Significant human rights abuses facing Albania include a lack of judicial independence, restrictions on media freedom, and pervasive corruption in all branches of governance even to the municipal level, according to the US State Department’s latest human rights report.
Published each year, the report takes a look at human rights practices in various countries across the world. This year’s report provides several scathing criticism and observations of human rights violations in Albania.
It notes the murder of Klodian Rasha in December 2020 who was shot by a policeman while violating a COVID-19 curfew. While it was the only example of the state being responsible for murder, the reported noted that 357 people including 126 minors were detained during the protests following the murder.
In terms of torture, the case of reported abuse against a minor in detention was mentioned as were multiple hunger strikes carried out by prisoners. In addition, complaints of police abuse and corruption were recorded, particularly during the arrest and interrogation of protestors.
On the plus side, the number of investigations, prosecutions, and sanctions against abusive police did increase, but no figures were given.
However, “poor physical conditions in some prisons”, a lack of medical care and corruption continued to plague correctional facilities. Furthermore, criminal proceedings were generally delayed by shortages of judges resulting from the high number of those who failed vetting and were not yet replaced. This lead to increased numbers of inmates in prison with many being held as pre-trial detainees.
Overall, the General Directorate of Prisons received 20,065 complaints in the first eight months of 2021, equivalent to 83 per day.
The harshest criticism was reserved for the right to a fair and public trial. The report stated that, “political pressure, intimidation, corruption, and limited resources prevented the judiciary from functioning fully, independently, and efficiently.”
It noted that the vetting process continued but that 42% had failed or been dismissed, 36% passed and 22% resigned or retired.
In cases where the national judicial system was exhausted and recourse to the European Court of Human Rights was sought, the Albanian authorities in most cases did not enforce rulings.
“The Office of the Ombudsman expressed concern about the country’s low rate of compliance with judicial decisions and its failure to execute the final rulings of courts and the ECHR. The ombudsman cited the state attorney’s reporting that millions of euros in compensation had yet to be paid by the government to successful complainants,” the report reads.
Unfortunately, the report stated that those who were political prisoners under communism failed to get compensation from the government and no progress was made by authorities. The case of missing persons, of which there are over 6000, was also noted.
Albania was also criticised for its problematic approach to property rights, in particular the issue of giving compensation at all, or at a fair value in cases of expropriation. This applies to both property seized during communism, and property seized to make way for infrastructure. Millions of euros is owed by the state, to citizens, the report noted.
On the topic of privacy, the government was criticised for failing to respect people’s rights.
“The constitution and laws prohibit arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, but there were reports that the government failed to respect those prohibitions,” referring to the leak of over 900,000 people’s personal data including their likely voter preferences. The report fails to mention that the data appears to be for the use of the ruling Socialist Party.
As for media freedom, there were efforts to exert direct and indirect political and economic pressure on media, including by threats and violence against journalists who tried to investigate crime and corruption.
Furthermore, business owners freely used their media outlets to gain favor and promote their interests with political parties. Most owners of private television stations used the content of their broadcasts to influence government action toward their other businesses.
“There were credible reports of senior media representatives using media outlets to blackmail businesses by threatening unfavorable media coverage,” it continued.
Other issues include self-censorship, delays to paying salaries, ethical issues, external pressure on journalists, fake news, smear campaigns, and attempts by the government to bring media under state control. It also noted at least 11 cases of violence against journalists throughout the year.
The use of legal measures to intimidate journalists was also mentioned. At least 20 lawsuits had been filed against journalists for defamation, over the first nine months of the year.
On the topic of minorities, difficulties facing Roma and Egyptian citizens included a lack of financial or documentary ability to register with the authorities. This posed difficulties in accessing public services such as healthcare and education.
The recent parliamentary elections were also criticised. While they were generally well organised, it referred to OSCE/ODIHR reports that “the ruling party derived significant advantage from its incumbency, including through its control of local administrations, and from misuse of administrative resources. This was amplified by positive coverage of state institutions in the media.”
The mission also highlighted several deficiencies, including credible allegations of pervasive vote buying by political parties and the leaking of sensitive personal data. The report found that journalists remained vulnerable to pressure and corruption.
Furthermore, media outlets reported allegations of the use of public resources for partisan campaign purposes in the 2021 parliamentary elections, and there were reports of undue political influence on media. There were also reports of limited access to voting for persons with disabilities.
Not surprisingly, corruption was a big issue in Albania. The report found the government did not implement anti-corruption laws against political figures properly and that “corruption as pervasive in all branches of government, and officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.”
Several government agencies investigated corruption cases, but limited resources, investigative leaks, real and perceived political pressure, and a haphazard reassignment system hampered investigations.
It noted that while prosecutors made significant progress in pursuing low- to mid-level public corruption cases, the prosecution rate for high-ranking officials remained low.
On the topic of domestic violence and rape, the government did not enforce the law effectively. Authorities did not disaggregate data on prosecutions for spousal rape. The concept of spousal rape was not well understood, and authorities often did not consider it a crime.
NGOs reported high levels of domestic violence against women, and police reported 3,563 cases of domestic violence as of August. In 2,205 cases, a protection order was issued. As of August 2021, 13 women had been killed by their partners.
