U.S. report says corruption still high in Albania

TIRANA, March 6 – The Department of State issued Tuesday the country report on Human Rights Practices for 2006 in Albania stressing once again that corruption remained the country’s main shortcoming affecting negatively its overall performance, economic development and democratic standards.
The report said that civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the security forces. The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were significant problems in several areas. Arrest and pretrial detention conditions continued to be an area of great concern with cases of abuse, violence, and inhuman conditions reported. Police corruption and impunity continued to be a problem. There were societal killings and an atmosphere of fear in some areas due to traditional blood feuds. Societal violence and discrimination against women and children were a problem, as was trafficking in persons. Societal discrimination against homosexuals, Roma, and Balkan-Egyptians also continued.
Following are some of the main topics mentioned in the report.
There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings; however, the country continued to experience high levels of societal killings. The police and prison guards at times beat and abused suspects and detainees. Conditions inside the prisons and detention centers remained poor and were marked by decrepit conditions, overcrowding, poor food quality, physical abuse of detainees, and a lack of medical care. Overcrowding remained a serious problem in prisons and detention centers.
The overall performance of law enforcement remained weak. Unprofessional behavior and corruption remained major impediments to the development of an effective civilian police force. During the year progress was made in removing incompetent or corrupt judges from the bench. There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees.
While the media was active and largely unrestrained, there were serious problems with the use of the media for political purposes. Politicization of the media remained an issue of concern and, in the run up to local elections planned for January 2007, appeared to be on the upswing in the final quarter of the year. The polarization of media outlets into opposing camps has become more pronounced. Publishers and newspaper owners continued to dictate news stories to serve their political and economic interests and sometimes blocked stories that ran counter to those interests. Journalists continued to practice self-censorship, and there was little transparency in the financing of the media. Political intimidation of the media persisted. Journalists continued to complain that publishers and editors censored their work either directly or indirectly in response to political and commercial pressures. Many journalists complained that the absence of employment contracts frequently hindered their ability to report objectively.
Corruption remained a major obstacle to meaningful reform. During the year, the country received a score of 2.6 on Transparency International’s 10 point composite index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country’s politicians and public officials, indicating a perception that the country has a serious corruption problem.
Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a serious problem. Child abuse, including sexual abuse, occasionally occurred but was rarely reported. Trafficking in children, although not widespread, was a problem. Child labor remained a major problem.
The country remained a source for trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, but was deemed by international observers to no longer be a significant country of destination or transit. The trafficking of children to Kosovo and Greece for begging or sexual exploitation continued to be a problem, although estimates varied widely on the number of victims annually. Internal trafficking of women and children continued to be a problem. The main forms of recruitment of adult victims of trafficking involved marriage under false pretenses or false promises of marriage to lure victims abroad for sexual exploitation. Prosecution of traffickers has improved. In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of cases of direct police involvement in trafficking. However, police officers continued to be involved in various forms of trafficking-related corruption, despite determined efforts of the Office of Internal Control and State Intelligence Service to address the problem. The government provided some limited services to trafficking victims, operating a shelter near Tirana and a national referral mechanism that enabled authorities to share data confidentially on victims returning to the country. Re-trafficking was a significant problem.
There were reports of police violence and societal discrimination against members of minority groups.
The national minimum wage was $145 (14,000 lek) per month. However, it was not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The average wage for government workers was approximately $300 (28,950 lek) per month.