Albania should do more to stop human trafficking, says Washington

TIRANA, June 20 – The U.S. Department of State report for 2012 says that Albania is primarily a source country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, including the forced begging of children.
It also adds that Albanian women and children continue to be subjected to sex trafficking within the country.
The report makes it very clear that corruption in all levels of the Albanian society, especially among the judiciary, make such a fight against human trafficking more difficult in the country.
Albanian victims are subjected to conditions of forced labor and sex trafficking in Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, and throughout Western Europe. Authorities reported finding trafficking victims from Greece and Ukraine in Albania during the year. Children were exploited for commercial sex, forced begging, and forced criminality, such as burglary and drug distribution; girls were also subjected to prostitution or forced labor after arranged marriage. There is evidence that Albanian men are subjected to forced labor in agriculture in Greece and other neighboring countries. Re-trafficking of Albanian victims continued to be a problem.
The report also criticized the Albanian government for not fully complying with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, though it adds that it is making significant efforts to do so.
It says that despite good efforts to increase its capacity to proactively identify trafficking victims, used its witness protection program to protect a trafficking victim, and provided short-term funding for NGOs to help victims, the government’s overall lack of sustained funding to anti-trafficking NGOs resulted in temporary closure of a shelter during the year, negatively impacting victim assistance.
Widespread corruption, particularly among the judiciary, continued to hamper overall anti-trafficking efforts.
Washington advises Tirana to “proactively implement the new standard operating procedures on victim identification to increase the scope of victims identified in Albania; ensure adequate funding for NGOs providing critical victim assistance; ensure a victim-centered approach to victim identification by not conditioning victim status on victims’ roles in criminal investigations; expand the focus of care to ensure more community-based services for victims’ reintegration, and empower survivors and help reduce the stigma associated with trafficking; continue to take steps to increase victim-witness protection for victims who may be willing to cooperate with law enforcement; vigorously pursue cases of trafficking occurring within the country; and proactively investigate trafficking-related complicity of government officials.”
The annual report says that fewer trafficking offenders were convicted than during the previous year.
It writes that though despite the government’s official recognition of the need to increase the response to internal trafficking, it has yet to lead to tangible actions. Pervasive corruption in all levels and sectors of Albanian society continued to seriously affect the government’s ability to address its human trafficking problem.
Albania continued to rely primarily on international donors to fund anti-trafficking awareness campaigns.