In 18 months 66 children fell prey of sexual harassment and violence in Albania

 Citizens protesting against sexually violence in Tirana

 As many as 66 children have been raped and sexually assaulted by relatives, or physically abused by their family members from January 1, 2019, to June 1, 2020.

The figure in question is part of the results of a study by the Center for the Protection of Children's Rights in Albania, CRCA. In the 18 months of monitoring, the types of abuse range from sexual harassment to harassment and sexual violence. Among the identified cases is that of June 2019 in Fier, where a 10-year-old minor was sexually raped by a 67-year-old man.

While the geographical map of sexual abuse of minors extends to Tirana and the largest cities in the country, such as Durres, Vlora and Shkodra, but also to cities known for low crime rates such as Librazhd and Përmet.

For this reason, the CRCA calls on the country's institutions to radically change the approach that the justice and child protection system has towards child victims of sexual violence, compensation for them and the adoption of a protocol for the treatment of cases of child victims of sexual violence, mandatory to be implemented by all public institutions in contact with the victim and who have the duty to protect children.