Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Albania (Ratification: 2001)

Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, removing them from the worst forms of child labour and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. Child victims of trafficking. The Committee takes note of the detailed information provided by the Government in its report, as well as in its report under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), regarding the efforts made to better identify child victims of trafficking and assist them through protection measures. In particular, the Committee notes that the legal framework – including Law No. 18/2017, “On the rights and protection of children”; Law No. 37/2017, “Code of Criminal Justice for Minors”, Law No. 121/2016, “On social care services in the Republic of Albania,” and Council of Ministers Decision No. 499 of 2018, “On the approval of Standard Operating Procedures for the protection of victims and potential victims of trafficking.” - defines the rights and services for every child and the responsible mechanisms and authorities.

In this regard, the Committee notes, from the Government’s report under Convention No. 29, that the protection and rehabilitation services for victims and potential victims of trafficking (VT/VMT) have operated under three models/types of care: (1) shelter and care in emergencies; (2) integration and empowerment through community care services; and (3) protection, rehabilitation, and integration of VT/VMT in specialized residential care centres. The Government indicates that, between 2019 and 2023, 157 child victims or potential victims benefited from support in specialized residential care centres, and 295 benefited from support in specialized centres for VT/VMT. Moreover, the Government reports that 21 child victims of trafficking were received in the National Reception Centre, three NGO-run regional shelters, and four community emergency centres in 2023, which offer psychological, legal, health and vocational services and which have benefited from increased financial allocations from the State budget in 2024.

The Committee further notes that measures have been implemented in the framework of the National Action Plan for the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings (NAP-THB) to support VT/VMT. These include among others, access to free legal aid, continuous risk assessments to protect against retaliation, and financial and housing support for reintegration.

The Committee welcomes the measures taken by the Government. It notes, however, that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations of 14 November 2023, while commending the efforts made by Albania to combat the trafficking of women and girls, noted with concern the lack of adequately funded inclusive and accessible shelters for victims of trafficking (CEDAW/C/ALB/CO/5, paragraph 25). The Committee, therefore, encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to identify child victims of trafficking and refer them to appropriate and inclusive rehabilitation and reintegration services, with particular attention to girls. It also requests the Government to continue to provide updated information on the measures taken and the number of child victims of trafficking who have received protection and support, either through the three VT/VMT (Victims of Trafficking/Potential Victims of Trafficking) care models or through other measures.