Endorsed by Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 368, dated 31.05.2005

NATIONAL CHILD STRATEGY OF ALBANIA

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ...... 4 Situation of the Child in Albania...... 4 Governmental Agencies at the Central and Local Levels ...... 5 Healthcare for Children ...... 7 Social Services ...... 8 Children in Emigration ...... 9 Children from Minority Populations ...... 10 Legal Reform and the Best Interests of the Child ...... 11 Future Steps...... 12 Acknowledgements ...... 13 MAIN OBJECTIVES OF NATIONAL CHILD STRATEGY OF ALBANIA ...... 14 I. CHILD SURVIVAL ...... 15 Child Health ...... 15 Mother and Child Nutritional Care ...... 17 Organization of Child Healthcare ...... 19 Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) ...... 20 Disadvantaged Children Living in Institutions ...... 21 Disadvantaged Children Not Living in Institutions ...... 23 Children with Disabilities ...... 24 Abandoned and Street Children ...... 25 Children and the Environment ...... 25 II. CHILD PROTECTION...... 27 Protecting Children from Social Exclusion ...... 27 Preventing Violence against Children ...... 27 Preventing Child Labour ...... 28 Role of Public Order Ministry in Child Protection ...... 30 Protecting Children in Pre-detention Centres and in Prisons...... 31 Protecting Children in Zones Affected by Vengeance and Blood Feud...... 31 Protecting Children from Trafficking ...... 31 Preventing Child Suicide ...... 33 Protecting Children from Weapons and Explosives...... 34 Protecting Children on the Road ...... 34 Protection for Female Children ...... 35 III. CHILD DEVELOPMENT ...... 36 Pre-primary Education ...... 37 Compulsory Education ...... 38 Secondary Education ...... 39 Education and Child Rights ...... 39 Provision of Data on Educational Progress ...... 40 Child Leisure and Recreation ...... 41 Libraries, Children’s Books and Theatre ...... 41 Children and Media ...... 41 Educating Children from Vulnerable Social Groups...... 43 IV. CHILD PARTICIPATION ...... 44

2 Child Freedom of Speech ...... 44 Child Participation in Decision-making ...... 44 Forms of Child Participation in Decision-making ...... 45 Child Friendly Cities ...... 47 MONITORING OF THE STRATEGY...... 49

3 INTRODUCTION

Situation of the Child in Albania

Protection of the rights of the child is an important factor in directing social policies in the Republic of Albania. The rationale underlying these policies derives from the fundamental principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania1, the UN Conventions and other international instruments ratified by the Albanian government, specifically taking note of the fact that, by reason of their physical and mental immaturity, children2 are entitled to special protection and treatment by the family and the state.

Official INSTAT figures point to an overall number in Albania of 1,396,000 children out of a population of 3,320,000, more than forty percent of the entire population of the country.

In Albania, human rights, in general, and children’s rights, in particular, have seen important improvements as a result of all round legal and institutional reforms implemented as part of the efforts to approach western European standards. Of particular note have been the following developments:

In February 1992, Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), one of the most important acts of international law. This important instrument has been published and disseminated for public knowledge, especially among the institutions, organizations and agencies concerned with children’s rights and issues.

In 2001, the country approved the National Child Strategy (NCS) and the Action Plan for 2001–2005. The document was designed in accordance with the Constitution of Albania and the CRC. This strategy is an important document that sets forth the strategic objectives of the Albanian Government’s policy for 2001–2005 in this sensitive area of social development, and is based upon the four principles of the CRC: survival, protection, development and participation. The strategy turned out to be an important instrument in the implementation of the government’s policies to protect children’s rights.

1 Article 54 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania stipulates: “Children… are entitled to special protection by the state.”… “Every child has the right to protection from violence, abuse, exploitation and forced labor, especially if the child is below the minimum age for admission to employment and/or s/he works in such conditions that may injure the health and mental welfare of minors and/or disrupt his/her normal development.”

2 In accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Albanian Legislation, child means every human being from the moment of birth until 18 years of age when s/he reaches full maturity to be responsible before the law.

4 In the course of the implementation of this strategy, coordination and cooperation was established with all stakeholders: central and local governments, and civil society organizations. Efforts were made to enlist the active participation of the community and individuals through building awareness on the need for all to contribute towards children enjoying their full rights.

In June 2004, the Council of Ministers reviewed progress made in the implementation of the NCS and the related Action Plan. The review concluded that satisfactory progress had been made in the implementation of the actions contained in the Action Plan. It also took the decision to re-conceptualise the Strategy and Action Plan with a view to addressing fully the new challenges that lie ahead in the period 2005–2010 and to strengthening the institutional mechanisms charged with the protection of the rights of the child.

In January 2005, in Geneva, at the 38th session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Albania submitted its first national report on the implementation of the CRC. The Committee commended Albania’s progress with regard to safeguarding and protecting children’s rights. The Albanian authorities are now working to translate into practice the recommendations of the Committee.

Recently, the Council of Ministers passed the European Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is now with the Albanian Parliament for ratification.

Governmental Agencies at the Central and Local Levels

At the central level, the main institutions responsible for child issues are the Ministries of: Education and Science; Labour and Social Affairs, Youth, Culture and Sports; Health; Justice; Public Order.

With a view to carrying out the tasks set forth in the Action Plan of the NCS 2001–2005, special units have been established at some of the ministries and state institutions to ensure the protection of the rights of the child, including the following institutions:

 Ministry of Public Order: a Unit for the Protection of Child, with the participation of all Departments of the Regional Police Forces;  Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs: in addition to the Social Services Department charged with design and implementation of policies to protect children, as well as with coordination with child-focused NGOs, a special unit for the elimination of child labour;  Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports: a Directorate for Coordination of Youth Policies, which is responsible for participation policies, culture and sports activities;  Ministry of Justice: a special department to study and develop legislation with regard to juvenile justice as directed by international law;  Ombudsman Office: in April 2004, Section of Child Rights, operating as part of the General Complaints Bureau. The mission of this section, presently employing two assistant commissioners, is to serve as an attorney and monitoring body of child rights in accordance with the CRC. One project financed by Swedish International

5 Development Agency (SIDA), and implemented jointly with Save the Children, is working to build the capacity of and strengthen this new section. Planned for three years, the project will aim inter alia at improvements being made in the Ombudsman Law, to make it more amenable to the rights of the child. In addition, the project provides for the establishment of regional branches, staff training, creation of a library on child rights, research and study, increasing public awareness on the rights of the child, etc.

Notwithstanding the establishment of the above structures, specially dedicated to child protection, up until June 2004, the Committee for Equal Opportunities at the uppermost level only employed one specialist on child issues, making it practically impossible to monitor and coordinate the related activities of all central and local structures, as well as those of child-focused NGOs. Whereupon, on Ordinance of the Prime Minister, No. 118, dated 30.06.2004, a new structure dedicated to protection of child rights was established, namely the Inter-ministerial Committee on the Rights of the Child (ICRC).

The Inter-ministerial Committee on the Rights of the Child:

 Is an advisory body to the Council of Ministers. In accordance with the Government’s programme, ICRC designs and coordinates child policies. It also monitors the implementation of the NCS and to make it an effective priority issue on the government’s agenda.  Is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister;  Is composed of the Minister of Education and Science, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports, the Minister of Public Order, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, the Minister of Local Governance and Decentralization, the Minister of Finances and the Director of the National Strategy for Socio-economic Development;  Reviews proposals of important draft laws and draft decisions affecting the implementation of the NCS;  Reviews and endorses programmes and projects for the protection and development of the rights of the child in Albania;  Coordinates the activities and projects of local and foreign donors in the field of child rights.

To assist the ICRC with preparation of documentation, a technical working group has been set up with participants from the line ministries, which are cooperating ever more increasingly and efficiently with NGOs and all other child-focused organizations and agencies working in Albania.

Albania has more than one hundred NGOs working on child issues. Some of these NGOs are very active and have been able to influence the emergence of new standards of child protection and the shaping of new services dedicated to child survival, development, protection and participation.

6 In addition to the developments at the central level, local governments are gaining increasing weight as part of the decentralization strategy. The year 2005 marked the first year in Albania of the transfer from central to local government of capital investment funds for primary healthcare and general education. This year also saw the transfer of social services and social service delivery institutions to the care of local governments. With the approval of the Council of Ministers of these three decentralization policy documents regulating social services for children, the necessary legislation has been created for local governments to contract NGOs to deliver social services.

Social service departments have been set up in local government units, though initially only in the Municipalities of Tirana, Durres and Elbasan. In addition to administering economic aid programmes, these departments are also responsible for the protection of people in need. In particular, a fully staffed department at the Municipality of Tirana has a special section for child protection.

The decentralization of service related competences and the budgetary strengthening of local governments is yielding positive results with regard to instituting measures to improve the situation for children in Albania. Such measures include the installation of heating systems in schools, nurseries and kindergartens, extending access to nurseries and kindergartens for physically and mentally disabled children, awarding differential payments for parents with more than one child in nursery and kindergarten and providing services free of charge for families in need, etc.

Many important projects have been carried out as part of the efforts to implement the CRC, part of which with funding from donors. Special contribution has been made by UNICEF and the specialized agencies of the United Nations in Albania, particularly in regard to the protection of child rights and the promotion of child development by supplying new models of services for children. In addition, inputs from NGO projects have been constructive for creating informed dialogue on how to guarantee child rights to the maximum possible extent.

Special care has been made to define strategy objectives and formulate a plan of concrete measures to be taken by the bodies mentioned above for the protection of marginalized child categories in Albania, such as orphaned (both biological and social), trafficked, or at risk of being trafficked, poor, isolated, minority, especially Roma, and emigrant children and those with disabilities, etc.

Healthcare for Children

The Albanian government is committed to the constant improvement of women’s and children’s wellbeing and quality of life through the reduction of mortality and disease, with the aim of approaching a modern, western quality of life.

Child healthcare begins before birth, continues at birth and during child-rearing, and is closely linked with maternal healthcare. For children up to 12 months of age medications are given free of charge. To prevent contagious diseases, vaccination is free and

7 obligatory for children up to 15 years of age. Child vaccination is among the priorities of the Health Ministry. Albania has a scheme of obligatory vaccinations against the main childhood diseases preventable by vaccination. Surveys indicate that more than 95 per cent of children receive vaccination, which is comparable with European Union standards.

Improvement of child mental health is another direction the Ministry of Health is following. WHO estimates that about 10–20 per cent of children in Albania have one or more mental or behavioural problems.

Although there are no hard and fast studies on the incidence in Albania of development disorders in early childhood, a 1998 study by the National Centre for Child Care and Development, in cooperation with professionals from the University Hospital Centre in Tirana, revealed that six per cent of all four-year olds had development problems and speech impediments, a high incidence by WHO standards.

Child health development goes beyond simply survival and physical growth and includes psycho-social development and mental health. To attain this requires close cooperation among paediatricians, family doctors and mental health and developmental professionals, as well as school authorities and other bodies engaged in child care. It also takes close coordination and collaboration with families and carers.

Provision of health service in schools is another priority, even though Albanian schools are covered by physicians and dentists.

Social Services

Among social protection policies, an important place is occupied by social protection dedicated to children and the establishment of new services as close to the community as possible. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in the newly approved “Law Concerning social protection and social services”, as well as the in the Social Services Strategy adopted recently, has projected the implementation of a comprehensive and profound reform of the social protection system. The reform will aim at identifying ways to reduce poverty and establish a quality system of social services for people in need, especially children.

An important place in the reform plans is occupied by the decentralization of services and the allocation of more powers to local government to deliver those services. Also of importance is the re-conceptualization of the role of central and local structures and of civil society organizations with regard to designing and implementing policies that give utmost priority to the best interests of the child. This will be attained through the de- institutionalization of social services and the establishment of new service delivery alternatives.

Albania is undergoing a reform through which child services are being transferred from the institutions to the family, the community or the social family. The present situation is

8 one where the delivery institutions and the services themselves are being transferred from a responsibility of central to local government. This is a very important moment for improving the efficiency, variety, quality and quantity of services, as well as for bringing the services closer to the needs of the community.

Some of the striking problems encountered in this direction are insufficient data on the following categories: orphan children, single parent children, children living with grandparents, or relatives other than parents, children with no living close kin and children with disabilities. Other problems relate to the quality of and access to community services and to coverage of the entire country with such services. However, the transfer of services under the authority of local government units is expected to improve the situation in this regard. In cooperation with NGOs, the local government units will be able to set up information and monitoring systems towards realistic needs assessments and the design of efficient interventions while bringing these services closer to beneficiaries.

Children in Emigration

Children in emigration, either with or without parents, are coming ever more under the focus of attention of government and other subjects concerned with child care, both within and without the country. Although there are no accurate numbers of children in emigration, data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicate that living in Greece alone there are about 25,000 Albanian children aged between six and twelve years. Of these children only a small fraction may be receiving lessons in their mother tongue, and only there thanks to the efforts of emigrant Albanian teachers.

Emigrant children are at risk of subjugation to labour and trafficking, particularly where they are unaccompanied by their parents. There are estimates that about 4,0003 children have emigrated from Albania without their parents, mainly to neighbouring countries. Other sources place at 6,000 the number of illegal emigrant children who are subjected to hard labour, begging and other forms of exploitation. Given the illegal nature of the phenomenon and lack of information from the hosting countries, it is difficult to confirm these numbers. However, the situation would still be alarming if the figures were lower.

As a result of the implementation of actions contained in the National Strategy against Human Trafficking, as well as of the coordination and interaction of both governmental and non-governmental efforts in the prevention, protection and rescue of trafficked victims, and also thanks to efforts to punish traffickers, Albania has made notable progress in the fight against trafficking. Thus, not only has the number of victims been reduced, but the country is no longer among the main destination or transit territories (as against countries of origin). Nevertheless, as evidenced in documentation of domestic and international sources, there are still cases of Albanian children emigrating illegally to Greece and Italy due to a lack of necessary prevention and protection bodies and a lack of capacity to counter the problem either timely or efficiently.

3 Based on the National Strategy against Human Trafficking, 2001

9 To address these problems, the Albanian Government had, in October 2003, approved an Anti-Traffic Action Plan 2003–2004 as part of the National Strategy against Human Trafficking. The Action Plan set the objective of developing a Strategy against Child Trafficking, and included the establishment of an inter-ministerial group within governmental structures to fight human trafficking in close collaboration with local organizations and domestic and international NGOs. This group was charged with developing, implementing and monitoring objectives in the fight against child trafficking.

At the beginning of 2005, the government approved a National Strategy and Action Plan 2005–2007 in the Fight against Child Trafficking and the Protection of Trafficked Children. These documents provide for the creation of dedicated special structures, down to the level of prefecture, to coordinate and monitor the prevention of child trafficking. They also provide for recovery, education, healthcare and other services for the benefit of trafficked children. The main orientations of the Strategy are: prevention of child trafficking, protection, recovery and re-integration of trafficked children, the voluntary return of migrant children, and coordination of efforts among national and international, governmental and non-governmental, central and local bodies concerned with this task.

Children from Minority Populations

Albania is home to several ethnic minorities. As members of these minorities themselves testify, they and their children are not subjected to any form of discrimination due to ethnicity. Although the Albanian tradition not to discriminate against minorities and ethnic communities is notable, the lack of accurate numbers of overall and particular minorities should also be noted to protect formally the rights and freedoms of individuals, including children, from these groups.

Among Albania’s minorities, the most economically and educationally marginalized are the Roma. In view of this situation, the government, in September 2003, approved a National Strategy to Improve the Living Conditions of the Roma Minority in Albania. The strategy focuses on the improvement of their economic conditions, education standards, protection of culture, etc. The interventions designed by the strategy will positively and directly impact the growth and development of Roma children, too. The government has followed up on the strategy and continues to do so by enacting laws and bylaws to create an enabling environment for the implementation of tasks contained in it.

The most important step in implementation of the strategy is the registration of minority groups to enable the enjoyment of the benefits prescribed by law to the maximum extent possible. The Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization is committed to completing the registration of every individual in Albania. To assist the registration process an awareness building campaign, targeting particularly the disadvantaged communities, is being implemented, mostly through radio and TV channels. Registration of children is an important measure not only to protect them from abuse and trafficking, but also to create conditions conducive to their development.

10 At the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, a Monitoring Unit for the implementation of the Strategy has been established, while in the Ministry of Education and Science a number of projects providing access to education for Roma children is being implemented.

Among the Roma community, various categories and age cohorts among children are particularly faced with threats and dangers, such as violence, exploitation, poverty, etc. Institutions responsible for protecting these groups include the police, the justice system, the community itself, and the central and local governments.

Legal Reform and the Best Interests of the Child

Albanian legislation does not contain a unified legal instrument to provide for the treatment of children who fall victim to exploitation, abuse, violence, etc. Instead, relevant provisions are scattered in specific pieces of legislation in accordance with the nature of the abuse. Thus, reform of the legislation is an important element in the fight to protect the child’s best interests.

Significant progress has been made with regard to improving civil and penal legislation to ensure protection of the child from phenomena that pose serious threats to society in general and the future of children in particular. Here mention should be made of the newly approved Family Code the provisions of which are permeated entirely by the principle of the child’s best interests. In addition, the Law on the Civil Registrar provides another instrument in favour of the child’s interests. Not only have the several reviews of the Penal Code made additions to the effect of better protection of the child from abuse, sexual exploitation, trafficking, prostitution, pornography, sexual harassment, etc., but the entire law-making process in the country has successively strengthened the grip of law on the individuals committing such crimes.

Court sections specifically dedicated to conducting proceedings involving minors are on the way to being established. Meanwhile, parallel steps are being taken to improve detention conditions for minors as part of the overall efforts to reduce juvenile delinquency. Training of staff appointed to work with minors is another important orientation of the efforts to upgrade the quality of the system.

To ensure the child’s best interests are being genuinely facilitated, the services of psychologists have been made available in the courts, especially in divorce cases. Furthermore, social workers are now a growing reality in the country’s prisons and pre- detention centres. Special care is being taken to separate minors from adults in the prisons while creating conditions for them to attend school, use the library, engage in sports and culture activities and practise their religion.

Data from 2002 and 20034, indicate that in Albania a considerable number of children are punished with fines or imprisoned for terms up to 2 years. Based on international

4 In 2002, 251 minors were condemned for comission of crimes and 23 for legal contraventions (?), whereas in 2003, 259 minors were condemned for crimes and 49 for having violated the law. Source?

11 standards, the Justice Ministry has made it a priority of its institutional reform strategy to set up a Delinquency Correction Institute. In this context, mention should be made of the steps taken to provide training to education employees in prisons and pre-detention centres (presently under the competencies of the Ministry of Justice) as well as to judges and prosecutors engaged in the deliberation of minors’ issues.

The legislation affecting minors is entirely newly drafted and in accordance with European Union standards. The principles of the CRC form the basis of every level of hierarchy involved with the protection of the rights of the child.

Future Steps

The identification of future steps to be taken with regard to policies, interventions and measures towards the creation of an adequate system of juvenile justice will conform to the following goals:  Upgrading of justice for minors, especially those that come into conflict with the law, through the improvement of correction services;  Development of comprehensive, legal material and procedural measures for treatment of minors, especially in the penal, civil and family codes;  Establishment of specialized and properly equipped structures at the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court to deal with minors;  Increase in access to custom-tailored quality assistance specializing in the social, legal and psychological needs of children in conflict with the law. Efforts will be made to introduce modern psycho-social counselling programmes throughout the system.  Prevention of delinquency and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents;  Increase in protection for children serving time in prison;  Provision of short-, medium- and long-term training for staff engaged in the treatment of minors.

Reinforcement of the legislation and institutional reform in the field of juvenile justice will be attained through the following steps:  Promotion of child rights and protection of the child from threats to their life, health, education and normal growth;  Adequate punitive justice and recovery treatment for delinquents to reintegrate them into society;  Approval of the legal package “Concerning juvenile justice”, ratification of conventions and other international instruments protecting child rights, approval of the law “Concerning the activity of the Albanian Adoption Committee”, etc.;  Increase in public awareness of juvenile justice.

Meanwhile, strengthening of juvenile justice will be attained through:  Establishment of structures to implement the legal package on juvenile justice, such as a Delinquency Correction Institute as the principal institution for alternative punishment and corrective measures;

12  Establishment of special sections in courts to engage in juvenile justice until such time as a Minors’ Court is established.

As regards efficiency and effectiveness of structures and agencies concerned with child treatment in Albania, one study carried out to survey the situation of the child revealed that the responsible structures and agencies have so far acted in isolation. Effective cooperation and coordination of efforts has been lacking, especially with regard to the sharing and processing of information to create conditions for service delivery and child assistance on a timely and efficient basis. The present stage of development on a national scale demands that Albanian society strengthens its institutions and improves its coordination and interaction to the benefit of the child’s best interests.

In this connection, the review of the Strategy and Action Plan on the Rights of the Child, the establishment of the Inter-ministerial Committee on the Rights of the Child, the setting up of a Child Rights Unit to monitor implementation of child-oriented measures and the deepening of the decentralization process are considered to be important steps that will lead towards positive results.

Acknowledgements

The important documents and structures concerned with child rights mentioned in the introduction are a direct result of the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child that emerged from the Geneva meeting of January 2005. In connection with this work, review of the NCS and related Action Plan has been attained thanks to the assistance and sponsorship of the UNICEF Office in Albania.

These two important documents are the result of broad-based processes undertaken in collaboration with stakeholders and subjects concerned with child rights. To achieve consensus on problems and issues and on possible solutions as reflected in these documents debate and discussions were held at six specially dedicated round-table meetings.

The expert group wishes to acknowledge the help and support of all domestic and foreign agencies, individuals and organizations that participated in the process. Special thanks go to the representatives of local government units, the Ombudsman Office, CRCA, Save the Children, Children’s Alliance, Albanian Youth Council, Youth Parliament, Student Governments, and all those who helped in the production of the strategy.

13 MAIN OBJECTIVES OF NATIONAL CHILD STRATEGY OF ALBANIA

1. Establishment of structures and the provision of sufficient and adequate financial and human resources necessary for the implementation of obligations deriving from the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Child Strategy to the end of creating a better place for children to live.

2. Creation of equal opportunities for children irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, birth status, etc.

3. Furtherance of the processes that ensure the child’s best interests, his or her right to information and freedom of expression, his or her participation in decision- making on issues affecting their life and welfare within the family, at school and at every other institution.

4. Establishment of institutions and provision of necessary measures to protect children from all types of abuse, violence and exploitation.

5. Striving for children to live in their family environments, save in exceptional circumstances, when alternative child care should be provided for, with primary focus on his or her placement in a social family.

6. Improvement of Albania’s child adoption laws to ensure safe and adequate adoption; strengthening of the Albanian Adoption Committee.

7. Increase in attention paid to creation of equal opportunities for children with disabilities.

8. Improvement of healthcare for mother and child with a view to attaining normal European Union standards.

9. Building of an efficient education system to ensure that children learn in adequate conditions conducive to completion of compulsory education.

10. Reduction in the number of children involved in labour activities while strengthening child protection systems.

11. Reduction in the number of street children and provision of services that contribute towards the protection and development of such children.

14 I. CHILD SURVIVAL

Child Health

To try to ensure a child’s wellbeing and normal development, care should start before conception and continue during the antenatal, birth and postnatal stages. Therefore it is very important that women only conceive when they are biologically and socially mature. Mothers should have access to decent food, quality healthcare and knowledge on how to look after themselves and their babies both during and after pregnancy. They should also enjoy emotional support during stages of critical importance for their baby’s life. Mothers, without distinction, should have access to quality services throughout this whole period.

The present healthcare system in Albania provides care for reproductive women at specialized centres called mother and child counselling services (through a midwife, gynaecologist or obstetrician). These centres cover every city and town in the country and form part of the primary healthcare services. In the villages, such services are offered by the health centres (through a nurse, midwife and/or family doctor). At the secondary level, maternal care is provided at the obstetric and gynaecological wards of the Regional Hospitals.

Data from surveys undertaken by UNICEF, WHO and other organizations, reveal that 95 per cent of women in Albania receive care during pregnancy from adequately specialized personnel. In urban areas, such care is delivered by specialized doctors in 73 per cent of cases, while 17 per cent of cases are cared for by nurses or midwives. The situation is different in rural areas where about 50 per cent of cases are consulted by nurses or midwives. Nevertheless, overall it ought to be noted that the quality of antenatal services is still below accepted levels. In addition, the present level of counselling, encouragement and awareness of pregnant women, family and society on the importance of healthy pregnancies for healthy lives is also low.

One very important element in providing for safe births and the survival of mothers and newborn is access to specialized care with carers properly equipped to manage complications and provide for safe deliveries. It is crucial, therefore, that births are delivered in designated locations and not at home, as sometimes happens.

A mother’s access to healthy food is an important determinant of a baby’s health. Malnutrition and bad health form a vicious circle that continues throughout life: malnutrition leads to poor health and disease, which for their part reinforce poverty and the impossibility of obtaining decent food. Maternal malnutrition affects babies by threatening their very survival and posing the risk of them acquiring lifelong disabilities. However, it should be pointed out that only inconsiderable fractions of live births fail to survive because of a mother’s nutritional deficiencies. Nevertheless, such deficiencies during pregnancy, insufficient breastfeeding in the first months of life and poor

15 supplemental nutrition after six months of life pose serious threats to the health of the newborn.

The National Food Programme of 1990 revealed that 53 per cent of pregnant women (aged 25–29 years) were anaemic. Although nutritional surveys were been carried out in the subsequent transitional years, based on the social and economic changes that have taken place in the country, dieticians believe that, at least for the percentage of the population that can afford it, the food situation has improved, as more milk, vegetables and fruit are being consumed per capita.

Family planning has an important part to play in reproductive health as it affects all of the three key areas: 1. Maternal health, by distancing births; 2. Child health, by enabling mothers to care for easily and create strong psycho- emotional bonds with their children; 3. Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS through knowledge building and access to contraceptives.

Family planning help is available at women’s counselling centres in the towns and in the obstetrics-gynaecology departments of city hospitals. In rural areas such services are offered by general practitioners in village health centres. In all, there are some 300 family planning centres countrywide.

Infant mortality (number of deaths of children up to 1 years of age per 1,000 live births) has seen a 50 per cent decrease in the last decade and a half compared to the early nineties (down to 15.1 in 2004 from 35 in 1990). However, by European Union standards, the rates are still high.

Child age mortality per 1,000 live births for the years 1993 to 2003:

Year Child Mortality Year Child Mortality Year Child Mortality 1993 35.4 1997 22.5 2001 17.5 1994 28.3 1998 20.5 2002 17.3 1995 30.0 1999 17.5 2004 15.5 1996 25.8 2000 16.0

Under the Millennium Development Goals, the Health Sector has set the objective of reducing mortality to 10 deaths per 1,000 live births for children up to 5 years of age, by the year 2015. The way to achieve this is to achieve integrated outpatient management including examination, treatment and combined counselling for main childhood diseases, as well as improving maternal and child nutrition.

Respiratory tract, infant and diarrhoea diseases are the main cause of child mortality. They are mainly a consequence of inadequate living standards, poor hygiene, lack of access to healthcare services, lack of knowledge and training of medical personnel in dealing with infant diseases and lack of adequate knowledge and pertinent information on

16 the part of mothers, families and communities with regard to child rearing, child nutrition and child care.

In Albania, respiratory tract diseases rank first among causes of death in children up to five years of age. In the period 1991–1993, these diseases were responsible for about 42 per cent of child deaths. However, it should be noted that in the year 2000, the number of deaths from respiratory disease, compared with 1990, fell by ¾.

In accordance with the WHO and UNICEF strategy, the authorities of child healthcare have introduced protocols of integrated outpatient treatment for children. This strategy covers examination, treatment and combined counselling for sick children with regard to a child’s main ailments, such as respiratory disease or diarrhoea, in addition to provision of nutritional and vaccination services at the primary level (family doctor, nurse or midwife). The introduction of these protocols for children up to five years of age in two pilot regions has improved the work of family doctors and nurses while reducing child mortality and incidence of disease. Over three years, these two regions have witnessed a substantial reduction in child mortality. The protocols are currently being implemented in two additional regions, in Elbasan and Dibra.

Mother and Child Nutritional Care

Good nourishment provides the basis for good and healthy development, while malnutrition causes diseases that worsen the nutritional situation. Infants represent the age cohort most susceptible to these threats, being therefore vulnerable to death or lifelong disabilities. Maternal malnutrition, inadequate breast-feeding and inappropriate supplemental feeding after the first six months of life pose serious threats to child health.

Breast-feeding is considered to be one of the main indicators of child health and quality of child-rearing. In 1998, health authorities undertook a study to monitor the practice of breast-feeding in seven regions of Albania. The results showed that although breast- feeding was exclusive during stays in maternity home following birth, towards the end of the first month up until the sixth month the practice fell from 70 per cent to 11 per cent. To improve this situation, in September 1999, the Albanian Parliament passed a law “Concerning promotion of breast-feeding” in accordance with the International Marketing Code of Breast Milk Substitutes.

The purpose of the law is to contribute to the provision of safe, adequate and sufficient nutrition for children, through the safeguarding and promotion of breast-feeding practices, as well as the supply and correct use of breast milk substitutes, whenever these are necessary, on the basis of reliable information and through appropriate marketing and distribution channels.

The law regulates the marketing of breast milk substitutes, including processed milk and other milk by-products whenever these are marketed or advertised as appropriate, with or without modifications, for partial or complete substitution of breast milk.

17 To encourage breast-feeding, the Albanian health institutions embraced a WHO/UNICEF initiative, “Child Friendly Hospital”. In July 1998, Albania was awarded its first “Child Friendly Hospital”, the prize going to the Maternity Hospital of Lezha, the first hospital in the Balkans to receive it. In addition, an encouragement certificate was awarded to the University Obstetrics and Gynaecology Hospital in Tirana. In 2000, the Maternity Hospital of Fier, the third most commonly used such hospital in the country, was a candidate for the award.

Since 1998, the practice of breast-feeding in Albania has increased considerably. Nevertheless, substantial differences exist among the country’s cities in the level of intervention (such as in staff training), with some practising no intervention at all, demonstrating the need to initiate well-studied institutional measures.

Inappropriate feeding of small children is the starting point for continued malnutrition and is among the major causes of infant mortality. Children who are not breast-fed have a six-fold increased risk of dying in the first months of life. After the first six months, infants enter a very delicate transitory period, when they receive supplemental foodstuffs before being fed regular family food. The level of child malnutrition reaches a peak between six and 18 months, with deficiencies at this stage being the most difficult to compensate for in adulthood.

Shortages of micronutrients, such as Vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc, etc., are widespread in Albania and represent causes of death and disease among infants; repeated infections and various intestinal parasites, as well as anaemia, are high among the country’s children. Negative effects continue later on in life, causing poor performance at school and impairment of a child’s intellectual and social development.

Studies carried out in Albania during the 1990s, showed that 30 per cent of children up to two years of age suffered severely from malnutrition. Those living in mountainous areas were particularly affected (32 per cent compared with 24 per cent from lowland areas). Regional differences were also noted: 18 per cent of those from the south compared with 30 per cent from the north, reflecting the regional social and economic differences. Also, children from rural areas were more malnourished (35 per cent) than those from urban areas (17 per cent).

Subsequent studies carried out by the Public Health Institute and various NGOs show that although the level of incidence has fallen, malnutrition still remains at high levels in Albania. Levels in rural and urban areas are now very similar, possibly due to internal migration, but the most affected age group remains those aged from 1 to 2 years (at 20 per cent). As mentioned above, this is a consequence of inappropriate practices and timing of introducing solid and supplemental foodstuffs into the diet. The situation results partly from poor education of medical personnel and mothers (UNICEF MICS Survey, 2000).

A study undertaken in 1993 revealed that severe iodine deficiency was a serious problem in Albania. The Ministry of Health and UNICEF and WHO subsequently launched a

18 short- and a long-term national strategy to eliminate disorders related to this deficiency, and a National Committee on the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders was created, involving inter-ministerial membership and representatives from NGOs, as well as nutritionists.

The short-term strategy dealt with the distribution of iodine tablets and ampoules to health centres located throughout the country, supplying primarily those areas recording the worst deficiencies, while the long-term strategy made the iodization of cooking salt and animal salt a primary objective.

There are no complete national data on vitamin deficiencies in Albania. A pilot study carried out in 1994 by the Paediatric Service of the Mother Theresa University Hospital in Tirana detected Vitamin A deficiency in 49 per cent of children up to 6 years of age, and those with diarrhoea and pulmonary disease exhibited the highest levels of the deficiency. The study also revealed that breast-fed children were less vulnerable to such diseases.

Protocols on the care of children aged up to six years recommend the administration of Vitamin A to children suffering from malnutrition or recurring infection, while, to prevent rickets, Vitamin D administration is mandatory for all children aged up to three years.

Child vaccination is another priority for improved child healthcare. Albania has adopted a mandatory scheme of vaccinations (National Immunization Action Plan 2001–2010) against the main childhood diseases, and the vaccination coverage across the country is as high as 95 per cent. The Albanian Government is a member of the Partnership in the Global Vaccination and Immunization Alliance. In 2002, Albania was certified by WHO as a country without polio.

Organization of Child Healthcare a) Primary Healthcare Primary healthcare for children in rural areas is provided by the small clinics (called in Albania ambulances) established in every populated area. Each ambulance has one medical staff, a nurse or midwife. At the commune level, there are health centres, which employ a family doctor, sometimes even a paediatrician, and a nurse or midwife. The ambulances and health centres are responsible for tending to the whole range of problems connected with child-rearing and child development up to 14 years of age.

In urban areas, primary care for children up to six years of age is delivered by Mother and Child Counselling Centres, while children between six and 14 years of age are cared for by the Paediatric Services at the Polyclinics, located one in each quarter of the town or city. b) Secondary Healthcare

19 At the Regional Hospitals, child healthcare is the responsibility of the Departments of General Paediatrics. c) Tertiary Healthcare Tertiary healthcare in Albania falls under the responsibility of the Paediatric Service at the Mother Theresa University Hospital. By decision of the Council of Ministers (No. 325, dated 23.06.2000) a National Centre for Child Upbringing and Development has been created, as a research, diagnostic and treatment centre for child development issues.

Future steps:

 Improvement and integration of mother and child structures throughout the three levels of healthcare in Albania;  Improvement of the quality of mother and child healthcare in all three levels of service delivery, including unification of standard protocols;  Upgrading of the level of professionalism of medical staff through provision of constant training;  Completion and improvement of a legal basis for the protection of mother and child healthcare;  Awareness building and mobilisation of the whole of society for it to realise that mother and child healthcare is not just a priority for medical personnel, but rather one for itself.

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)

Early childhood is defined as the period in a child’s life starting from conception until the age of eight. This period combines a variety of interventions such as in the provision of decent nutrition, healthcare and intellectual stimulation, creation of conditions for active study and learning, and the provision of the emotional and social care necessary for the child to achieve its full potential and play an active role in family and society.

In Albania, complex interventions in early childhood are still at a rudimentary stage. For the first time, in 2003, an Inter-sector Early Childhood Task Force was created and concrete objectives were set regarding the development of children in this age group.

The Ministry of Education and Science, which carries an important responsibility in care and development for children in early childhood, has set as an objective for the year 2015 of the provision of access to pre-primary education for 100 per cent of children aged five or six, and 50 up to 70 per cent of children aged between three and five years. Other pertinent objectives of the Ministry include the extension of child-centred methodologies, reformation of the teacher training curricula for pre-primary school teachers, the establishment of a continuous in-service training system and the improvement of the legal basis for the decentralization of the pre-primary school system.

Efforts have been made to ensure the normal functioning of pre-primary institutions for children up to three years of age, through increased investment allocations for those

20 institutions. Poor and marginalized areas have been the focus of service interventions for this age cohort. Especially important in this connection is the training of local government employees to implement social service policies.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is also involved with early childhood development. The focus of its work is the care of children aged up to six years who have special education needs, such as orphans or one-parent children, children with disabilities, children from families with economic and social problems, etc. The prevalent approach in this respect is to empower families to take care of their own children. Other approaches include within-country and inter-country adoptions, creation of foster homes, assignment of child guardianship, etc.

Future steps:

 Formulation of a national plan on early childhood care and development providing for integrated treatment of children through a combination of services supplied by the various line ministries;  Creation of a child dedicated structure with a special department on early childhood;  Increased allocations for this age group within the budgets of the respective ministries coping with child issues;  Design of policies and strategies to ensure access to pre-primary education for all children aged up to six years, with focus on the five- and six-year-olds, within the short-term by creating synergy with successful community models implemented by NGOs;  Establishment of a specific statistical system to collect and process data according to region, gender, age cohort, etc.;  Enactment of necessary regulatory legislation enabling a rational division of duties and the normal functioning of structures in the context of the decentralization process;  Revision of laws concerning the provision of healthcare for mother and child;  Improvement of penal legislation with a view to guaranteeing special safeguards to protect children from all threats on their life and wellbeing;  Conclusion of Bilateral Agreements with Foreign Countries to allow for the execution of court decisions obligating parents to pay food allowances for their children in the case of divorced families.

Disadvantaged Children Living in Institutions

Policies on upbringing and protection are based on the fundamental principle that children should grow up in a safe family environment, possibly in their natural families, save when this is not possible, and where they should grow up with the necessary safeguards installed to protect them from abuse, whether they are staying in the care of their families or in custodian families.

Official statistics and various surveys carried out at the national level show that 402 orphaned children and children with social problems live in public residential institutions and about 200 children live in non-public residential institutions, while the number of

21 children without parents or with only one parent who live in foster families or in the community is estimated to be about 16,000.

Services for orphaned children are offered by the following:

 Immediate family members, or other relatives of the orphan, based on the Albanian culture of assuming responsibility for the upbringing of orphaned children;  Nine public foster homes and six non-public residential centres;  Social families, either in the country and abroad, who adopt Albanian children;  Custody services.

For orphaned children (including abandoned children), or those from families with economic and social problems, aged up to six years, the approach has been to create adequate conditions for their upbringing in the public foster homes in Korça, Shkodra, Vlora, Durres and Tirana, as well as in the non-public institutions set up in Elbasan, Gjirokastra and Tirana.

For such children, decentralization of social services is a primary objective. In this context, efforts are being made to reduce to the maximum extent possible residential type services and replace them with alternative services designed to place the child in as close a family environment as possible. Also, in cooperation with NGOs, efforts are being made to create conditions to return children to their biological families whenever this is possible. When this is not possible, children are placed in foster families. Also, steps taken towards early adoption of these children is another orientation, provided that this is in the child’s best interests. Meanwhile, government has increased investment allocations to improve the infrastructure of residential facilities. There have been increased allocations for equipment, for improved child treatment programmes, for upgrading staff capacity, for provision of continuous training, etc.

Residential institutions receive, in addition to orphans, other children, too, who cannot live with their biological families for social or economic reasons.

With regard to children in foster homes, efforts have been made to improve the quality of service they receive. Therefore, as a result of expert assistance, models offered by donors or child-oriented NGOs, the quality has lately seen significant improvement. The primary focus of such efforts has always been to return the child to his biological family. When this is not feasible, the child is placed with a social family, and efforts are otherwise made to upgrade conditions in the residential institutions. Foster home institutions have been modelled to create conditions similar to the family environment to the maximum extent possible.

However, a number of problems still persist. There are no accurate data on the number of orphaned children, one-parent children or children with social problems, nor of their specific needs for services and assistance. In the institutions, the quality of service provided is still below the quality of a child’s life in the family environment and children are not adequately prepared for independent life. There are no specially designed

22 Vocational Educational Training (VET) programmes for orphans who do not attend secondary school due to poor academic performance or behaviour. Orphans and children with social problems are at a high risk of sexual abuse, early pregnancy and victimization by networks of trafficking and prostitution. These children are not guaranteed a job and a place to live after leaving school. A child’s right to choose a school, profession or residential institution are not always respected. Alternative services for these categories of children are insufficient and lacking in variety.

Disadvantaged Children Not Living in Institutions

Orphaned children, or those with one parent, who do not receive social services or assistance in foster care institutions, face various problems. Some orphaned children benefit from social assistance and live with one of the parents or with relatives. But there are many children who do not receive any payment because their parents were uninsured; the child is therefore left without any economic means of support. Meanwhile, local government units do not have accurate records of orphans living outside of institutions, and even less so of their social or economic welfare. There are no structures specializing in social services in the local government units. As a result of these deficiencies, there are few data on orphaned children or children with social and economic problems and no recording of their special needs.

Furthermore, there are no adequate programmes for the empowerment of women who head families, nor for mothers with numerous children, or children with disabilities, such as training and employment programmes to ease the most acute social problems. No control is exercised over families in evident cases of child negligence, abuse or battery to protect the rights of the child and to reinforce parental responsibility. No coercive measures are taken for parents who abandon their children or do not send them to school. There is no law on child guardianship that would enforce the observance of rules by guardian families and the provision of economic support for relatives who take over the custody of orphaned children.

Future steps:

 Encourage provision of alternative services for childcare such as day-care centres, guardian families and adoption families in order to keep children in residential centres for the shortest time possible and place them in a family environment;  Consolidate the family to ensure that children grow up in their biological family environment;  Review legislation concerning orphaned child issues;  Design laws concerning child guardianship, the organization and operations of the Albanian Adoption Committee;  Amend the law concerning “The status of orphans”;  Form an objective to not put children below eight years of age into residential care, except as an emergency solution and then for the shortest time possible;  Strive to encourage and support the establishment of community services for children across the entire territory of the country;

23  Make efforts to reduce demand for placement in the residential centres. Efforts will focus on awareness building as regards family planning, but also on individual work with the young mother in the maternity home to prevent child abandonment. Also, families with economic hardship will be provided with information on social assistance schemes, and also on existing alternative services;  Draft and approve minimum service standards for residential institutions and enforce their implementation within the same year;  Design within 2005 minimum standards for child services (all types of services) and enforce implementation of these standards within 2006;  Increase quality demands on service suppliers, by instituting a licensing system for both public and non-public suppliers, and for NGOs;  Establish an information system for both local and central government units to record details of orphaned children, those with one parent and those with social problems, as well as to document their needs. Data from this system will be used to plan services at the local level and to design policies at the central level.

Children with Disabilities

For children up to six years of age who have disabilities, the focus of the work has been to supply as many of the services as possible, primarily day-care services and services in the family. At present the following services are supplied:

 Residential services in five public development centres and seven day-care centres created by NGOs for children with disabilities. New models of childcare are being implemented here to the end of integrating these children through involvement of various socialisation activities;  Disability benefits for disabled children. In accordance with the evaluation of the Medical Commission of the gravity of the disability, the child carer is eligible for disability payment;  Awareness building services for parents to accept their child’s disabilities from an early stage. Of importance is the early detection of disabilities mostly by family doctors and screening services sponsored by NGOs.

In January 2005, the Council of Ministers approved a National Strategy for People with Disabilities. The essence of the strategy is to ensure equal opportunities for disabled people. Although the Strategy views disability from an overall perspective and not particularly from the child’s perspective, it places strong emphasis on measures to prevent disabilities, starting from early childhood. It also provides for child rehabilitation and integration measures by creating conditions for them to attend school, to participate in social life and to prepare for the challenges of the future.

Currently, in accordance with relevant laws and programmes benefiting people with disabilities, including children born with disabilities or those who acquire disabilities prior to reaching 21 years of age, disabled people are entitled to:

24  Disability benefits in the form of cash payment, to enable families to satisfy the special needs of the child with the disability;  A doubling of the disability payment in the case of blind, para- or tetra-plegic people attending secondary education, and a 300 per cent payment while in tertiary education;  The services of a carer when the disabled child cannot take care of itself; in this case the carer is entitled to a payment benefit to an amount determined by law (social care allowance);  Services offered in the residential development centres. Children may also benefit from non-public day-care centres established by NGOs, which in some cases implement successful rehabilitation models for children to prepare them for school, or for classes tailored to their specific needs.

Problems and issues:

 Day-care and community services for disabled children are still insufficient.  Psycho-social support for families of disabled children is insufficient and inadequate.  Training programmes for integration of disabled children back into community life and general public awareness building programmes are insufficient.  The environment is not conducive to the circulation and socialization of people with disabilities.  There is no assessment system for all stages of a disability and no programmes exist for treatment in accordance with stage of development, nor are there appropriate training programmes for children with disabilities.  There is insufficient support to include disabled children into mainstream classes, and no measures enforcing the equipping of children with the necessary materials in accordance with his or her disability.  Children from Roma and Egyptian communities do not benefit from disability treatment.

Abandoned and Street Children

Such children, often those from ethnic minorities such as Roma or Egyptians, or from poor families or families with social problems, or both, generally enjoy the services of various NGOs. These services are mainly to do with the supply of assistance and materials, with lessons provided on reading and writing to prepare them for mainstream classes, and also with the provision of training to acquire special skills. However, these services are insufficient and greater support is needed for the families of these children.

Children and the Environment

Concerns over the negative effects that an unhealthy environment may have on a child’s wellbeing have been on the increase. Children are exposed to many environmental threats such as water and air pollution, waste and urban refuse accumulation. In addition, they are also at risk from contaminated food, dilapidated and unhealthy homes, dangerous traffic, etc.

25 The Ministry of Health, through the Institute for Public Health, has undertaken some studies with regard to aspects of environmental and industrial pollution in Albania. Also, it prepares and releases pertinent information and has particularly alerted the Environmental Ministry and other concerned ministries on the need to take urgent measures to counter pollution levels.

Following the approval by the Council of Ministers of the National Environmental and Health Action Plan, in cooperation with other countries in the region, a number of problems directly or indirectly relating to human health have been discussed, and these include dealing with problems with air quality, particularly in the major cities, waste management, including hospital and urban waste, drinking water quality and food quality and safety.

These steps together with continued efforts by all stakeholders mark the beginning of a road leading to a safer environment for Albania’s children. In addition, education and awareness building efforts as well as improvements in the healthcare system will contribute to reduction of childhood disease rates caused by the numerous environmental hazards.

26 II. CHILD PROTECTION

Protecting Children from Social Exclusion

One of the priorities of the Albanian government’s policies is to guarantee social protection for the individual. To achieve this priority, in the last ten years, a social protection system has been designed and set in operation. The purpose of this system is to reduce poverty through supporting individuals in need, as part of the families they belong to, and when this is not possible, by providing for wellbeing in social care institutions. This system is inclusive and non-discriminatory and benefits disadvantaged individuals and families through:

 Providing an economic aid programme for about 120,000 poor families in urban and rural areas;  Making payments for people with disabilities. The disability programme benefits about 57,000 individuals with mental, physical or sensory disabilities. Also, benefiting from the scheme are 32,000 labour invalids, who were paid 5.2 billion leks in the year 2005, up from about 3.8 billion leks in the year 2003.  Providing services at public and non-public care centres supplied by residential and day-care centres for people in need.

To maintain this social protection system, the state budget spends about 10 billion leks yearly. The system seeks to protect the family and the individual from social exclusion, while primarily seeking to enable children from poor families to grow up in conditions conducive to child rearing.

Other programmes are also being implemented such as job opening initiatives and professional training programmes for members of families living on government economic aid, and for women who head families, Roma people, etc.

Preventing Violence against Children

Violence against children is a phenomenon that is both widespread and hidden. Battered children have attracted the attention of public opinion and of NGOs engaged with child rights and child protection. The phenomenon relates mostly to the culture of Albanian society that uses punishment as a way to educate children. This mentality, though now under attack, is still strong.

Domestic violence is still prevalent, even though there are no data regarding its exact scale and intensity, forms and impact on the life of children, partly because of the traditional mindset according to which family problems should be kept strictly inside the walls of the home. Still the concept persists according to which parents have the right to beat their children as a form of educating them. There are no mechanisms to counter either the concept or the practice.

27 In the communities and schools violence is present at varying scales and intensities. Therefore, the need arises to pay greater attention to the extension, types and dominant concepts of violence, and especially to building the awareness of children, parents and educators that a battered child is a potential aggressor in the future.

To counter this phenomenon, safeguards should be set up and redress measures instituted to denounce child violence in the family, at school and in the communities.

Preventing Child Labour

Child labour, where children work while still below the legal age to do so, is a frequently encountered phenomenon in Albania. Presently, however, there are no accurate data on the number of children involved in labour and the kind of jobs they do.

There are, however, two broad categories of children working in Albania:

1. Children working in the formal sector of the economy, such as in the dressmaking industry, in shoe making factories and in construction. These children are usually between 15 and 18 years of age. 2. Children working in the informal sector of the economy, mainly on the streets, as street vendors, beggars, cleaners of vehicle windscreens at streetlights, etc. These children are often much younger than 15 years of age. In addition, children are trafficked for purposes such as sexual exploitation, organ transplants, robbery, other illicit activities, etc.

The problem of child labour is now a primary focus of the Albanian government. It has ratified the International Labour Office (ILO) Convention No. 138 “Concerning minimum working age” and Convention No.182 “On the worst forms of child labour”. In accordance with ILO standards, government has enacted legislation to prevent child labour and to impose limits on child admission to employment. The new Labour Code acknowledges 16 years as the minimum working age for children and provides special protection for working children while harmonizing domestic legislation with the ratified conventions.

Nevertheless, in 2000, a joint study by UNICEF and INSTAT revealed multiple indications that the number of working children has increased. Figures show that 30 per cent of children aged between 16 and 18 years are involved in labour activities. The percentage is higher in villages, where many children in this age group have dropped out of school to work on farms.

Problems and issues:

 The impact of programmes and policies designed to prevent child labour is still insufficient.  Child labour is a hidden activity. It is concealed by private undertakings, mainly in the informal sector.

28  Cooperation with the school, family and community to increase awareness on the need to prevent and eliminate child labour is still underdeveloped.  There is the need to put into operation and increase cooperation between the Labour Inspectorate and the organizations of both employees and employers.  There is shortage of data in relation to working children especially in the informal sector.

What has been done so far:

 Since 1999, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been cooperating with the ILO International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour to strengthen public institution capacities to address the issue of child labour.  A National Steering Committee on Child Labour was created for purposes of designing and enacting central policies and measures that would contribute to the progressive elimination of child labour.  A Unit on Child Labour has been set up at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with responsibility to design and coordinate activities related to reduction of child labour.  A national programme on the prevention of child labour and rehabilitation of children who have fallen victim to the phenomenon has been launched. Efforts are being made to institutionalize the monitoring of the phenomenon through the piloting of monitoring programmes in several regions of the country.  With the joint support of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour and UNICEF, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs carried out in 2004 a review of the national legislation concerning child labour and explored its harmonization with international standards to encourage possible amendments to the domestic legislation.  A National Report and Strategic Plan of national policies on child labour were drafted for the first time, reflecting achievements and recommending future measures.  Another primary focus of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been the improvement of capacity of the Labour Inspectorate and of social partners at the local level for monitoring worst forms of child labour as prescribed in ILO Conventions.

Future steps:

 Incorporate elimination of child labour in overall national policies and programmes;  Increase cooperation and coordination among and between institutions and stakeholders towards reduction of child labour;  Enforce the law on compulsory education, return dropout children to school to complete mandatory education and enhance training opportunities for youths of working age;  Create opportunities for professional training, employment or economic aid for families of children involved in training;  Install a monitoring system as a tool for identification, assessment and addressing of child labour to prevent child trafficking and related exploitation practices;

29  Strengthen institutional capacity and upgrade professional standards of labour inspectors and social stakeholders.

Role of Public Order Ministry in Child Protection

The Public Order Ministry through State Police structures has intensified its efforts to extend protection to children. To this end the Ministry has established a Section for Child Protection at the General Directorate of the State Police as part of the Directorate against Terrorist Acts and Open Crimes. The operations of this section are designed to protect children from exploitation, abuse and criminal activities, as well as to prevent acts of juvenile delinquency.

Specific tasks of the section include: prevention of child trafficking, protection of children called to testify in court, protection of child eyewitnesses to crimes, protection of the rights of children placed in foster institutions, protection of re-admitted children, tracking inter-country adoptions, protection of unaccompanied foreign children, protection of children who have fallen victim to child sale, prostitution, sexual abuse and exploitation, pornography, drug abuse and drug sale, abuse of alcohol, tobacco, etc. In addition, the section is responsible for the coordination of child protection police actions, both locally and internationally through Interpol Tirana.

To assist the operations of the section, in all the regional police directorates, as part of the personnel for prognosis, analysis and coordination in open crimes, there are stationed specialists who are responsible for child protection. In addition, the criminal police sections at the police commissariats are charged with the priority task of discovering, documenting and preventing criminal activity against children and by children. The same task is assigned to the order keeping and community policing structures, too.

The activity of the Section for Child Protection is based on international acts and on domestic laws and bylaws enacted for this purpose.

Furthermore, since 2001, in the Directorate of the Fight against Organized Crime and Protection of Witnesses, Justice Collaborators and Special Persons, a Section of the Fight against Illegal Trafficking has been in operation. One staff member of this section is tasked with issues of human and child trafficking. Also, in all the regional police directorates as part of the Section of the Fight against Illegal Trafficking there is one member of staff that covers issues of human and child trafficking.

At present, the country has a draft National Strategy against Child Trafficking and a draft Agreement with Greece on the identification and readmission of unaccompanied children as the first step towards their reintegration into normal life.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is taught as part of the core curriculum of the Arben Zylyftari Academy of Public Order and the one-year training course at the State Police Institute. The CRC is planned to be disseminated to the entire personnel of the State Police. Together with the NCS and the relevant legal package, these documents will

30 be used to educate police forces on the rights of the child and the kind of specific treatment that children are entitled to in accordance with national and international standards.

Protecting Children in Pre-detention Centres and in Prisons

Special care has been taken to improve the legal acts regulating police treatment of children involved in police operations. Of priority focus has been the continuous improvement of reception facilities at border crossings, in police commissariats and in pre-detention centres, prior to the child being placed in the custody of the Ministry of Justice. The transfer of pre-detention facilities under the Ministry of Justice was legally to have been finished in the year 2002. However, they continue, unlawfully, to fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Order.

Protecting Children in Zones Affected by Vengeance and Blood Feud

In areas of Albania afflicted by vengeance and blood feud, the Ministry of Public Order has assigned, throughout the hierarchy of local police structures, specialists to deal with these crimes. Priority in all related operations is placed on the rescue of children from isolation. In cooperation with other governmental structures and civil society stakeholders, police forces are under the obligation to provide maximum protection to children caught up in this situation. The specialists operate as part of the Section for Coordination of the Fight against Open Crimes and Community Policing at the Regional Police Directorates.

Protecting Children from Trafficking

Child trafficking is a serious phenomenon in Albania with grave consequences for the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of the child and with the potential to jeopardize his or her future.

Trafficked children come mainly from families with economic and social problems. They are often affected by domestic violence, abuse, exploitation and negligence. Often these children suffer the inability or unwillingness of their parents to offer protection and care, forcing them to start searching for a better life for themselves, whereupon they often fall victim to criminals who take advantage of their insecurity and immaturity.

In trying to deal with poverty and social exclusion, disadvantaged families are often forced to involve children in labour activities, where the child can contribute to the family income, at the expense of schooling and activities appropriate for the child’s age. Such families have limited opportunities to care for their children, and include one-parent families, those in which one or both parents have emigrated from the country, large families, those in which parents abuse alcohol or drugs, or both, or might be affected by mental disorders, or who are mentally or physically handicapped, or both. Sometimes, the parents are either too young or have not the capacity or the possibility to offer appropriate care for their children.

31 Trafficked children typically also include orphans, either biological or social, or they come from families with a history of trafficking, or they might simply have dropped out of school, run away from home and become beggars. Some trafficked children have not been registered at birth.

Problems and issues:

 Insufficient services for child protection;  Inadequate structures responsible for identification and psycho-social counselling of children at risk;  Insufficient socio-economic support for their families;  Poverty, social exclusion and limited opportunities for families to generate income, forcing them to involve children in labour activities;  Lack of opportunities for employment locally and limited legal emigration force families and sometimes just the children themselves to seek dangerous alternatives;  The inability of families and children at risk to assess their vulnerability to exploitation;  Lack of cooperation agreements with host countries to fight child trafficking and exploitation.

What has been done so far:

 Cooperation has been established with a number of NGOs in directions in which they can help in the fight against child trafficking.  Sensitization and awareness building campaigns have been carried out in schools, in the communities and in the media to help prevent child trafficking.  Jointly with NGO networks operating in this field, programmes have been implemented to identify street children and those at risk of being trafficked; material support has been offered to poor families and those with social problems in order to enable them to send their children to school and help prevent the dropout phenomenon.  Programmes have been enacted to attract school dropouts into professional training courses.  Measures have been taken to set up child readmission agreements, while not losing sight of the child’s best interests.  Support has been provided to the reintegration of trafficked children into families or at shelters or integration centres, either public or non-public.

In 2003, the first public centre for the reception and shelter of trafficked girls, women and children was established in Albania. This and other such centres will take care of and treat returned children until they are reunited with their families or until such time as alternatives appropriate for the child’s best interests have been ensured. The centres have been receiving foreign children from neighbouring countries, too. Many of the children have been returned to their families, but there have also been cases of children being recycled into trafficking.

32 In addition to trafficked children or those at risk of being trafficked, there is another category, mainly from 14 to 18 years of age who have emigrated from Albania with parental consent. These children are often misidentified as trafficked children. Official data for either category are missing. Various NGOs give conflicting figures. The clandestine nature of the phenomenon and lack of information exchange with authorities in host countries make confirmation of figures difficult. Nevertheless, the truth is that trafficking remains a horrible reality.

Future steps:

 Implementation of the National Action Plan in the Fight against Child Trafficking and of the measures contained therein to the end of prevention of child trafficking, protection and assisted voluntary return, readmission and reintegration of trafficked children;  Establishment of multi-sector mechanisms to identify trafficked victims, especially children;  Better coordination and interaction among institutions and partners engaged in the fight against child trafficking;  Return to school of trafficked children and those at risk of being trafficked, who have not finished obligatory schooling;  Provision of professional training alternatives for youths who reach the working age.

Preventing Child Suicide

Child suicide is a shocking phenomenon in human society. It is catastrophic for all involved, and extremely painful for the relatives. The reasons for a child to take their own life vary widely, from differences in social and economic status, to performance at school, influences of religious preaching, family conflict, etc.

Problems and issues:

 Albanian society is not prepared to tackle this phenomenon, which is growing in scope and extent.  The situation surrounding suicides is often obscure given the lack of serious research into the phenomenon here.  There are no initiatives to design necessary interventions to prevent child suicide.  Frequently, the media confuse rather than clarify the reasons for a child’s suicide.  There is a lack of social and community structures to exert a clear positive influence.

Future steps:

 Serious and profound study of the causes and factors underlying child suicide;  Necessary interventions to be identified at all levels: in the media, at school, in the various religious educational institutions, in the communities and in the family; indicators to be set to measure progress;  Exploration of possible changes in the legislation;

33  The role of the psychologist in school and university may be revised and strengthened.

Protecting Children from Weapons and Explosives

Notwithstanding the measures taken by local and central structures, as well as by various NGOs to disarm the population and raise awareness on the dangers of weapons circulating in society, Albania remains a highly dangerous place to live, especially for children. Weapons from the Second World War, planted in certain parts of the country, weapons from the Kosovo War, as well as the considerable number of armaments released from the social turmoil of 1997, are still at large and present a serious threat to the lives and safety of children.

Problems and issues:

 Families are not always sufficiently aware of the dangers posed by keeping weapons inside, or close to, the home.  There is a prevalent concept that weapons at home provide safety and protection.  Children are not sufficiently educated about the dangers that unfamiliar objects may present and are not instructed on how to act in case of accidents.

Future steps:

 Police structures, but also structures under the Ministries of Defence and Local Government, should continue intensively to collect weapons and disarm the population;  Building public awareness; build the cooperation of police forces with education directorates and schools with regard to protecting children from weapons and explosives, especially in areas known to house large arsenals of weapons and armaments;  Make the hazards and dangers of weapons the object of TV programmes, especially those targeting children.

Protecting Children on the Road

Albania is becoming an increasingly dangerous place to live with respect to the Road. Over the last ten years, road accidents have increased in occurrence and children inevitably are among the victims, either as passengers or as pedestrians.

Problems and Issues:

 Violation of the laws of the road;  Insufficient knowledge of the laws of the road;  Failure by parents to install car child seats;  No road lighting, or reflectors on motorways;  Poor location of road signs;  Insufficient road signs.

34

Future steps:

 Relevant police structures should increase control over the safety of children on the road  Educating drivers, parents, carers and teachers on ways to protect children from road dangers through seminars, awareness campaigns and TV publicity. The Ministry of Transport in cooperation with children NGOs should take a leading role in this regard.  Installing clear road signs, especially in highly-populated places and near schools, kindergartens, parks, hospitals and other places frequented by children.

Protection for Female Children

The capacity to pursue a child’s best interests, particularly for girls, would be much easier if all females enjoyed all human rights and freedoms, including the right to development. It would be much easier to apply the full rights of the child if women and girls were empowered to participate equally in all walks of life, freed from any form of violence, abuse and discrimination.

Gynaecologists point to parents wanting an abortion if ultrasound examination determines that the foetus is female. This is gender discrimination beginning before birth. Albania’s legislation stipulates that a child is entitled to certain rights, beginning from the moment of conception. Such an act is a clear denial of even the child’s basic right, the right to life. Guaranteeing the right to life in the case given here requires the application of a whole range of measures and actions.

Future steps:

 Educating mothers to accept their child irrespective of its gender; an important part in this my be played by doctors, media, school, NGOs;  Educating people to recognize that life is sacred;  Creating awareness in society that the right to life originates at the moment of conception;  Government should fight all forms of discrimination against females, from before birth and throughout life; it should take special heed of their needs in order to promote and protect their rights, including the right to be free from coercive practices and sexual exploitation;  Government should promote gender equality and access to the most important social services such as education, food, healthcare, including reproductive and sexual healthcare, vaccination and protection from deadly diseases;  Government should ensure that all development policies and programmes have a clear gender perspective;  Gender problems must be given a cross curricular angle at every level of schooling.

35 III. CHILD DEVELOPMENT

The Albanian education system provides formal education in public and private institutions for children aged from three to18 years. Over the last decade and a half, this system has undergone important changes in structure and content in response to the needs of building a modern market economy. These changes have enhanced opportunities for children to attend education in public or private schools in accordance with market demands and the personal choice of the child and his or her parents.

Following the setback suffered by the Albanian education system during the early years of the country’s transition, from the year 2000 onwards education indicators have been constantly and increasingly consolidating. For example, by 2004, the level of school dropout had fallen to 1.2 per cent. Presently, 45 per cent of children aged between three and five years attend pre-primary education, and compulsory education enrols 98 per cent of children aged between six and 15 years, while secondary schools enrol 77 per cent of children who have finished compulsory education. Overall, about 65 per cent of pupils are accommodated in either newly constructed or recently rehabilitated schools.

Lately, increased emphasis has been placed on the participation of the family and community in child education. As a result, cooperation among the family, the school and the community has strengthened and continues to grow.

Important changes have been made in the school curricula, especially as regard humanities subjects. In secondary education, the profiling of programmes was experimented with and now implemented nationwide to accommodate the talents and interests of students following the sciences and the humanities.

Education problems remaining to be tackled by a long term education strategy include the following:

 Education decentralization;  Strengthening school autonomy;  Improving the quality of school curricula;  Improving the quality of teaching and learning;  Upgrading teacher’s qualifications;  Improving textbooks;  Improving school infrastructure.

Protection and promotion of human rights, child rights in particular, is the fundamental principle of the strategy for pre-university education reform over the period 2004–2015. Reformation of the pre-university system aims at restructuring and modernizing it with a view to contributing towards the country’s economic development, the promotion of democratic citizenship and respect for human rights, including the rights of the child, and integrating European Union standards into the Albanian education system.

36 In order to ensure a high level of awareness of, and respect for, child rights and their implementation in every day life, the educational authorities will place primary focus on creating a quality education system.

Efforts to improve the educational system will focus on upgrading and updating knowledge through curricula reform, aiming at enrolling 100 per cent of children in compulsory education and increasing secondary education enrolment to 80 per cent, while at the same time increasing substantially the number of children in pre-primary education.

Future Steps:

 Improve and consolidate the quality of public education at all three pre-university levels;  Enhance private education choices at all levels;  Design new curricula for the compulsory nine-year education, as well as for the newly profiled secondary education by introducing new subjects and integrating them with existing subjects;  Design new teaching and learning programmes and new elementary and secondary education textbooks;  Modernize teaching and learning;  Promote contemporary interactive child-centred methodologies that engage the child proactively in seeking knowledge and carrying out research both individually and through teamwork;  Provide for the necessary teaching and laboratory resources for all levels of pre- university education with a view to increasing the efficiency of learning and research in the context of the new school curricula;  Upgrade and extend psychological services at all pre-primary, elementary and secondary schools throughout the country to benefit the mental and psychological development of children to the end of achieving an efficient teaching and learning process;  Reform teacher-training curricula;  Develop the teaching profession through the creation of teacher development agencies and of a solid and efficient system for in-service teacher training;  Create a functional and quality education system throughout the country, especially in remote, rural areas through a strategy of school concentration;  Distribute free textbooks for compulsory education to increase access to education for all population groups, irrespective of economic status, gender, etc.;  Distribute free textbooks for secondary education in the poorest communes in the country;  Strengthen assessment and evaluation capacity of the education system through improving the efficiency of the National Centre for Examinations, Assessments and Evaluations.

Pre-primary Education

37 The Ministry of Education and Science, pursuant to its responsibilities under the National Development Strategy on Early Childhood up until 2015, has set the objective of enrolling in pre-primary education 100 per cent of five- and six-year-olds and 70 per cent of children aged between three and five years. Other objectives include: implementation of contemporary child-centred methodologies; reform of pre-primary teacher training curricula; establishment of a system of in-service teacher training; improvement of legislation supporting decentralization of the pre-primary system.

Future steps:

 Enrol in pre-primary institutions 70 per cent of children aged 3–5 years nationwide;  Ensure quality pre-primary education in accordance with “The standards of content in pre-primary education”;  Improve physical conditions at pre-primary facilities in accordance with contemporary standards of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance;  Upgrade teaching and learning resources to ensure quality teaching and learning for young children;  Involve as a priority Roma children in pre-primary education; in particular focus on the enrolment of five-year-old Roma children to teach them Albanian and prepare them for first year at school;  Build new kindergartens in Roma-populated areas;  Extend the model of integrated kindergartens to six cities, regional centres and university towns to improve teacher training for children with disabilities;  Plan the establishment of 90 integrated kindergartens covering all the regions of the country.

Compulsory Education

For nine-year education, emphasis will be laid on:

 As a priority, enrolling Roma children in compulsory education, through offering scholarships and other support schemes;  Improving the physical condition of primary facilities in accordance with contemporary standards of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance;  Significantly reducing levels of school dropout (although the present level is 1.2 per cent, efforts will be made to reduce that figure further);  Ensuring optimal schooling conditions for children with disabilities by designing an all inclusive education system (new school curricula will reflect these all inclusive principles);  Enacting a normative act to enable individualized work for children with special needs;  Improving and modernizing the teaching process in schools for children with special needs;  Establishing 12 model integrated schools for children with disabilities in six cities, regional centres and university towns;

38  Planning to establish 100 integrated schools throughout the country;  Upgrading qualifications of teachers in general, training those without necessary qualifications in particular, until such time as they are replaced by adequately qualified teachers.

Secondary Education

For secondary education emphasis will be laid on:

 Upgrading quality of the content of teaching and learning through curricula improvements and the introduction of advanced teaching technologies;  Improving school facilities and expanding accommodation capacity with a view to lowering the number of students per class to acceptable levels;  Upgrading and expanding teaching materials and resources and school laboratories to improve teaching and learning indicators;  Extending profiling of secondary education throughout the country to match teaching requirements with individual talents and gifts in efforts to respond efficiently to the needs of the labour market and to the demand for higher education;  Increasing by one per cent per year enrolment in secondary education;  Subsidizing textbooks for secondary education while increasing the supply of free textbooks for students in the 80 least growing communes in the country.

Education and Child Rights

Inclusion of child rights on school curricula is motivated by the need to ensure study and knowledge of the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the child as contained in the United Nations Convention. This can be achieved by incorporating these concepts into all school activities and by giving them a cross curricular status. In recent years, within the context of improving the curricula, important elements have been introduced relating to the protection and promotion of child rights. The implementation of various projects by NGOs concerned with child issues has contributed to an increase in theoretical and practical knowledge of both students and teachers with respect to child rights. The design of a new curricular framework for pre-university education has created additional space to reflect child rights both in certain subjects and as a cross curricular element.

School curricula will teach easily absorbed concepts on the protection of child rights, beginning with pre-primary schooling, up to secondary school. It will include the following:

 At the pre-primary and primary (lower elementary) levels, teaching of these concepts will focus on socially acceptable non-violent behaviour and respect for the other within the walls of the classroom.  At the upper elementary level of nine-year education and at secondary level, particularly in history, geography, civic education, sociology, language, literature and economics, more abstract concepts of human rights will be taught, including

39 familiarization with and understanding of philosophical, political and juridical aspects of human rights.  Knowledge and study of human rights in school will aim at imparting the basic concepts of justice, equality, freedom, peace, human dignity and democracy. The process will be simultaneously intellectual and practical.  Teacher training faculties will include on their curricula the study of the main declarations and conventions dealing with human rights, as well as knowledge on the architecture and operations of the international organizations engaging in the protection and development of human rights.  The constant in-service training of teachers will enable the learning and mastery of contemporary pedagogical practices in the field of human rights protection and the implementation of such rights through appropriate methods and materials.

Provision of Data on Educational Progress

Educational Management Information System (EMIS) is designed to provide detailed, reliable and comparable data to enable the identification of the education level of the child, as well as the various social and economic problems affecting children.

Reliable and comparable data will serve to orient political interventions for the protection of child rights, while EMIS will be an efficient tool in the efforts made to provide children with access to quality education irrespective of ethnicity, religion, social and health status, etc.

Thus, the establishment and consolidation of EMIS with World Bank funding will serve a dual function: the creation of a database and the provision of tools necessary for conceptual research and analytical investigation.

Future steps:

 Collection of information according to a unique system as regards both nomenclature and scale of processing;  Confirmation of accuracy and completeness of information through cross-comparisons with INSTAT;  Utilisation of collected and developed data for educational policy and decision- making;  Identification of school dropouts and development of programmes to control the phenomenon through projects such as “Second Chance”, launched in the current academic year;  Identification of the exact number of children isolated from society because of blood feud and development of custom tailored programmes to rehabilitate them;  Dissemination of information to governmental and non-governmental agencies, and to electronic and printed media to the end of sensitizing domestic and donor opinion on important issues in Albanian education and to create partnerships for the actions that need to be taken.

40 Child Leisure and Recreation

In accordance with Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, government should recognise and accommodate a child’s need for rest and leisure, his or her right to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to their age and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

In order to make the world a better place for children, it is important to provide for their leisure time as well as possible. Leisure should be organized in accordance with contemporary concepts combining games with recreation and learning, for those activities in themselves, and for the purpose of preventing excessive TV watching.

To this end, green areas in Albania’s cities and towns should be expanded to accommodate sports- and play-grounds for children. Currently, the lack of such facilities has kept children from enjoying fully gratifying leisure and recreational activities. To satisfy such needs for recreation and child development, emphasis should be laid on expanding in both quantity and variety, by building public and private facilities and by building a playground in every school.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Education and Science should place primary focus on the implementation of the child’s right to participate freely in the cultural life and arts of society. They should undertake to support and sponsor programmes and projects connecting children with the world of culture, art, sports and science through their participation in social, cultural and scientific activities, as well as in sports and arts both at school and in the community.

Such activities will help Albania’s children integrate into democratic European society, preparing them for regional cooperation and integration. Participation in national and European Youth Song Festivals, in Balkan festivals, in science, culture, arts and sports competitions, in arts exhibitions, in the Marathon of Nations, etc., should be the activities nurturing child participation.

Libraries, Children’s Books and Theatre

The creation of book hungry attitudes among children is one of the ambitious goals of all child-focused organizations. Other objectives include the development of alternative teaching and learning resources, increase in the volume and improvement in the quality of information absorbed by children, the establishment of libraries and increasing book stocks in school libraries, the adoption of alternative textbooks, increased access to computer knowledge and skills, and to information technology, etc.

Restructuring libraries and enriching them with books by both Albanian and foreign authors should be one of the foremost tasks of the Ministry of Education and Science, achievable in cooperation with the National Library.

Children and Media

41

Media and media organizations have an important part to play in increasing public awareness of the situation of the child in Albania and the need to cope with relevant challenges. They play a significant role in informing parents, communities and the public at large on initiatives taken to protect and promote child rights. Media also contribute to the production and dissemination of educational programmes for children. In this connection they should be completely aware of the impact they have on a child’s life.

One of the directions media could take in working for children is to attract them into designing, producing and attending programmes addressing themselves and their needs. Partnership with children may significantly increase the efficacy of child TV programming.

An example of a positive experience of partnership between children and the media is the youth programme “Troç” (English, ‘Openly’). This is a nationwide programme made by children for children, broadcast once a month. From most other respects ‘normal’, “Troç” differs in that it is produced by teenagers. It aims at connecting the public to the needs and aspirations of the youth, while promoting knowledge and concepts related to child and youth rights. Each edition is broadcast twice a week (with repeats), on Saturdays at 6 pm and on Sundays at 10 am on Albanian National Television, TVSh.

“Troç” has gathered a considerable audience and is now well-known and well-liked in Albania. The programme’s goal is to give Albanian youth the opportunity to participate actively in society’s development. It also aims to enhance young people’s self confidence and to demonstrate to the Albanian public their potential to contribute positively to the country.

“Troç” accesses an extensive part of the country, as almost 98 per cent of the Albanian population can view the public owned channel. Following the first edition, in February 2001, according to the station’s senior management, “Troç” soon came to be one of the three most popular programmes produced by TVSh.

Prior to the beginning of the year 2000, no programme had a strong social accent dedicated to teenagers. Previously, programmes for teenagers had mainly been music programmes, and very little, if anything at all, was transmitted from a major resource for Albanian culture and tradition, and there were no efforts promoting positive role models for Albanian youth. Also, child and youth programmes had been produced by adults, thus reflecting very little of the actual problems they experience.

A survey carried out in 2002 collected the following comments about “Troç”:

 It reflects youth problems.  It demonstrates youth capacities to develop, organize and implement their own ideas thus demonstrating the best of their talents and capabilities.  It contributes to raising in adults awareness of the problems youths experience.  It contributes to establishing bridges among youths from different parts of the country.

42  It is a model demonstrating entrepreneurship and capacity for personal advancement of young people.

Even today, after almost five years of airing, “Troç” is playing a leading role in shaping youth future. It not only helps them to think critically and make valued judgments, but also empowers them to participate in national debates and on programmes where the future of the country is discussed and projected.

Educating Children from Vulnerable Social Groups

Identification of children that suffer from social exclusion remains an important element in the fight to guarantee child rights. Demographic movements have created large concentrations of children in urban centres. However, these concentrations create the duty of a society to study the situation of the children and identify the problems they face, the marginalization they suffer and the social, economic, educational and cultural exclusion they are subjected to. In addition to needs assessment and categorization, studies should be undertaken to develop strategies to cope with exclusion and social indifference and negligence. This will create a solid basis for designing necessary interventions with the primary objective of creating equal opportunities for an equitable development for vulnerable children.

Future steps:

 Increase in access to education for children in need, children from families with social problems (those isolated due to blood feud, abandoned children, poor children, Roma children, etc.);  Involvement of communities, parent boards and other stakeholders to reduce causes obstructing education for such children;  Reduction in illiteracy among school dropouts through the implementation of projects such as “Second Chance”;  Identification of problems underlying economic exclusion and develop concrete recommendations to eliminate child discrimination on grounds of economic status;  Running of special professional courses at VET schools to train Roma in modern skills, as well as in their traditional crafts and trades;  Offering of psycho-social services at pre-primary institutions;  Introduction of psychological counselling in pre-university institutions throughout the country with the aim of improving the quality of life for children and contributing to better learning outcomes;  Establishment of Multi-professional Agencies in Local Government Units (at the level of region or municipality) as a resource to deal with the various issues obstructing the integration, development and equality of the child.

43 IV. CHILD PARTICIPATION

Child Freedom of Speech

The creation of an appropriate world for children is one of the objectives of modern society, a world in which children start out their lives in the best possible way and in which they can pursue equitable educational opportunities. It is a world in which children have many choices to develop their individual capacities in an encouraging and healthy environment.

Children should enjoy the support of the whole of society in exercising their right to free expression in ways consistent with their capabilities and level of maturity. They should be able to express their views on problems directly affecting them.

Children should be encouraged to acquire knowledge and life skills such as those needed for conflict management, decision-making and good communication in order to be able to cope with life’s challenges. Their energy and creativity should be nourished so that they can take part actively in the creation of their own environment and in the shaping of the society and world they live in.

Disadvantaged and abandoned children, particularly adolescents, have most need for attention and special support. They should be provided with access to the most important services the state can provide in order to gain self-confidence and grow up capable of coping with their own lives.

To this end, measures should be instituted to ensure significant participation by children in decision-making in the family, at school and also at the local and national levels. It is of paramount importance that awareness activities be directed, not just at children to enable them to exercise this right, but also at creating the conditions necessary for parents, carers, the state and the community at large to foster respect for the right of the child to free expression.

Child Participation in Decision-making

The Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines the principle of child participation in the life of the family, school and society. To implement this principle, the entire Albanian society should be mobilized to engage in proactive cooperation and interaction.

The participation of children in decision-making should aim at ensuring their effective and responsible participation in ways consistent with their level of development, in the family, at school and at the local and central levels of governance.

To keep children close to ourselves, it is import to appreciate the contribution they make to society, and to consider them not as an object of our activity, but as very important, equal subjects, our peers.

44 Notwithstanding the efforts that are being made in this connection, the level of child participation in decision-making, even at the family level, is still low. Much lower still is the participation at the community and society level.

Given the difficulty of changing thinking patterns with regard to child participation, especially in patriarchal societies such as ours, efficient strategies should be designed to educate parents, teachers and the society at large of the value of child participation as part of our basic human rights, contributing to the democratization of the whole of society.

Forms of Child Participation in Decision-making

Student Government

Student government is a representation structure of pupils within a school territory. The student government operates independently of the school’s directorate. Its mission is to represent student interests and to voice student concerns with the school directorate and the teaching staff.

At every school, student government functions on the basis of an action plan designed by the students themselves. The groupings inside the student government follow certain priorities and every working group has its own action plan. Central coordination and consultancy services are handled by the President of the Government.

Each President is a member of the Albanian Youth Parliament. She or he conveys to parliament the concern of the student body of his or her school and participates in the deliberation of common issues.

The book “Student Government” is a wonderful publication by children for children. It is a genuine guide to the duties, responsibilities and rights of every member of the student government and of every student and teacher in a democratically functioning school. Any student reading this book will know how to carry out his or her duties and responsibilities, but also how to demand his or her rights and freedoms.

Youth Parliament

Youth Parliament is a unique structure for student representation at the regional level. It engages with youth problems at the community and also national levels and comprises four component parts:

1. Youth Parliament represents a network of presidents of student governments convened to deal with the common problems faced by schools through discussion and deliberation of joint issues. 2. Deputies are elected to serve a two year term, and deal with youth problems in the communities. They represent their peers in various meetings, participate in decision-making and participate in shaping the strategies and programmes for the younger generation.

45 3. Peer educators are continuously trained in various fields, such as reproductive health, drugs, alcohol and tobacco abuse, environmental protection, etc. These peers horizontally educate their school fellows but also community peers who do not attend school. Peer educators serve as reference for every youngster in search of information when he or she cannot obtain such information from parents or other adults. 4. A watchdog group constantly monitors youth interests. Should the need arise it brings appropriate pressure to bear on the authorities, through the media, street manifestations, protests, etc.

These institutions, which are growing constantly, are becoming effective, channelling the energies of Albanian youth while shaping them to become active and responsible participants in an open and democratic society.

The Albanian Youth Parliament belongs to an international youth network that shares similar goals and objectives.

Members of the Albanian Youth Parliament are aged between 14 and 20 years. Although they overwhelmingly represent students from the country’s secondary schools, they may also be elected from youth minority groups and the unemployed. The entire process is designed to lay emphasis on youth education with democratic practices and on legitimate participation in local and central governance.

Youth Parliament has an election law very similar to the national election law. Every prefecture trains 150 commissioners to hold elections. They are tasked with determining procedures for the smooth unfolding of the election process. Youth Parliament holds a regular weekly session in the 12 prefectures of the country. Meetings are organized in accordance with approved rules and procedures. The first part of the meeting is usually dedicated to upgrading youth knowledge and capacities through experience sharing, while the second part deals concretely with the issues on the agenda, which is set beforehand in transparent and participatory circumstances.

Youth Parliaments at the prefecture level interact and cooperate with local authorities on matters and issues for deliberation at that level, and Youth Parliament makes its contribution to the deliberation of issues that affect the entire region.

Once a year, a Youth Parliament Week is held. This goal of this activity is to share experiences and engage in dialogue with the decision-makers and to introduce youth representatives to society at large. The activities culminate in a session held in the Albanian Parliament where young people officially call on national parliament and government to take action in accordance with the recommendations made in the resolutions passed by the Youth Parliament.

In addition to undertaking local initiatives on raising awareness on alcohol abuse, donating blood, human trafficking, improving recreational facilities and quality of textbooks, educational resources, etc., Albania’s Youth Parliament has actively

46 participated in the process of the formulation of the National Youth Strategy, in the national consultations on HIV/AIDS, in the anti-corruption campaign, in increasing access to higher education and other issues crucial to Albanian society.

Problems and issues:

 Lack of knowledge on the competences and powers of student governments;  Weakness and inefficiency of youth structures;  Lack of independence of these structures from the school directorate or local authorities.

Future steps:

 Completion of normative acts regulating school operations especially through the introduction of articles relating to the student right to participate in making decisions in the educational process on both curricular and extracurricular issues;  Working out of modalities and instruments to enable participation: a. in consultation meetings with teaching staff, including in the decision-making and deliberations; b. in carrying out responsibilities vis-à-vis themselves: the individual, the school, the family and the community; c. on delegation and representation bodies; d. on school boards;  Monitoring of the election and operations of the Student Government and Youth Parliament.

Child Friendly Cities

Local government authorities should, through partnership building with stakeholders and actors, guarantee that children receive priority focus in their development programmes. Through initiatives such as Child Friendly Communities and Cities without Poor Quarters, the chairs of communes and municipalities may significantly improve the life of children. Meanwhile, local authorities should enlist the support of NGOs and community-based organizations whenever it is necessary to create mechanisms to facilitate the participation of civil society in issues affecting children.

Civil society representatives have an important part to play in the promotion and support of best practice in the creation of an environment beneficial to child wellbeing. Private sector and businesses also have a part to play. This part has to do with adoption and implementation of practices that demonstrate social responsibility, including the mobilization of resources to fund projects and schemes contributing to the improvement of community life in ways that primarily benefit children.

Problems and issues:

47  Prefectures and municipalities have no specially charged staff to deal with child issues.  There is not sufficient awareness on the rights of the child.  Children’s views are not consulted in decision-making that impacts directly their life and development.  Children’s organizations are not always offered a friendly environment. Often they are not given access to space to hold meetings or other activities on municipality premises, the single exception being the one of Tirana.

Future steps:

 Intensive awareness raising work should be carried out to change society’s thinking and attitudes to the end of having them accept that the child’s right to participate in family and community decision-making is an inalienable right.  Representatives of local governments should create a friendly atmosphere for members of the Youth Parliament and take note of the suggestions they have to make in local decision-making.  People employed in prefectures and municipalities should have good knowledge of the CRC and take steps to implement it in their daily activity.  Youth organizations should maintain close relations with children’s organizations to help and support them with expertise.

48 MONITORING OF THE STRATEGY

The National Child Strategy is an important document synthesizing the Albanian Government’s policies for the protection, development and guaranteeing of a child’s rights and freedoms. In this perspective, the constant monitoring of the implementation of the objectives of the Action Plan and coordination of all actors and factors contributing to this end is of primordial importance.

Experience so far has demonstrated that the absence of specialized central mechanisms contributes to the creation of difficulties and incoherent developments. Thereupon, the need has surfaced to determine institutional mechanisms responsible for monitoring and coordinating actions and activities for the successful implementation of the NCS and the respective Action Plan.

The Council of Ministers reviews yearly progress made in the implementation of the NCS and its Action Plan.

The Albanian Government announces measures and steps taken towards the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan at the Annual National Child Conference.

The Inter-ministerial Committee on the Rights of the Child is the advisory body for the Council of Ministers tasked with the constant monitoring of the implementation of the Action Plan. The committee will design annual matrixes to monitor better the implementation of legal, administrative and executive obligations of the ministries and relevant institutions.

The Ministries of Labour and Social Affairs, Education and Science, Health, Public Order, and Culture, Youth and Sports are the main actors responsible for the implementation of the strategy. These ministries, but also other ministries and governmental agencies that are assigned duties and obligations under this strategy, are bound to incorporate these obligations into their short-, medium- and long-term plans and programmes.

In the strategy implementation, a special role is assigned to local government units, which should establish specialized offices for dealing with child issues. Coordination and interaction among central and local governments, as well as with NGOs, is the key to the success of the strategy.

To monitor the entire process of strategy and action plan implementation, as well as to coordinate regularly and institutionally the activity of actors operating in the field of child rights, the Government Child Committee (GCC) will be established. The Chair of the GCC will be appointed by the Prime Minister. The GCC is a government agency under the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and is tasked with monitoring and coordinating the activity of central and local government units in the field of child rights. The GCC will cooperate and interact with every subject and actor in the field, both locally and

49 internationally. It will report periodically on the implementation of the NCS and relevant Action Plan to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Child Rights. Once a year it will report to the Council of Ministers.

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