peshkopi.
- June 8-2018, killed at home, a 40 years-old, A.Sh, mother of 6 children.
- June 9, 2018, going to school, Xh, Ç, a 18 years old was killed in Tirana.
- June 10-2018, was killed A. M, a 20 years old and thrown her body in the street.
- July 4-2018, a 61-year-old named S. L. was killed in her apartment in Elbasan.
- July 15-2018, was killed in Shkodra in presence of her child 1 year old, a 25 year old girl, named S.N.
- August 10-2018, are killed P. Z. a 78 years old, V. Z. a 40 years old, S. Z. a 15 years old and A. Z.a 47 years old were , at their home in Vlora.
This article was originally published on The Balkanista.
