Human trafficking in Albania and current counter-trafficking strategies

Abstract

In the modern age, a considerable number of human beings is still transferred by force to be later exploited into illegal markets, and mainly into the lucrative sexual one. At European level, the supposed liberal Western European society continues asking for slaves. One of the main ‘source areas’ to satisfy this aberrant demand has been found by criminal organisations and traffickers in the close states of the Eastern Europe and of the Balkans. This paper focuses on the current situation on trafficking in human beings in a Balkan country, the Albania, which was in the past one of the main transit points of this illicit trading towards the Schengen zone. Currently, this country has been experiencing several internal shifts: in its society, its economy and its political scenario. These new trends are partly due to Albania's willing to join the European Union. Through a field study, answers to following questions will be searched: What are the last trends of current trafficking in Albania? Who are the offenders and the victims? What are the last tools adopted by Albanian government against this serious human rights violation? What is the reaction of the Albanian civil society against trafficking?