A grave accident happened some days ago in a village in the southeast of Albania: a natural gas container exploded inside a bar severely harming more than 30 people, some of which endured third degree burns. Some of them still have to fight for their lives in intensive care units. Around 30 patients were transferred to the central QSUT hospital in the capital since regional hospitals do not possess the equipment or expertise to deal with the grave cases. The tragic events go on: just a few days after, this accident was followed by the tragic loss of life of a 4 year old toddler in a fire that ruined several apartments inside the capital.
Again the primary suspected culprit is the gas container. This is also compounded by the fact that firefighters saw no protective safety measures whatsoever against fires in the entire building where the fire took place. Yet again police started investigations. This is just the latest grave incidents involving the use of natural gas containers. You can see these containers being transported in our towns in old open cars, following the bumpy rhythms of the road.
You can see them being traded as if they were oranges at the side of the roads, men and women alike lift them off on their shoulder to carry them away to their homes. Albania does not have the infrastructure to use gas in a systemic way in housing and commercial sites. So people use the individual containers which often become the cause of terrible accidents. There exist state structures in charge of checking their content, the standards under which they are stored and sold. They don’t do a good job apparently especially in remote or rural areas where one wonders if they ever show up to check.
Again this week the individual owner of a bar where a gas container exploded last was charged by the prosecution and is going to trial. However, this kind of accountability does not figure among the ranks of the responsible officials at the State Technical Inspectorate where they have special offices that have to check the use of pressurized equipment. There seems to be a common current underlining all these: there seems to be no regard whatsoever for a core and crucial pillar of organization,respect for human safety standards which indirectly connects to the wider and more important subject of human security.
Human security is now globally recognized as important as national security. Sometimes even more so. Starting from the simple recognition that ‘human life has a value and needs protection’, a notion often lost in developing countries, policies that fall into the human security category encompass many different but related fields. Lack of good governance is a key risk to human security and the lack of implementation of human safety standards is a key indicator of serious gaps in good governance.
In the last 25 years, human safety seems to be the most neglected area of intervention in Albania, to the peril of the security and well-being of citizens and as an ultimate obstacle in the efforts for European integration. Often too focused on the political squabbles of the day, citizens and policymakers alike, from domestic and international organizations, ignore the daily life realities that highlight the distance Albania has to cross to reach the basic safety and security standards of the EU. They are subject to the less interesting and less reported chapters of the reports of those who check Albania’s preparedness to move forward towards accession.
The main risk factors towards security of citizens in Albania are not wars and terrorism. They are internal risks coming from lack of implementation of laws and regulations, standards and safety measures. Ultimately responsibility to safeguard human security rests with the state. Before rushing to show solidarity and care in the hospitals after accidents happen, law-makers and executive power officials need to consider carefully their own work to prevent such calamities from happening: have they put in place all the necessary laws and regulations? Most likely yes. Are they asking accountability from the institutions that are supposed to implement them?
Are they exerting enough pressure to fight corruption in the state agencies that are supposed to check the safety of private enterprises that are supposed to check our food and medicines, gas containers and road safety standards? Most likely no! Ultimately a variety of actors need to enhance their engagement to safeguard human security in addition to the state. In a dedicated study for human security in Albania, experts argue that ‘human security’ is not an integral part of security strategies and also is not enough developed as a subject in public opinion.
Both civil society and media could correct this while simultaneously exerting more positive pressure to authorities. The support and expertise of relevant international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, EU Delegation and others can bring about considerable positive changes in this regard. Again human security needs to be part of their strategic agendas for assistance towards Albania. This should be coupled with blanket information campaigns to raise citizens’ awareness for safety standards. Human security is something we can neglect only to our own peril!
