The latest US State Department (USD) report states that the Albanian government has not met all the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in human beings, but has made some efforts in this direction.
For 2020, the State Police in Albania is said to have investigated 31 cases with 32 suspects out of 62 cases in 2019. In these 22 cases were for adult trafficking and 9 for child trafficking, Euronews Albania reports.
Over the past year the government and NGOs have identified 81 cases while only 6 have been taken into custody, of which 48 were for sex trafficking, 27 for forced labor, and 6 forced to commit crimes.
The report shows that among them are 62 women and girls and 24 men and boys of whom 58 are minors.
Although women and girls are generally trafficked for sex trafficking and forced labor, in recent years there have been isolated cases where traffickers have exploited children for cannabis cultivation.
USD says that of these three are foreigners, the Gambia, the Philippines and Serbia and according to the report have been trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor in Albania.
Victims of trafficking have also ended up emigrants who passed through Albania in order to reach Western European countries.