Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Albania
| Publisher | Child Soldiers International |
| Publication Date | 2001 |
| Cite as | Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 - Albania, 2001, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/498806192b.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
Mainly covers the period June 1998 to April 2001 as well as including some earlier information.
- Population:
– total: 3,113,000
– under-18s: 1,102,000 - Government armed forces:
– active: 48,000 - Compulsory recruitment age: 18 or 19
- Voluntary recruitment age: unknown
- Voting age (government elections): 18
- Child soldiers: unknown
- CRC-OP-CAC: not signed
- Other treaties ratified: CRC; GC/API +II; ILO 138
- It is not known whether there are any under-18s in government armed forces due to insufficient information on minimum voluntary recruitment age. Children were alleged to have been involved in armed activity during the uprising in 1997. In addition, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) reportedly recruited children under 18 for the armed conflict in neighbouring Kosovo.
CONTEXT
In March 1997 a violent anti-government uprising erupted, mainly in the southern part of the country. Opposition supporters were seemingly unorganised and much of the violence appeared to be of criminal rather than political nature. The public order situation improved during 1998.21 The armed forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had a number of bases in northern Albania22 and were alleged to have received training there, although the Albanian government denied actively supporting them.23 During 2000 the 450,000 Kosovar refugees who had sought refuge in Albania at the height of the Albanian crisis returned to Kosovo.24
GOVERNMENT
National Recruitment Legislation and Practice
The new Constitution approved on the 28 November 1998 states in Article 166 (part fifteen) that: "1.The Albanian citizens have the duty to participate in the defence of the Republic of Albania as provided by law. 2. A citizen who, for reasons of conscience, refuses to serve with weapons in the armed forces is obliged to perform alternative service, as provided by law."25 Conscription exists both into the armed forces and paramilitary forces. According to one source, all men between the ages of 19 and 55 are liable for military service and subsequent reserve duties. Another source indicates all Albanian men and women over the age of 18 are liable for military service,26 the length of which is one year.27
It is unclear to what extent conscription is still being enforced in practice as the armed forces are in the process of being reconstituted. In November 1998 a reduction in military spending and a move towards a professional army was proposed. There are no provisions allowing conscientious objectors to perform unarmed or civilian service. Exemptions can reportedly be obtained for the sum of US$4,000 which is well beyond the means of most young men.28
Military Training and Military Schools
It is believed that the minimum age for entry into military schools in Albania is 14 years.29
OPPOSITION
Child Recruitment
During the uprising of 1997, it was reported that children as young as 10 were among the looters and seen carrying arms, however it is unclear to what extent children below 15 actually took part in armed political violence.30 During the uprising it was claimed that an opposition group 'Committee of National Salvation', based in Girokaster, had called upon all children under 18 years of age to surrender their weapons.31
It has been reported that the KLA recruited soldiers, including children, on Albanian territory during the Kosovo crisis. (See Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia entries also).
21 AI Report 1999.
22 Balencie J. M. and de La Grange, A., Mondes Rebelles, Guerres Civiles et Violences Politiques, Editions Michalon, Paris 1999, p. 1450.
23 Kim K., "Albania and NATO membership", Memorandum, 4/2/99, http://www.senate.gov/roth/press/press/albania.html.
24 HRW Report 2001.
25 http://www.urich.edu/jpjones/confinder/Alb1998.htm#P15.
26 Lane D. "Albania, March 1997: The Disintegration of the Albanian Army", Mediterranean Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring 1998, pp. 16-29.
27 "Out of the margins the right to conscientious objection to military service in Europe", AI 1997.
28 "Out of the margins...", AI, 1997 op. cit.
29 Information provided by Natasa Dokovska, Journalists for the Rights of Women, Children and the Environment, FYROM to CSC.
30 RB, http://www.rb.se.
31 The Economist, 15 March 1997, quoted by RB, http://www.rb.se.
