According to the US State Department’s TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Report for 2018
Albania is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Albanian women and children are primarily subjected to sex trafficking within Albania; in bordering Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Greece; and in other European countries. Albanian and some foreign victims are subjected to forced labor in Albania, particularly in the tourism industry. Children, including those of Romani or Balkan Egyptian ethnicity, are subjected to forced begging and other forms of compelled labor in Albania and neighboring countries; girls are vulnerable to child sex trafficking. NGOs report an increase in the number of Albanian children subjected to forced labor in Kosovo and the United Kingdom. Albanian women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking or forced labor following arranged marriages in Albania and abroad.
There is very little government support financially for this issue, leaving the task to NGOs in the country.
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From the perspective of Eagle’s Wings, teens at risk for trafficking often fall into several of the following categories:
- Often left unsupervised
- Live in poverty (without adequate shelter and/or food)
- Have family who are not caring for them or are using them for their own purposes
- Orphaned with no family to care for them
- Surrounded by drug, alcohol and physical abuse
The more categories a teen fits in to, the more susceptible he/she is to being trafficked.
- There are approximately 31,000 orphans in Albania
- 400 of them are in 9 state residential care facilities
- 360 of them are in private institutions
- 80%of them are social orphans, abandoned for economic reasons
According to the National Institute of Orphans Integration, only a small percentage of orphans in Albania get their state required financial support, which is less than $50 a month. This amount would only cover 5% of the most basic needs they have. Twenty-one years after the fall of communism, there isn’t any accurate study of the real situation for orphans in Albania.
Orphans are one of the most at-risk groups for trafficking. Because Albania is not able to financially support long-term care of orphans in state-run institutions, orphans as young as 16 are sent to live in unsupervised dorms and given a small monthly stipend (less than $35), which is suppose to provide for all their needs. Many never finish school or gain job skills to help them move out of a lifestyle of poverty. When orphans stop attending or finish school, the state support is often stopped.
To learn more about the Albanian situation on trafficking we recommend these sites:
To learn more about Albanian orphans we recommend these sites: