REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE ____________________________ ANNUAL REPORT On the activity of the People's Advocate 1st January - 31st December 2012 _________________________________________________ People's Advocate Office Blvd.: “Zhan D’Ark” No. 2, Tirana, Albania, Tel./Fax: +355 (4) 2380 313 Web: www.avokatipopullit.gov.al 1 Honorable Mrs. Speaker of Assembly of the Republic of the Albania, Honorable Members of the Assembly, Pursuant to Article 63, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and Article 26 of Law no. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On the Peoples Advocate”, as amended by Law no. 8600, dated 10.04.2000 and Law no. 9398, dated 12.05.2005, I have the honor, on behalf of the People's Advocate Institution, to submit the report on the activity of the People's Advocate for 2012. Sincerely, The People's Advocate Igli TOTOZANI 2 TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER I 1.1. Opinions and recommendations on the human rights situation in Albania ........................ 8 1.2. Summary of ad-hoc reports addressed to the Assembly of the Republic of Albania ....... 36 1.3. Contribution of the People’s Advocate in the process of European Integration .............. 49 1.4. Level of implementation of the People’s Advocate recommendations accepted by the public administration institutions ..................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER II The People’s Advocate Activity in Resolving Citizens’ Complains, pursuant to the rights and freedoms provided for in the Constitution and in other legal acts 2.1. Equality of individuals and prohibition of discrimination ............................................... 63 2.2. The right to information ................................................................................................... 70 2.3. The right to freedom of conscience and religion ............................................................. 74 2.4. Limitation of personal freedom ....................................................................................... 77 2.4.1. The activity of State Police .................................................................................. 77 2.4.2. The People’s Advocate activity vis-à-vis the Armed Forces ............................. 114 2.5. Issues of justice administration ...................................................................................... 117 2.5.1. The right to fair trial ........................................................................................... 117 2.5.2. The People’s Advocate and the judiciary .......................................................... 118 3 2.5.3. The Prosecution Office activity ......................................................................... 123 2.5.4. The activity of State Enforcement Offices ......................................................... 135 2.5.5. Free legal aid ...................................................................................................... 142 2.6. The right to enjoyment of property ................................................................................ 143 2.7. The right to labour social insurance ............................................................................... 160 2.8. The right to benefit from the social insurance system ................................................... 172 2.9. The right to education .................................................................................................... 178 2.10. Meeting housing demands ........................................................................................... 184 2.11. Economic aid ............................................................................................................... 196 2.12. Consumer protection ................................................................................................... 200 2.13. The right to healthcare ................................................................................................. 215 2.14. The goal towards a healthy environment ..................................................................... 224 2.15. Issues emerging in the activity of the local government bodies .................................. 227 2.16. Complaints of former politically persecuted individuals ............................................ 238 2.17. The activity of the National Mechanism against Torture ............................................ 249 CHAPTER III Public relations and cooperation 3.1. Reception of citizens ...................................................................................................... 288 3.2. The activity of regional offices and “Days of Open Doors” ........................................... 291 3.3. Relations with media ..................................................................................................... 301 3.4. Communication through the official web site and social media .................................... 307 3.5. Cooperation with Non-Profit Organizations .................................................................. 313 3.6. Cooperation of the Institution of the People’s Advocate with his counterparts and other international organizations ............................................................................................. 324 4 CHAPTER IV General information on the activity of the People's Advocate 4.1. Organizational structure of the Institution of the People’s Advocate and its reformation during 2012 ..................................................................................................................... 336 4.2. Budget of Institution for 2012 ........................................................................................ 345 4.3. Summary statistics for 2012 ........................................................................................... 350 5 Brief presentation of the structure of the Annual Report 2012 In preparation of this Annual Report on the activities of the People's Advocate, we are based on our performance in 2012. Our work is driven by the vision of a society governed by the principles of human rights, in which state institutions act in a transparent, fair, accountable and effective way. We hope that this Report and the information contained in it, on the situation of fundamental freedoms and human rights in Albania, would be valid for the members of Assembly and the public administration, as well as for national and international organizations working in the field of human rights, counterpart institutions in the region and beyond, educational institutions, media and the public. Some parts of the report may interest you more than others, and therefore we suggest reading this introduction to help you to understand in which part you will find exactly the information required. Thus, the report is divided into four chapters, as follows: In the first chapter, through opinions and recommendations we intend to reflect on the most important issues presented in 2012 in the work of the Institution through complaints, meetings with citizens, inspections, etc., and present our recommendations for interventions and improvements of human rights standards in Albania. A comprehensive presentation is made to the seven special reports prepared by the Institution of the People's Advocate in 2012, which aimed to bring to the attention of the Assembly and Executive emergent problems and topics that are judged by the Institution that need to be better addressed by state authorities, through the improvement of the legal framework or improvement of work of the bodies responsible for handling and resolving them. Besides the protection of the rights of citizens from unlawful acts or omissions of public administration and the promotion of improved human rights standards, the People's Advocate has an essential role in the European integration process in the country. With this regard, it is presented an analysis of the contribution of the People's Advocate to the European integration process. An innovation of this year, based as well on the request of the Albanian Assembly Resolution “On the evaluation of the activity of the People's Advocate for 2011”, dated 14.06.2012, has 6 been the development of a study by independent experts with regard to the monitoring of the level of implementation of the recommendations of the People's Advocate received from institutions of public administration. The second chapter is a more detailed presentation of the issues and of the work of the People's Advocate Institution in handling and resolving complaints - divided according to the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and other legal acts. This section provides specific case studies, the treatment given and relative solution and also introduces the work of the Institution for the restoration of denied and infringed rights through concrete recommendations to the state institutions. Contributing to the creation of a culture of human rights in Albania requires an active participation in the further development of the human rights agenda, increase of public knowledge and awareness on human rights, and close cooperation with media, civil society and international institutions within or out of the country. Based on this conviction, the third chapter presents an overview of the interaction with the public, as well as the cooperation of the Institution with different partners of civil society, the media and international partners dedicated to human rights standards. The last chapter includes statistical