2008 U.S. Department of State Report on Women in Albania

Albania

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
2007
March 11, 2008

Women

The criminal code penalizes rape, including spousal rape; however, spousal rape was not reported or prosecuted in practice. The concept of spousal rape was not well established, and often neither authorities nor the public considered it to be a crime. The law imposes penalties for rape and assault depending on the age of the victim. For rape of an adult, the prison term is three to 10 years; for rape of an adolescent aged 14 to 18, the term is five to 15 years and, for rape of a child under 14, seven to 15 years.

Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a serious problem. In November the OSCE noted that "domestic violence was under-reported, under-investigated, under-prosecuted, and under-sentenced" and that "the overwhelming majority of perpetrators are granted impunity." The government has a department of equal opportunities at the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity which covers women's issues, including domestic violence. The government did not fund specific programs to combat domestic violence or assist victims, although non-profit organizations did. Women to Women, a Swedish NGO, reported that there were approximately six domestic violence hot lines that operated throughout the country. The hot lines, serving mainly the northern part of the country received approximately 24 calls per month from women reporting some form of violence. Shtreheza, an NGO that operated two shelters for battered women in Tirana, reported an increase in reported cases of domestic violence, primarily due to increased awareness of services.

In many communities, particularly those in the northeast, women were subject to societal discrimination as a result of traditional social norms that considered women to be subordinate to men. In its report on the participation of women in the February 18 local elections, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights election observation mission noted that family voting was a problem in 30 percent of the voting centers visited on election day, and that the practice raised "serious concern of the disenfranchisement of some women and other family members affected by it."

In 2006 parliament, with the assistance of the Women's Legal Rights Project, enacted an expansion of the law against domestic violence, adding administrative penalties such as protection orders. This law helped raise awareness of the issue and help available for victims through the legal system and nonprofit organizations. Implementation of the law is still in the nascent stages, and has been sporadically enforced. Further parliamentary and executive measures are necessary to complete the full scheme of support for victims.

The law prohibits prostitution; however, it remained a problem.

The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the law was rarely enforced.

The law provides equal rights for men and women under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. In practice cultural traditions resulted in men often being favored over women.

Women were not excluded, by law or in practice, from any occupation; however, they were not well represented at the highest levels of their fields. The law mandates equal pay for equal work; however, the government and employers did not fully implement this provision. According to a 2006 AI report, women earned 20 to 50 percent as much as men. Men owned 92 percent of the land and earned 84 percent of the gross domestic product, although women continued gradually to gain economic power.