On International Day Against Violence Toward Women, there have been calls for harsher punishments for violators and more efforts to improve women’s rights
TIRANA, Nov. 26 – Albania marked the International Day Against Violence toward Women this week with a commitment by the government and civil society to do more address the issue, which has plagued the country since the fall of communism.
Recent studies and international indexes rank Albania low both in terms of gender equality, and domestic surveys show a troubling trend of violence toward women.
In Albania, 51 percent of the women surveyed admit they have suffered emotional abuse in their lives, 39 percent have suffered psychological abuse, 31 percent physical abuse and 13 percent have suffered sexual abuse, according to a recent national sample survey on gender-based violence, implemented by local authorities with the support of the United Nations.
Albanian courts have a strong role to play, experts say. Previous history shows that violence against women is not sentenced harshly enough with men either getting light sentence or probation. Researchers claim that a key challenge remains the implementation of the police court protection orders issued.
Albania’s Center for Legal Civic Initiative released a study this week on the courts’ actions on the matter, noting that there is an increase in women who report violence against them – up 55 percent in Tirana to 61 percent in Shkodra.
The study shows that the rights of divorced women remain a key concern in the proper allocation of property rights when they are recorded on the mortgage.
Besides the violence, according to the study, in about 60 percent of divorces there are children involved and in 90 percent of cases the courts give custody to the mother but do not enforce parental responsibility equally when it comes to housing, employment and child support funds.
Almost all men who use violence against women benefit greatly from their silence on the subject and often force their female partners or family members to withdraw charges with the hope that they will return to normal family life.
The week did end with one of the toughest sentence for violence against women though, the longest term of imprisonment issued by a court in a domestic violence murder case נ35 years – for a man who killed his 18-year-old partner.
