Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1987
ALBANIA
* The United States has not had diplomatic relations with, or
official representation in, Albania since 1939. It is
difficult, therefore, to comment authoritatively on conditions
in Albania.
Albania is a one-party state ruled by a Marxist-Leninist
dictatorship. The Government proclaims itself a People's
Socialist Republic. Ramiz Alia, who officially replaced
long-time dictator Enver Hoxha as Albania's leader in 1985,
exercises personal leadership through the 140, 000-member
Communist party known as the Albanian Party of Labor (APL).
Since assuming leadership. Alia has pledged continuity with
Hoxha ' s policies. Internationally, he has pursued a policy of
cautiously expanding diplomatic, cultural, and commercial
links abroad, especially with neighboring Balkan and Western
European states.
A large, effective security service, the Sigurimi, assists the
party in maintaining repressive controls over the Albanian
people, wh' are permitted only very limited civil and political
rights.
Albania has a centrally controlled command economy under which
the State owns the means of production, and the Government
directs all significant economic activity. Within a strategy
of economic self-reliance, the Government emphasizes a policy
of rapid industrialization and development. In recent years,
however, the rate of economic growth has declined.
There are indications that a limited number of restrictions on
everyday life have been relaxed somewhat under Alia. Although
the Albanian population continues to be isolated from foreign
influences, the Government now tacitly allows citizens to
receive foreign broadcasts from Italy, Greece, and
Yugoslavia. The Government has liberalized visa issuance for
tourists from most Western countries and allowed a limited
number of its own citizens to visit neighboring countries in
tour groups. In other areas, significant human rights
violations, corroborated by private international
organizations and refugees, continue to occur. The Government
has repeatedly refused to cooperate with any international
organization which investigates human rights complaints.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political Killing
No evidence came to light of political killings by the
authorities during 1987.
b. Disappearance
There is no recent information available on whether
disappearances occur.
c. Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Criminal Code prohibits and provides punishment for the
use of physical or psychological force during investigations.
Nevertheless, former political prisoners have often reported
that they were beaten or otherwise ill-treated during
investigation proceedings to force them to make confessions.
Although some of the worst abuses of the past may have ended,
it appears that Albanian investigators still resort to threats
and beatings to obtain confessions or collaboration. In the
absence of independent means of investigating these charges,
it is difficult to corroborate such reports.
Private international humanitarian organizations have reported
extremely harsh prison conditions in Albania, including a
severe hard-labor regime with inadequate food and clothing,
long-term solitary confinement, cramped cells without room to
lie down, and unheated, unfurnished cells lacking any sanitary
facilities. The Burrel prison and Spac and Ballsh labor camps,
in particular, have been noted for their harsh conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, Exile or Forced Labor
The Constitution provides that no one may be arrested without
court or prosecutorial approval, or be sentenced to jail
without a court verdict or for an act which is not a crime.
The Criminal Code, however, is explicitly ideological and
officially characterized as a "weapon in the class struggle."
Its provisions defining political offenses are loosely
formulated, allowing the courts to interpret them broadly to
punish whomever the regime desires.
The Criminal Code lists 34 crimes, 12 of which are political
offenses, for which the death sentence may be imposed. Among
these are such nonviolent political offenses as: unauthorized
leaving or "flight" from the State, agitation and propaganda
against the State, creation of a counterrevolutionary
organization or participation therein, concealment of a person
who commits a crime against the State, activity against the
revolutionary movement of the working class, and refusal to
carry out a duty or coercing others to refuse.
The Criminal Code also provides that banishment (generally to
a state farm or enterprise) or internment may be
administratively imposed, without trial, for up to 5 years on
persons whom the authorities consider a threat to the
Communist system and on the families of fugitives. Amnesty
International's 1987 Report noted that six members of the Popa
family from Durres were punished in this manner. In December
1985, they left the collective farm and sought refuge in the
Italian Embassy in Tirana where they still remain at the end
of 1987.
There are numerous reports that families of escapees from
Albania have been imprisoned or interned as a deterrent to
other potential illegal emigrants. Amnesty International has
reported a number of such cases in recent years, but another
source claimed that close relatives of recent escapees are no
longer interned.
Amnesty International reports that political detainees lack
adequate legal safeguards during pretrial investigations. By
law, investigations into crimes against the State must be
completed within 3 months, but extensions are easily obtained.
and no effective maximum period of investigation is enforced.
Most investigations into political offenses are completed
within 4 months, but Amnesty International charges that some
investigations have dragged on for more than a year.
Political detainees have been held in solitary confinement for
up to 6 months during pretrial investigations without access
to lawyers or relatives. The Criminal Code provides that
accused persons must be informed when investigation of their
cases is concluded and allowed to examine all the evidence to
be brought against them. Usually, however, they are not
allowed to examine all the materials and are shown only a copy
of the indictment. While investigators are theoretically
bound by rules of procedure, and the accused may appeal to
higher authority against investigators who violate proper
procedures, there do not appear to be any effective controls
on the powers of investigators in political cases.
Little information on forced labor is available. It is
believed that one form of punishment is internal banishment to
a labor camp. The prisoners do not have a choice of work but
are remunerated for their labor. In addition, virtually every
citizen is required to participate in uncompensated
"voluntary" work projects, particularly at harvest times.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judicial system includes a Supreme Court and regional and
district courts. Like all organs of the Government and state
authority, the judicial system is under the total control of
the APL . Courts may not render an independent verdict in
conflict with the wishes or policies of the regime.
Amnesty International reports that persons accused of
political crimes lack adequate legal safeguards during their
trials. Defendants at political trials have usually been
denied defense counsel and have had to conduct their own
defense. Major political trials of state officials are closed
when it suits the purposes of the regime, but most political
trials of ordinary citizens are held in open court. Most such
trials last no more than 1 day, and there have been no known
acquittals.
Reports of the number of persons in prison range from 4,000 to
40,000, including 300 members of the pre-World War II elite,
as well as pro-Soviet, pro-Chinese, and other political
prisoners. Many persons are serving sentences for expressing
dissatisfaction with conditions in Albania or for trying to
flee the country. Former political prisoners report about
1,200 political prisoners each were being held in the Ballsh
and Spac labor camps during the early 1980's. Some 300 more
were imprisoned at Burrel, and others were held in Tarovic,
Kosove, and Tirana prisons. Although the Government declared
an amnesty on November 15, 1982, there is no independent
confirmation of the number of persons amnestied, and there are
reports of further political arrests since 1982.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or Correspondence
The Constitution proclaims the inviolability of the home and
the privacy of correspondence, but at the same time provides
that these and other civil rights are subordinate to the
general interest and cannot be exercised in opposition to the
Socialist order. Observers generally believe that the
authorities can, and do, violate the privacy of the home
whenever and to the extent necessary to achieve their ends.
The Government uses its pervasive informer network to report
on, among other things, the private lives of its citizens.
Children are taught to report their parents' activities in the
home, such as whether they practice religion or speak against
the Government.
Contact with the outside world is carefully monitored.
Albanian citizens are required to report any contact with
foreigners to the police. Refugees have reported difficulties
they had while in Albania in receiving mail or telephone calls
from relatives living abroad. Sometimes packages of food,
medicine, and clothing sent to them were returned by the
Albanian authorities. There are reports that it became
significantly easier in 1986 and 1987 to receive letters and
packages from relatives abroad. Though it is technically
illegal to receive television or radio broadcasts from
neighboring Greece, Italy, and Yugoslavia, recent indications
are that the Government tacitly allows its citizens to do so.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Presso
Although the Constitution states that citizens enjoy these
freedoms, it provides that they may not be exercised in
opposition to the Socialist order. Consequently, the
Government has imposed rigid restrictions on freedom of speech
and press. Any citizen who publicly criticizes the Government
is subject to swift and severe reprisals under an article of
the Constitution which forbids anti-State agitation and
propaganda. Amnesty International claims in its 1987 Report
to have received information about several persons convicted
under this article and serving sentences of up to 20 years for
peacefully expressing views critical of economic or political
conditions in Albania.
All news media are government controlled and never criticize
the state and party leaderships or their policies. Art and
literature are deemed to be weapons of revolutionary change
and are subject to rigid state control and censorship. The
authorities also manipulate scholarly inquiry and publications
for political purposes, particularly in such fields as
linguistics, literature, economics, history, geography,
folklore, and ethnology.
Information from abroad is carefully controlled, and persons
having unauthorized contacts with foreigners have been
reprimanded or jailed. There is some indication that such
restrictions may have been relaxed somewhat lately. Western
visitors report that Albanian citizens are increasingly bold
in talking to Western visitors and tourists.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The security police deal severely with group activities that
do not have government sanction or that might appear to be in
opposition to the leadership. There are no independent
associations or organizations; all are controlled by the APL.
Nearly all Albanians belong to trade unions that are part of
the United Trade Unions of Albania, an arm of the APL. These
unions have no significant independent voice in the field of
labor relations, although they do play a key role in
indoctrinating and propagandizing the workers, in maintaining
labor discipline, and in organizing the periods of so-called
voluntary manual labor in which all Albanians are expected to
take part.
c. Freedom of Religion
All religious activity in Albania is expressly prohibited by
the Constitution and by government policy. Historically,
about 70 percent of all Albanians were Muslim, nearly 20
percent were Orthodox, and a little more than 10 percent were
Roman Catholic. A recent refugee report estimated that
between 2,000 and 2,500 Jews live in Albania.
In 1967 the Government proclaimed Albania the first atheist
state in the world, abrogated all laws dealing with
church-state relations, and began actively to eradicate all
vestiges of religion. More than 2,100 mosgues, churches,
monasteries, and other institutions were closed, their fixed
assets were seized without compensation by the authorities,
and many religious leaders were persecuted, imprisoned, or
even executed for continuing their religious functions. All
religious literature was banned, as were any personal
manifestations of religious belief or practice. While a few
outstanding historic churches and their religious art are
being restored as museums, most churches and mosgues have been
converted to other uses.
The regime continues to suppress religious activity by
threatening harsh penalties for believers who practice their
faith and by obliging citizens to inform on believers.
Nevertheless, there have been some signs that the regime is
quietly toning down its antireligious campaign, as Tirana
tries to improve its relations with Italy, Greece, and
Turkey. There has been, however, no official statement that
religious practice is once again allowed. In its 1987 Report,
Amnesty International, citing refugee statements in 1986,
noted the arrest of Father Pjeter Meshkalla, an 80-year-old
Jesuit, after he had celebrated mass in a private house. He
had already served two long terms of imprisonment. One
Western report said Father Meshkalla had died in custody in
1987, but this has not been confirmed. Despite years of
antireligious pressure, some Albanians have continued to
practice their faith in their own homes, particularly in
villages and in more remote mountainous areas. Tourists have
also reported seeing Muslim Albanians praying along roadsides
with apparent impunity.
In November 1983, the Vatican publicly condemned religious
persecution in Albania and claimed that a number of priests,
members of holy orders, and seminarians had died in prison.
It also reported that two priests had been executed for
baptizing children. The official press denies, however, that
believers have been persecuted and maintains that religious
belief is opposed only by argument.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution does not guarantee freedom of movement.
Movement within the country and travel abroad are controlled
very strictly, and transgressors against the laws are severely
punished. The Criminal Code states that flight from the State
or refusal to return to the fatherland by a person sent abroad
on service or allowed to leave the State, is considered
treason and punishable by imprisonment for not less than 10
years or by death. Amnesty International stated in its 1987
Report that a worker from Kavaje was serving a 25-year prison
sentence for having attempted to leave Albania illegally.
Despite this, Albanians continue to risk their lives to cross
heavily guarded borders into Greece and Yugoslavia. Until
recently, Albanians were allowed to leave the country legally
only on official business or, very rarely, for family
reasons. In 1987 organized groups of Albanian tourists
visited Yugoslavia, and Albania is reported to be negotiating
similar programs with Italy and other Western European
countries. Albania has publicly stated that it wishes to
increase the number of its university students on exchange
programs in Western countries. Neither Albanian law nor
practice allows the right to emigrate.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Gonvernment
No such right exists in theory or in practice. The system of
government is a totalitarian dictatorship, headed by Ramiz
Alia in his capacity as First Secretary of the APL and
Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly. The
Constitution establishes the APL as the sole political entity
and Marxism-Leninism as the only political ideology. The APL
is governed internally by the principle of "democratic
centralism," under which decisionmaking power is concentrated
in the hands of a small elite. Any attempt by individual
citizens, or even party members, to criticize policy or change
the form of government or its leaders is dealt with severely.
The Constitution provides that the People's Assembly (a
unicameral parliament) is the supreme organ of national
government in Albania; similar bodies, called people's
councils, exist at the local level. Candidates for these
assemblies are first designated by a mass organization known
as the Democratic Front, which is controlled by the APL, and
then "elected" without opposition by universal suffrage.
After the last quadrennial elections, held on April 27, 1986,
the Government announced that 100 percent of eligible voters
had participated and that the official slate of candidates had
been elected with more that 99.99 percent of the votes.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government denies violating human rights and refuses to
cooperate with any investigation of allegations to the
contrary, including confidential investigations by the United
Nations Human Rights Commission.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Language, or Social Status
Greeks are the largest ethnic minority, but smaller numbers of
Serbs, Macedonians, Vlachs, Gypsies, and Jews also live in
Albania. The Constitution grants national minorities
"guaranteed protection and development of their culture and
popular traditions, the use of their mother tongue, and its
teaching in the schools, and equal development in all fields
of social life." While there are differences of opinion over
the extent to which minorities can exercise their cultural,
educational, and linguistic rights, they are clearly
restricted. While Greeks and Macedonians can be educated in
their mother tongue through the primary level, there is no
publishing or broadcasting in these languages. Several
reports indicate persecution, harassment, and discrimination
against minorities solely because of their ethnic status.
There have even been reports of mass removals of segments of
the Greek population out of traditionally Greek lands in the
south to areas more distant from the Albanian-Greek border.
Furthermore, insofar as the ban on religious practice has
removed the Greek Orthodox Church from Greek communities in
Albania, an important part of that ethnic group's commmunity
life and links to Greece has been eliminated. The leadership
of both the APL and the Government are overwhelmingly ethnic
Albanian of Moslem background.
The Constitution states that women shall enjoy "equal rights
with men in work, pay, holidays, social security, education,
in all social-political activity, as well as in the family."
Information on the extent to which these rights are exercised
is not available, but there are indications that the regime
has advanced the status of women. Women are said to
participate equally in the obligatory labor and military
service programs. There are several women in party and
government leadership positions.
CONDITIONS OF LABOR
There is no current data available on the minimum age for the
employment of children, minimum wages, maximum hours of work,
or occupational safety and health
