Prepared Remarks – Minister Erion Veliaj

Conference to Advance the Human Rights and Promote Inclusive Development for , , Bisexual and (LGBT) Persons November 12-14, Washington, D.C.

Thank you for the opportunity to share ’s experience on promoting respect for the rights of LGBT Persons.

I speak here today as someone from a country who has both come far and has much more to do to ensure that the respect and promotion of the rights of LGBT persons. (half full – half empty glass.)

As a nominally Muslim majority country in South Eastern , Albania has made significant progress in recent years, both to recognizing the rights of LGBT persons and ensuring the emergence of a LGBT community and public voice in the national fora.

In my remarks I want to briefly share with you the history of this progress, how it came about and what we are doing as a new government that came in place only a year ago to make this progress irreversible and at a higher speed.

Only a decade ago there was no recognized LGBT community and no public voice advocating for the promotion of LGBT rights in the country. There was no publicly known place where LGBT people could meet, no known bar for that matter, homophobic comments were rife and taken for granted even in civilized discussions. Unlike the Iranian notorious president once said, we did not deny that LGBT persons existed, but that no one knew any one who was.

Today Albania has an effective anti discrimination legislation in place, a national anti discrimination commissioner is empowered to censure homophobic comments in public and any cases of LGBT discrimination are addressed, LGBT rights are discussed publicly, we have a small but vibrant LGBT community with strong and courageous public voices emerging, and a number of legislative and awarness raising steps underway. Just a few months ago we had an incident free Pride event in the center of .

For any one who has any knowledge of Albania this is significant progress.

Before I go any further however, I want to make sure to say that I share my Albania story not as an example to be followed, reality is to complex for any country to serve as an example to another, but as a country that shows that even in environments that are considered inhospitable and conservative, through much effort and courage, progress is possible.

I credit this progress to mainly four things: (hard as that be for a politician I will try to claim no credit for us)

1. First of all the courage of individual LGBT persons who dared to defy the conventional narrative and come out to with a credible and respected voice. You have one of them with you today, a real hero that I want to recognize and pay my respects, Xheni Karaj, who now heads one of the first LGBT Advocacy groups in the country. In every country, it takes a first brave voice. Here you have one of them.

2. Credible international and local voices whose opinions carry weight and who dare to put their momentary popularity and comfort at risk to challenge the status-quo and speak out for the respect of rights of LGBT persons. In this case I want to mention one in particular, your very own, US Ambassador to Albania from 2007 to 2010, John L Withers, rightly recognized nationally by Secretary Clinton for his impressive record in promoting LGBT rights in Albania.

His voice was not alone. Other friends from the Netherlands and other countries did the same. but he was willing to put his own great reputation and that of the United States in Albania on the line to support the cause of LGBT rights in the country.

3. A religious environment that promotes tolerance, respect and who rejects extremism and homophobic behavior. In Albania, a nominal Muslim majority country, we have four dominant religious communities, the Sunni, Bektashi, Catholic and Orthodox communities, who proudly share a tradition of respect and religious tolerance and promotion of national unity.

4. An overall narrative of modernization and democratization that the country, including its elites, are committed to. Since the fall of communism, Albania has embarked on a path of European and Euro- Atlantic integration, thanks to support from friends in this building we are meeting today, that has helped anchor the countries development in the right path and fostered an environment that has promoted human rights, including for the LGBT community.

This confluence of factors helped Albania in the last decade to make progress in recognizing the existence of an LGBT community in the country. This also enabled the introduction of a number of legal provisions and mechanisms that made promotion of LGBT rights a state obligation.

Ensuring the emergence of LGBT rights discourse in the national fora however, its only the minimum standard that only allows for the real work to promote inclusion and respect for LGBT rights to begin.

Here I briefly want to mention four things that we are doing as we speak as a new government.

We are focusing on:

• Protecting vulnerable LGBT persons who come out in a still hostile environment.

With the support from USAID and the Albanian Government Albania will have its first LGBT shelter that will open up within this year. The shelter is designed to offer full board and housing services for LGBT persons who after coming out find themselves at risk of physical and emotional violence.

State Social Services personnel will be available to link these persons with our vocational training and employment services.

• As a first in the Balkans, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth that I head has proposed an amendment to the Family Code to allow for the recognition of LGBT civil unions in the country. Once approved, these provision will provide special protection to LGBT couples to enjoy the full protection of the law.

• As we speak, the Albanian Parliament is also approving amendment to the Labor Code that directly address discrimination in the work place. Both these decision will require 3/5 majorities to pass in the Albanian Parliament, a majority that we feel confident we will assure, thereby enlisting publicly the support of the Albanian legislator for such measures.

• Ensure ongoing national and international assistance to LGBT Advocacy organizations. The emergence of national network of LBGT owned and led organizations will be key to sustained progress in this area. The Albanian government is committed to using its limited financial resources to prioritize support for these organizations.

• Take swift action against any human rights abuse including criminal prosecution of offenders, and make sure that public servants first of all are aware and respectful of the human rights of LGBT persons.

• To ensure a coordinated approach and link these efforts to measurable milestones, my Ministry is working on drafting a national action plan to ensure both accountability and resources are in place.

• Thank you for your attention.