Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Albania (Ratification: 1957)

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Trafficking in persons. 1. National Action Plan. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee observes that the Government has not provided information on the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Fight against Human Trafficking 2021–2023. The Committee notes, from the 2025 Evaluation Report concerning Albania of the Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Persons (GRETA) of the Council of Europe, that a new National Action Plan for 2024–2025 was adopted through broad consultation with NGOs and international organizations. The National Action Plan includes measures such as amendments to the legislation, strengthening of the capacities of the police and the judiciary, or the revision of the Standards Operating Procedures (SOP) for the identification of victims of trafficking. It is structured around three policy objectives and provides for regular monitoring and preparation of annual reports by the Anti-Trafficking and Migration Directorate. The Committee also notes that a budget of 276.5 million leks (about €2.5 million) has been earmarked for its implementation over a two year period. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure the effective implementation of the three components of the National Action Plan for the fight against trafficking in persons 2024–25 as well as on the assessments of the results achieved and the difficulties encountered, carried out by the Anti-trafficking and Migration Directorate.

2. Identification and protection of victims. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that protection and rehabilitation services are provided under three models/types of care: emergency services provided in shelters; protection and rehabilitation granted in specialized residential care centres; and integration and empowerment through community care services. Funds are allocated from the State budget for the payment of staff who are trained to ensure the safety of the victims and provide specialized programmes. The Government also indicates that the number of adult victims of trafficking in specialized residential care centres has increased from 40 in 2019 to 75 in 2023 and that the number of beneficiaries in reintegration programmes from specialized centres also increased from 94 in 2019 to 179 in 2023. Furthermore, under the 2014 law on compulsory healthcare insurance funds, the State covers health insurance for victims of trafficking who become part of the public health system and are provided with primary healthcare as well as secondary and tertiary care including mental health services. The Government further refers to a series of measures aiming at protecting the most at risk of trafficking in persons, such as children, women and girl, Roma and Egyptian ethnic communities, including in the framework of the National Action Plan for Equality, Inclusion, and Participation of Roma and Egyptians 2021–2025, and the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021–2030 which includes a component on ensuring better access to specialized support services for person who have been subjected to harmful practices.

In addition, the Committee notes from the information provided by the Government to the GRETA in 2024, that “During 2019–2023, a total of 87 victims and potential victims of trafficking were registered as unemployed jobseekers at the employment offices and received information and counselling according to their needs about opportunities to work in the labour market”. The Committee encourages the Government to continue taking measures to ensure the proper identification and protection of victims of trafficking, both for labour and sexual exploitation, particularly among the vulnerable groups. It requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information on the victims identified as well as on the assistance and services provided.

3. Prosecution and application of sanctions. In its reply, the Government indicates that the Labour Inspectorate is part of several mechanisms aimed at combating and identifying human trafficking cases, including: (i) the new National Referral Mechanism (NRM), a multi-institutional framework involving 15 entities, emphasizing the role of labour inspectors in the early identification of trafficking cases; (ii) the Responsible Authority, the specialized body which coordinates the NRM and the SOP for the identification and referral of victims and (iii) the Multi-Agency Working Group established through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Interior, Labour Inspectorate, Social Services, and State Police, which plans to include the General Directorate of Taxation, thereby expanding the jurisdiction of labour inspection to cover entities that previously operated in the informal economy. Additionally, the Government indicates that the State Labour Inspectorate and Social Services referred two suspected cases involving foreign female employees to the National Anti-trafficking Coordinator.

The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government to the GRETA, according to which, statistical data from the ninth month of 2023 shows one criminal proceeding registered under Article 110a of the Criminal Code (Trafficking of Adults), compared to seven cases during the same period in the previous year, and seven criminal proceedings registered under Article 128b (Trafficking of Minors). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures taken regarding training, capacity-building, and cooperation of law enforcement bodies in order to ensure better identification, investigation and prosecution of cases of trafficking in persons, for both sexual and labour exploitation. It also requests the Government to provide information on the convictions and the penal sanctions imposed on perpetrators of trafficking under Articles 110a and 128b of the Criminal Code.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1). 1. Freedom of career military personnel to leave their service. The Committee recalls that under sections 25(1)(d) and 26(1)(ç) of the Act No. 59 of 2014 on Military Career in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, career military personnel may apply for resignation, which is deemed accepted if not answered within three months. Noting that resignation may be refused, and to assess that, in practice, members of the armed forces can leave the service during peacetime within a reasonable period, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of applications to resign submitted under sections 25 and 26 of Law No. 59 of 2014, the number of refusals, the grounds for refusal, and the remedies available to contest such decisions.

2. Compulsory public works exacted under the threat of suspension of unemployment benefits. According to section 4(6)(c) of Act No. 146/2015 on Jobseekers, a person loses his/her status as a jobseeker and his/her unemployment benefit is suspended as a result of refusal to participate in employment programmes, including public works programmes (section 11(2) of the Act No. 15/2019 on Employment Promotion). Pursuant to section I(2) of Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 535 of 8 July 2020 on Procedures, Criteria and Rules for the Implementation of the Public Works Programs in the Community, such a programme aims at integrating the long-term unemployed into the labour market. Furthermore, according to section III (1c) (vii) of the Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 17 of 15 January 2020 on Procedures, Criteria and Rules for the Implementation of Employment Promotion Programs, such programmes are offered, among others, to jobseekers who have been receiving unemployment benefits for more than three months.

The Committee recalls that under schemes where benefits are contingent upon the recipient having worked or contributed to an unemployment insurance scheme for a minimum period and where the length of time during which benefits are paid is linked to the length of time the person concerned has worked, as is the case in Albania, the further requirement that persons perform work would constitute the imposition of compulsory labour under the threat of losing the benefits to which they are entitled (the 2007 General Survey, Eradication of forced labour, para. 129). In the absence of information from the Government on this point, the Committee once again requests the Government to confirm that participation in public works programmes aims at addressing long-term unemployment, and that persons who have just lost their jobs are not obliged to participate in such programmes under the menace of the suspension of their unemployment benefits in case of refusal. Please provide statistical data on cases where unemployment benefits were suspended due to refusal to participate in public works programmes.

Article 2(2)(c). Work of prisoners for private entities. The Committee recalls that under section 54 of the General Regulation of Prisons of 2015 and section 43(1) of Act No. 81 of June 2020 on the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners, detainees or convicted persons have the right to work and may be employed through the conclusion of an employment contract either with the Institution for the Execution of Criminal Decisions (IECD) or with third-party legal entities, within or outside the prison premises. The Committee notes that the Government reiterates that to work for private entities, prisoners must sign a work contract, which should include the conditions of employment, the duration of work, and compensation for the work performed. The Government once again refers to the adoption of special rules for the employment of prisoners, including conditions and compensation for their work as well as cooperation agreements between prisons and private entities to promote the employment of prisoners. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide examples of employment contracts signed between the prisoners and the IECD or private entities as well as a copy of the special rules for the employment of prisoners, once adopted.