29 Nov 2011 • Child protection systems Albania

Albania: Protecting the children of Tirana and a whole country

- Published by Darcissac, Marion

On International Child Rights Day, Terre des hommes, in collaboration with the city of Tirana, opened a new unit for child protection. This unit offers aid to child victims of violence, but it also contributes to the engagement of Tdh to strengthen the system of child protection set up by the Albanian State.

Bringing help to child victims of violence

Since this protection unit was installed in the capital (1st September), 52 children have been identified as suffering from their extremely precarious living conditions. 27 of these children and their families have already been helped at a social and psychological level. Some of them had been forced to go begging, had left school or never been enrolled there, were not registered in State records or were in need of medical treatment.

An ‘agent for protection’ works in this unit and is responsible for getting together and coordinating all the local authorities for child aid. He is supported in this by the state authorities as well as by organisations and everyone else who comes in contact with children, whether the children themselves, their families, teachers, school psychologists, doctors, etc. They are all authorised to bring to the agent’s attention cases of children who are victims of or at risk of undergoing any form of violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or trafficking, or those who are socially excluded or deprived of their rights.

This unit for protecting children is the first one of its kind in the capital city, but the ninth installed in this country by Tdh. As an addition to the 28 other units in the country, this initiative represents a new step for strengthening the capacity of the Albanian services to develop an efficient system of child protection.

Helping the State to strengthen its system of child protection

These units for child protection are part of Terre des hommes’ intention to set up a ‘Child Protection Safety Net’ in Albania and Kosovo. This is about helping the State, its institutions and local organisations to establish a system of child protection which is regulated, operational and national. The only way of doing this is to work together to prevent, protect and reintegrate child victims of any sort of violence, or who are at risk of becoming victims.

At the opening of the latest unit in Tirana, the UNICEF representative in Albania called on all the parties engaged in child protection to work together with the agent for protection in charge of this unit to serve the best interests of all children, whatever the circumstances.

Convinced of the necessity to structure the country’s social services better, the Deputy Mayor of Tirana announced the city’s future commitments to protect child rights. According to the Vice Minister for European Integration, Madame Tabaku, “The city of Tirana is currently working on developing an overall social approach where the protection of child rights is a priority. Our attention will be on inclusion and access to the State system of education for all children; their registration in State records and the identification of any children and families requiring economic aid and health services.”

This project is supported by UNICEF, the Austrian Development Cooperation, the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Oak Foundation, the Medicor Foundation and the canton of Basel-City. To know more