TIRANA, April 19 – Hate speech in Albanian politics and especially in Parliament is one of the main reasons for the poor quality of public services Albanians are offered and the aggressiveness they sometimes face in contact with public administration employees, says the Albanian People’s Advocate.
“Unfortunately, Albania and its society are still hostage to what is known as hate speech. And it is exactly this hate speech, what we believe constitutes one of the most widespread and visible reasons of the citizens’ oppression, unsafe property, schooling, health and work, arbitrariness, incompetence or corruption,” says People’s Advocate Erinda Ballanca in the institutions 2017 annual report.
According to her, hate speech generates harmful and dangerous repercussions for almost all aspects in relations among the state, individuals and the society.
“Masked behind political competition, hate speech constitutes the existence of a permanent state of war between two camps and even the guarantee that everybody with no exception is divided into two warring camps and want to destroy each other,” she says.
Electoral campaigns or parliamentary sessions on Thursdays are one of the best examples of hate speech which often escalates to violence and comic situations which the Ombudsman’s office believes are transmitted through a top-down approach to mid- and low-ranking officials, affecting citizens in their day-to-day contacts with the public administration.
“This hate speech that is cultivated in the form of top-down pyramid, shapes based on its image even those who use it as reference. The severe hate speech in electoral campaigns, in Parliament and in state institutions, is transferred almost unchanged in frozen condition in the bottom offices, where appointments are often perceived as revenge against the enemy and where power is often supposed as a tool to expert supremacy on the defeated. These offices and clerks then serve as the first contact point for citizens with the aggressiveness of their authority,” says Ballanca, an experienced lawyer who has been serving as the People’s Advocate for about a year now.
“It is this language and this psychology of hatred which then contaminates and poisons the minds of its victims. Then, it is carried to the poor Albanian households where the lives of women, children and the elderly are suddenly devalued. It is this language of hatred that replaces normal communication between people, it is this mentality of hatred that turns them into criminals dubbed as commentators on social media and not only,” she adds.
According to the Advocate, hate speech among senior officials often leads to grave tragedies and monstrous crimes among common people, shaking the foundations of the country’s society.
“Hate speech, awareness and recovery from it, remains in our opinion one of the greatest challenges for the coming years. Whoever is a public office holder should start thinking about the cure to first of all save themselves from it. We should be confident that this would finally lead to a ray of inspiration and freedom for our Albania,” she adds.
The Ombudsman’s office said it received about 5,000 complaints in 2017, most of which related to the poor quality of the public health system, refusals or delays to benefit paid leave and delays in prisoners’ transfers due to overcrowding.
In its latest country report, the European Commission says hate speech continued to remain a problem in Albania, especially in the media.
“The rules on hate speech are in line with international standards. Five cases of hate speech were registered and two complaints were submitted to the Commissioner for the Protection against Discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation. Hate speech and discriminatory language continue to be a problem in the media, especially online media. On a positive note, the sixth edition of Tirana Gay Pride took place without any incident,” said the European Commission report.
Albania criminalized hate speech on the grounds of sexual orientation in 2013, but the Commissioner for the Protection against Discrimination says legal changes to the Criminal Code are needed to also address gender identity.
A recent USAID and UNDP country report on LGBTI expresses concern over the use of hate speech against LGBTI persons by Albanian politicians and public officials, and widespread homophobic speech in the media and on the internet, inciting and legitimizing hatred and violence against the LGBTI community.
Albania’s Constitution provides protection from discrimination in general, including discrimination on the grounds of gender, but not specially on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). Since 2010, Albania has had a law on protection from discrimination. Hate crimes and hate speech on the grounds of SOGI are prohibited in the Criminal Code. Discrimination on the grounds of SOGI is prohibited by several laws including the Labour Code, the Code of Administrative Procedures, the Law on Pre-University Education, and the Law on Free Legal Aid.
The Family Code does not recognize the rights of same-sex couples to marry or to enter into civil union. Same-sex couples also do not have any rights to access assistive reproduction technology or to adopt children. Rights relating to property, inheritance, tax or a surviving partner’s pension are also not recognized for same-sex couples.
