Freedom in the World 1999 - Albania

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 4.5
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 4

Overview

In 1999, Albania was again plagued by instability. The war in Kosovo resulted in a massive influx of Albanian refugees from neighboring states, compounding the problems of Albania's already weak and overburdened economy. Lawlessness continued to pervade many parts of the country, with central institutions unable to assert governmental control. This was especially true in northern Albania, where the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) operated openly and drug-smuggling and other forms of organized crime dominated economic and political life. Meanwhile, in the capital the old guard of Albanian politicians who had dominated the country's politics throughout the postcommunist period reasserted its control over the nation's political life, and infighting between rival power blocs prevented meaningful political reform from taking place.

The most recent set of statewide elections for Albania's parliament, the Kuvend Popullare (People's Assembly) were held in June 1997 and resulted in a victory for the opposition Socialist Party, which, together with its allies, gained 119 of 155 seats in the parliament. In July 1997, Albanian president Sali Berisha, the leader of the Democratic Party, resigned, and Fatos Nano of the Socialist Party became the country's prime minister, with Rexhep Mejdani replacing Berisha as president.

In September 1998, a top Berisha associate, Azem Hajdari, was assassinated, leading to several days of rioting. In October 1998, Nano resigned as prime minister and fled to Macedonia after reports of a possible coup attempt by Berisha followers. Nano was replaced by Pandeli Majko, who managed to form a government and obtain a considerable degree of international support. In November 1998, a new constitution was adopted after a countrywide referendum returned a large majority of citizens in favor. The adoption of the constitution was a defeat for Berisha, who had campaigned for a boycott of the referendum.

However, meaningful moves towards reform and reasserting central governmental control over the country were put on hold by the Kosovo crisis. After the NATO attack on Yugoslavia in March 1999, fighting intensified along Albania's northern and eastern borders with Yugoslavia as the KLA used Albanian territory as a safe haven and assumed de facto authority of districts in northeastern Albania.

What few resources the government had were consumed by the tremendous burden of caring for the estimated 500,000 Albanians who had been driven from Kosovo or had fled the fighting during the 79-day war. The task of caring for the refugees was made additionally difficult because of Albania's poor transportation and communications infrastructure. Only large amounts of international assistance and the dispatch of more than 8,000 NATO troops, along with a considerable number of international relief workers, prevented a large-scale humanitarian disaster. Nevertheless, the general lawlessness and anarchy that prevailed in the north led to considerable human rights abuses by organized crime syndicates. International organizations and media reported numerous cases of young girls from the refugee camps being kidnapped and sent to work as prostitutes in Italy and other western European countries (Albania already functioned as one of the primary smuggling routes for illegal immigrants into European Union countries) or of refugees having what remained of their belongings stolen or extorted by local criminal gangs.

The end of the war in early June allowed the vast majority of refugees to move quickly back to their homes. In July, Berisha's Democratic Party reentered parliament after a nearly year-long boycott, allowing a semblance of normalcy to return to the country's political life. Nevertheless, splits within the ruling party prevented any serious attempts to combat corruption and crime in the country. Political uncertainty again hit Albania in October, when Majko lost control of the Sociality Party to the more radical leader of the party's old guard, Fatos Nano. Majko resigned on October 26, and was replaced by Ilir Meta of the Socialist Party, becoming at the age of 30 Europe's youngest prime minister.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The judicial system is considered inefficient and prone to corruption. Judges often have little formal legal training, and an attempt to make judges with fewer than ten years of experience (in effect, most judges) take a one-time test of their legal competence in May 1999 met with numerous obstacles and complaints. Of 250 judges scheduled to take the test, 59 refused; of these, 53 were subsequently discharged. Holding individuals in custody or detaining them for purely political reasons appears to be negligible. However, police are often reported to be ill-trained.

Freedom of religion is generally respected. The majority of Albania's citizens are Muslims, and they have again been allowed to practice their religion openly after several decades of Enver Hoxha's communist dictatorship. In 1999, there were occasional reports from southern Albania describing harassment of Albanian and Greek Orthodox Christians. Church property confiscated or nationalized by the Communists is still an unresolved issue between the state and the different religious communities.

Freedom of assembly is subject to government restrictions; however, several political parties exist and compete for power. There are also several active trade unions, including the Independent Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania, with some 280,000 members, and the Confederation of Unions, linked to the Socialist Party. International and domestic NGO's generally function with little governmental interference.

A media law was passed in 1997 but never implemented, and in September 1998, the Albanian parliament passed the new "Law on Private and Public Broadcast Media." The new law limits ownership in any national broadcaster to 40 percent. However, critics of the new law question whether the spirit of the law can be violated by indirectly allowing shares of national broadcasters to be bought up by individuals indirectly, either through kinship groups or shell companies, thereby preventing a true pluralization of Albanian media. Sensationalism and publication of gossip or outright lies plague much of the media, and few journalists are seen as having a sense of journalistic responsibility. News coverage by the state-run television favors the government.