TIRANA, Nov. 9 – Domestic violence claimed between 20 to 30 lives a year in the past five years and affected thousands, but a network of women empowerment lobbying to provide rehabilitation services to violence perpetrators claims only up to 15 percent of women in Albania report cases to the authorities.
Domestic violence is one of the most widespread phenomena and one of the most underreported offences in the Albanian society and this makes the accurate measurement of such a phenomenon impossible, says the Albanian Women Empowerment Network in an open letter to government ministers and MPs, calling on them to guarantee the right to rehabilitating services to people charged with/perpetrators of domestic violence to ensure their departure from future violent acts.
“Domestic violence has been treated more as an individual problem belonging only to family members and not the society. It is a government and individual responsibility to undertake efficient steps in protecting women and children as well as preventing violence. Statistics show that still only 5 to 15 percent of violated women report violence. Studies also show domestic violence, especially against women and girls, has increased during the transition period,” says Ines Leskaj, the head of the Albanian Women Empowerment Network, AWEN.
Despite Albania’s legal framework, the problem is with the fact that the victims don’t consider domestic violence as an offence or they are frightened of reporting the incidents because it could trigger shame on their families. Other reasons for the underreporting and failure to complain about violence, include their inability to financially support themselves and their children when they leave or divorce their partners, the women’s network says.
“This complicated issue with its roots in marital relations, also has a negative impact on parenting. Women victims of domestic violence usually find it difficult to concentrate and efficiently work with their children, they are more prone to avoid or deny situations and neglect the influence of violence on themselves and their children. These mothers are at risk of being killed or get seriously injured and most of the time suffer chronic pain, depression, psychosomatic disorders, unwanted pregnancies, spontaneous abortions and so on,” says AWEN, a network composed of nine other women rights associations throughout Albania.
Experts lobbying for the rehabilitation of perpetrators say domestic violence is also an abusive form against children who are inevitably affected by this phenomenon. It can take the form of one or more traumatic incidents that can trigger a sudden change in the way how children think or feel about themselves, their families and life in general.
“Today in Albania, the first initiative in fulfilling this obligation is only addressed through the rehabilitation services offered by the Men and Young Men Counseling Line (established in 2010) and the Office for Young Men and Men (established in 2014 in Shkodra by the Woman to Woman NGO). The number of cases and their complexity, the social factors, the demographic distribution of the cases, their complexity and the difficulty in addressing the emergency needs of domestic violence victims has brought the need to address a holistic approach in working for the psychological rehabilitation of perpetrators of domestic violence. In addition to multi-disciplinary, this approach should be continuous, multi-facet and all-inclusive,” they add.
Victims who have spoken up advise women not to tolerate violence cases.
“There was always violence. I thought of divorcing before, but when I told him that he was not the right man for me, he took out his gun and put it right to my head. He told me that if I divorced him, he would kill me. It was because of this pressure that I couldn’t separate from him. I was also unprotected, because my parents were divorced,” says Dafina, 22-year-old worker in Tirana, divorced and mother of one child as quoted in a domestic violence report.
“I would advise women not to tolerate violence. They have the possibility of finding a solution to their problem. I know it’s difficult because of the children, but I think that it’s best to leave a violent husband. Who knows what other consequences violence might have?” she adds.
The role played by each member of an abusive family reflects how each person adjusts and is used to the secrecy, intrigues and the dangerous situation they live with, experts say.
“An abusive person ruins a mother’s parenting efforts, either by opposing her, reducing her confidence as a parent or by changing the children’s viewpoint toward the mother whom they no longer consider as a person decent for respect,” they add.
Domestic violence claimed 20 lives in 2015, down from 22 in 2014 and 28 to 30 a year from 2011 to 2013.
Police identified some 2,448 cases of domestic violence in 2015 while courts issued some 2,148 protection orders on violated women, although in sporadic cases there are also men claiming violence by their wives.
International experts say effective intervention in domestic violence cases involves inter-agency efforts to institutionalize procedures that centralize victim safety, improve offender accountability, and change community climate to be intolerant of domestic violence.
“Domestic violence may happen mainly behind closed doors, but it is not a private, family matter. It is immoral and illegal. Each and every one of us has an obligation to do whatever we can to prevent this type of violence, to enable victims to get the help and protection they need, and to ensure these crimes are prosecuted. These crimes must not be tolerated,” says Robert Wilton, the deputy head of the OSCE Presence in Albania. He describes domestic violence as not just physical abuse – hitting or kicking – but also including insults, threats of physical harm, rape and a range of controlling behaviours. “Women are the primary – but not the only – victims. Children and men can also be the targets of domestic violence,” he adds.
According to the latest data, around 59 percent of women and girls in Albania suffer at least one form of gender based violence.
