Dokument #1314016
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
A letter sent to the Research Directorate
on 16 March 1998 by the first secretary of the Republic of Albania
Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, who is also a
PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at the Graduate Centre of
CUNY in New York, states the following:
Question 1. Is there a custom or tradition
in Albania by which people who are married in a civil ceremony
continue to refer to each other as fiancées after the
marriage, and are regarded and referred to by society as
fiancées after the marriage, until a large celebration
involving family members of the couple takes place?
Answer: In Albania people refer to each
other as fiancées till the moment a large family celebration
take place. People call this celebration "dasma" (the wedding). As
for the civil ceremony, which declares them as husband and wife in
relation to the state, it may take place before or after "the
wedding". In case it happens before the wedding, it may change
their status in relation to the state, but they consider themselves
(and also their families do refer to them) as
"fiancées".
Question 2: Is this custom still operative
in Albania?
Answer: To my knowledge this custom is
still operative in Albania. However, since the re-opening of the
religious institutions in 1990, a religious ceremony replaces
sometimes the civil one.
Question 3: Is there a law or document
(analogous to the Kanun which pertains to vendettas) that codifies
the procedures to be followed for this custom?
Answer: For as far as I know there is no
document or law pertaining to this custom. I think that this
phenomenon represents a continuous underground fight between the
establishment of the law of state and the persistence of popular
tradition.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Reference
Republic of Albania Permanent Mission to
the United Nations, New York. 16 March 1998. Letter sent to the
Research Directorate by the first secretary.
Information on whether people who were
military deserters in 1997 have been subjected to prosecution since
March 1997 could not be found among the sources consulted by the
Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the
list of sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
Sources Consulted
CSCE Digest [Washington].
Monthly.
Electronic sources: IRB databases,
LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD (UNHCR database), World News
Connection (WNC).
News from Helsinki Watch [New
York]. Monthly.
Resource Centre country file on
Albania.
Transition [Prague]. Twice
monthly.
Uncaptive Minds [Washington].
Quarterly.