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UNICEF estimated that 31.7 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years in Albania were working in 2000. The rate of child work is higher in rural areas than cities.[106] Children, especially from the Roma community, work on the streets as beggars and vendors. Children can also be found laboring as farmers, shoe cleaners, drug runners, and textile and shoe factory workers.[107]
The trafficking of Albanian children as young as 6 years old[108] to Western Europe for prostitution and other forms of exploitive labor remains a problem.[109] The Ministry of Public Order estimated that within an 8-year period (1992-2000), some 4,000 children were trafficked from Albania, mostly for domestic work, begging and agriculture.[110] A 2003 study of trafficking victims who received services at the Hearth Psycho-Social Center revealed that 21 percent were minors between the ages of 14 and 18 years.[111] Boys and girls are trafficked to Italy and Greece to participate in organized begging rings and forced labor, including work in agriculture and construction.[112] In January 2003, Terre des hommes reported that the majority of children trafficked to Greece were sent with their family's knowledge to work for remuneration. In addition, the report found that 95 percent of children trafficked belong to the Roma ethnic minority or the Egyptian community.[113] There have been reports that children are tricked or abducted from families or orphanages and then sold to prostitution or pedophilia rings.[114] Children who are returned to the Albanian border from Greece are oftentimes at high risk of being re-trafficked.[115] According to the 2003 Terre des hommes report, trafficking of Albanian children specifically to Greece appears to be on a decline.[116] Internal trafficking, on the other hand, is reported to be rising, with increasing numbers of children in the capital of Tirana falling victim to prostitution and other forms of exploitation.[117]
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[107] Altin Hazizaj, The Vicious Circle: A Report on Child Labour-Albania, Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania, Tirana, March 2000, Chapter 8. See Altin Hazizaj, The Forgotten Children: A Report on the Roma Children's Rights Situation in Albania, Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania, Tirana, April 2000, 12. See also U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2003: Albania, Washington, D.C., February 25, 2004, Section 6d; available from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27820.htm. See also U.S. Embassy- Tirana, unclassified telegram no. 1329, August 23, 2004.
[108] ILO-IPEC, Combating the Trafficking in Children for Labour and Sexual Exploitation in the Balkans and Ukraine, Project Document, Geneva, September 2003, 7.
[109] U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2003: Albania, Section 6f. An NGO reported that as a result of increased efforts by the government, trafficking of children is shifting from illegal methods of transportation, such as via speedboats, to legal methods where children cross borders with passports and visas. See Child Trafficking in Albania, Children's Human Rights Centre of Albania, Tirana, July 2003, 7.
[110] See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2003: Albania. See also ILO-IPEC, ILO-IPEC Child Trafficking Project, project document, 6. Additionally, a report published in 2001estimated that 75 percent of trafficking victims from certain rural regions of Albania were children. See Daniel Renton, Child Trafficking in Albania, Save the Children, March 2001, 16-19.
[111] Some of the trafficking victims were recruited willingly, while a significant portion was deceived by hopes of marriage or work. Prior year studies indicated that the majority of victims came from rural areas; however, in this years study, half of the victims stated they came from urban cities. The study also revealed that a majority of the adult victims interviewed were trafficked for the first time between the ages of 14 to 17 years. See Vera Lesko, Entela Avdulaj, and Mirela Koci, and Dashuri Minxolli, Annual Report 2003 on Trafficking in Humans Beings, "Vatra" Psycho-Social Center, Vlora, n.d., 33-36.
[112] Children, particularly Gypsy and Roma boys, are trafficked to Greece and Italy for begging and forced labor. Italy is the destination point for the majority of trafficked Albanian children/women; however, large numbers of Albanian children may work as child prostitutes in Greece. See Daniel Renton, Child Trafficking in Albania, Save the Children, March 2001, 44-45. See also UNICEF, Profiting From Abuse: An Investigation into the Sexual Exploitation of our Children, New York, 2001, 18
[113] The Roma or Egyptian minority groups are significantly marginalized in Albanian society. The study also estimated that the majority of street children in various cities in Greece are Albanian. See Terre des hommes, The Trafficking of Albanian Children in Greece, Le Mont sur Lausanne, January 2003, 16. See also Barbara Limanowska, Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe, UNICEF, UNOHCHR and OSCE-ODIHR, November 2003, 51.
[114] U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2003: Albania, Section 6f.
[115] ILO-IPEC, ILO-IPEC Child Trafficking Project, project document, 8. See also Limanowska, Trafficking in South Eastern Europe, 2003, 39.
[116] Terre des hommes, The Trafficking of Albanian Children in Greece, 9-10. See also U.S. Embassy- Tirana, unclassified telegram no. 1329.
[117] U.S. Embassy- Tirana, unclassified telegram no. 1329.
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