Document #1086673
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
For information on violence against women,
including minors, on the abduction of young women and children and
on whether there are shelters to assist abused women, please
consult Responses to Information Requests ALB22416.E of 8 December
1995 and ALB22653.E of 19 January 1996. The 13 June 1994 San
Francisco Examiner article attached to ALB22416.E contains a
reference to the passing of a law that prohibits the sale of women.
For further information on violence against women, including
youths, on the abduction of children and women, and on the
government response, please consult the 8 April 1992 Agence France
Presse (AFP) and 31 December 1995 ATA News Agency attachments to
this Response.
Information on government agencies and any
cultural and Islamic norms pertaining to child protection could not
be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. However, for
information on the adult touching of children in Albanian society,
please consult the first page, the first paragraph of the second
page, the last paragraph of the fourth page, and page five of the
Houston Chronicle attachment of 17 September 1995. For further
information on the situation of children in Albania, please consult
page 727 of Country Reports 1994, which is available at Regional
Documentation Centres.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB 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
additional sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
Attachments
Agence France Presse (AFP). 8 April
1992. "Albania: More and More Girls Raped and Kidnapped Say
Police." (NEXIS)
ATA News Agency [Tirana, in English]. 31
December 1995. "Government; Premier Praises Action Against Drugs
and Kidnapping in Albania." (BBC Summary 31 Dec. 1995/NEXIS)
The Houston Chronicle. 17 September
1995. 2 Star Edition. Jim Schutze. "Albanian Cleared of Crime but
Loses Kids Anyway; Clash of Cultures Catches Couple." (NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
Foreign Broadcast Information Service
(FBIS) Reports. Daily.
News from Helsinki Watch [New York].
Monthly.
Oral sources.
RFE/RL Research Reports [Munich].
Weekly.
Transition: Events and Issues in the
Former Soviet Union and East-Central and Southeastern Europe
[Prague]. Bi-monthly.