Summary action points based on findings

• Provide follow-up to address the needs identified during the needs assessment survey of 2014.
• Support socioeconomic reintegration of survivors through vocational courses and other economic initiatives.
• Consolidate and regularly update the database on socioeconomic and medical needs.
• Significantly improve the availability of rehabilitation services.
• Apply the knowledge developed through the victim assistance program to create small-scale affordable prosthetics and rehabilitation services throughout the country.
• Make sustainable the existing health and prosthetics services in the mine-affected northern region.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Albania is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Albania has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Protocol V, and has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 11 February 2013.

Victim Assistance

There are at least 847 mine/ERW survivors, including those injured by abandoned explosive ordinance (AXO), in Albania.

Victim assistance since 2015

Victim assistance activities were coordinated and monitored by the Albanian Mines and Munitions Coordination Office (AMMCO) and carried out in cooperation with implementing partners including Albanian Assistance for Integration and Development (ALB-AID), the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Welfare and Youth, Kukës Regional Hospital, Directorates of Public Health, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Albania, International Trust Fund Enhancing Human Security (ITF), and the University Rehabilitation Institute Republic of Slovenia.

Immediately after Albania was declared mine-free in 2009, international funding for victim assistance was drastically reduced. Although much was said about linking mine action to development, no funding was made available for such activities and resourcing had not recovered by the period of the Maputo Action Plan.[1] Economic inclusion and psychological support remained the most serious needs of survivors. Overall, widespread poverty, unregulated working conditions, and poor medical care posed significant problems for many persons with disabilities.

ALB-AID (formerly VMA-Kukës, founded in November 2000) provided direct victim assistance, including economic inclusion.

The main victim assistance provider in Albania, ALB-AID, continued to implement victim assistance programs at an extremely reduced level due to decreased funding. Rehabilitative medicine remained at the basic level in Albania and was far from meeting the needs of survivors and other persons with disabilities. Some rehabilitation, mainly physiotherapy, was offered by small private clinics and professionals. More structured private services offered rehabilitation with other forms of therapy in addition to physiotherapy.[2]

ALB-AID, with help from AMMCO, continued conducting a survey and assessments of socioeconomic and health needs of marginalized unexploded explosive ordinance (UXO)/AXO victims within the framework of the Albanian Mine Action Program (AMAP).[3]

The aim of this survey was to promote the improvement of access of victims to medical and socioeconomic services provided by public and private, central and local operators, including different national and international institutions and associations. The survey projects resulted in detailed, consolidated socioeconomic data on survivors and their needs that was shared with Albanian line ministries and local municipal service providers for social support services. The project also raised awareness among local government institutions (social welfare departments) of their responsibilities to address the need for social and economic inclusion of UXO/AXO survivors.[4] ALB-AID utilized capacity from both its survivor network and the personnel who had worked at the unplanned munitions explosion area of Gerdec to survey survivors, some of whom live in extremely remote areas.[5]

Victim assistance in 2016

ALB-AID, with support from AMMCO began implementing assistance based on needs assessed through the three-year survey.

The Albanian Disability Rights Foundation (ADRF) and disability rights advocates increased activities. However, overall, persons with disabilities continued to face difficulties in accessing education, employment, healthcare, social services, and decision-making.[6]

Assessing victim assistance needs

Data on all people injured by cluster munitions in Albania is disaggregated by age and gender.[7] In 2013–2016, a socioeconomic and medical needs assessment of marginalized ERW victims in Albania was conducted by ALB-AID in three phases. In total, 979 people were visited and 726 survivors completed the survey. Of the survivors surveyed, 382 were identified from the AMMCO International Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) data base and 344 survivors were never previously registered and newly contacted.[8]

Victim assistance coordination[9]

AMMCO is responsible for the coordination of victim assistance activities, resource mobilization, and liaising with the government. AMMCO’s mandate continued to involve expanding Albania’s existing victim assistance program to include other UXO/AXO survivors and persons in need of assistance. A national workshop with participation of all stakeholders including donors was held in 2016, presenting all the findings from the needs assessment projects.[10]

Albania’s National Victim Assistance Plan includes all pillars of victim assistance and is aligned with the Mine Ban Treaty, Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), Convention on Cluster Munitions, and CRPD.[11]

The National Disability Committee formed in 2015 was chaired by the minister of social welfare and included representation from seven disabled people’s organizations (DPOs) and seven service providers.[12] In June 2016, the government approved the 2016–2020 National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities,[13] supported by a state funded budget of 1.5 billion Lek (US$12 million).[14]

Detailed information on victim assistance was reported in Form H of Albania’s Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report for 2016.[15] Albania provided reporting on victim assistance activities in Form J of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2016.[16] Demonstrating effective use of reporting mechanisms, the same victim assistance activities were also reported in its CCW Protocol V and Amended Protocol II reporting.[17] Albania did not make statements on victim assistance at the meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty or Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2016, nor at the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in June 2017.

Participation and inclusion

Survivors were represented in victim assistance planning and implementation of services, including the survivor survey and subsequent workshop, through participation in ALB-AID.[18] A landmine survivor leader was also a representative of a unique political party that specifically represents persons with disabilities.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities

Medical care and rehabilitation

Albania has reported that in most cases inclusive/comprehensive rehabilitation services are not operational, limited in number, and those that do exist are often inaccessible for the majority of persons with disabilities. Therefore, persons with disabilities “have to refer themselves to private services to meet their needs.”[19]

During 2016, the Prosthetic Workshop at Kukës Regional Hospital supported about 42 amputees with new prostheses and provided major repairs for another 40 people. The workload at Kukës prosthetic workshop was continuously increasing, due to the poor functioning of the National Prosthetic Center in Tirana.[20] A physiotherapy education program based on European standards continued to be implemented by the Nursing Faculty of Tirana.[21]

The government funded the Albanian Disability Rights Foundation with five million Leks (US$40,000) for the production of wheelchairs.[22]

The ITF tender procedure for the procurement of rehabilitation equipment for Kukës Regional Hospital (deadline December 2016) was annulled due to insufficient funding. In January 2017, the notice was published and in May the materials were handed over to the Hospital. ITF was planning to republish the notice.[23]

According to the 2016–2020 National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities, Albania should identify a budget for covering the cost of orthotics, prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other devices for persons with disabilities who receive a prescription in 2017. Subsequently the Ministry of Health and Minister of Social Welfare and Youth should implement the coverage of those costs from 2018 through 2020.[24]

Economic and social inclusion and psychological support

Generally, resource constraints and a lack of infrastructure made it difficult for persons with disabilities to participate fully in many social activities. Governmental social services agencies were often unable to implement their programs due to a lack of funding.[25] Albania identified a need for US$145,000 to implement vocational training and career development for survivors and their family members in the period 2016–2017.[26]

In November 2016, ALB-AID started a project to increase economic inclusion for 25 UXO/ERW survivors and family members through business training. The project was expected to be completed by December 2017.[27] As a result of the first phase of the project, five trained UXO/ERW survivors were employed or self-employed and 13 gained professional skills and entered the local job market or established their own businesses.[28]

National laws and policies

Many persons with disabilities lived in isolation and suffered social exclusion, lacking services to enjoy the right to live independently and be included in the community.[29]

Framework Law No. 93 of 2014 on the Inclusion of and Access for People with Disabilities protects the rights of persons with disabilities.[30] Albania has social services agencies to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, but the agencies often lacked funding to implement their programs. Resource constraints and lack of infrastructure made it difficult for persons with disabilities to participate fully in civic affairs.[31]

Secondary legislation for Law No. 93 contained a sub-act of incentives for the employment of persons with disabilities, including six full salaries, after which 50% of salary is provided through government support and coverage of employees’ social insurance. The package and other economic inclusion initiatives for persons with disabilities were supported by USAID.[32]

The government sponsored social services agencies to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, but these agencies traditionally lacked funding to implement their programs. Resource constraints and lack of infrastructure made it difficult for persons with disabilities to participate fully in civic affairs.[33]

In 2016, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended increased access to healthcare services for women with disabilities, issues of women with disabilities to be included in labor legislation, and protection for women with disabilities who are at risk of, or victims of, abuse.[34] Law No. 54/2012 amending the Law on Social Programs for Housing Inhabitants in Urban Areas prioritizes the housing needs of women with disabilities, among other vulnerable groups of women.