Ten-Year Review: State Party Albania was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010. It regards existing law as sufficient to ensure its implementation of the convention. Albania has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria and elsewhere. It has voted in favor of an annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting implementation of the convention since 2015.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Albania confirmed that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

After conducting a legislative review, Albania reported in 2013 that it considered existing legislation sufficient to implement the convention’s provisions.[1]

Albania submitted its initial Article 7 report for the convention in January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently in May 2020.[2]

Albania participated throughout the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and made many strong contributions from the perspective of a state affected by past use of cluster munitions.[3]

Albania has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in September 2016 in Geneva. It attended the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015, the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011-2015, and in regional workshops on the convention.

In December 2019, Albania voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Albania has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on stockpile destruction and retention in 2013-2015.

Albania has condemned the use of cluster munitions “in any conflicts.”[5] It has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria several times since 2013.[6] Albania voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolution condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[7] It has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently Resolution 74/169 in December 2019, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[8]

Albania has yet to elaborate its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Albania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Albania has reported that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[9] In December 2008, Albania stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[10]

Forces of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and states participating in the NATO operation used cluster munitions in Albania in 1999.[11] A decade later, in December 2009, Albania announced the completion of clearance of all known cluster munition remnants on its territory.[12]

Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 September 1998 and ratified it on 29 February 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 August 2000. It enacted national implementation legislation in 2006, which includes penal sanctions.[1]

Albania has been an infrequent attendee at meetings of the treaty. Albania attended meetings fairly regularly through the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in 2012 but did not attend another meeting until the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in 2018. At the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2018, Albania provided a statement on victim assistance and condemned the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines.[2] Albania also did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Albania has submitted Article 7 transparency reports almost every year since becoming a State Party, including in 2019.

At previous meetings of the treaty, Albania served on the Committee on Resources, Cooperation and Assistance in 2012, as well as vice president of the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in 2012 and president of the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in 2010.

Albania is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war; however, it has never submitted an Article 13 report for Amended Protocol II. Albania is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Albania was a producer of antipersonnel landmines from 1967–1990. Before 1967, some handmade mines were produced by various military units in small quantities. In 1967, China transferred the technology for mass production of antipersonnel mines to Albania, and two production facilities were built that year. These facilities produced the POMZ-2 and the POMZ-6 fragmentation stake antipersonnel mines. Antivehicle mines have also been produced in Albania. The mine production was financed and supervised by the Ministry of Defense. The existence of mine producing factories and their accessories has been confirmed by various high-ranking military authorities.[3]

Production of antipersonnel mines in Albania was suspended in 1990 and officially ceased in 1991.[4] Since then, there has been no production of antipersonnel or antitank mines.

Mines were used in Albania during the First World War. During the Second World War in the Albanian theater, mines were used by the Italian Army (1939–1943) and German Army (1943–1944). British and American mines were also deployed. The Albanian government used mines in 1949 in a conflict with Greece.[5] Throughout 1945–1990, the government planted mines at special sections of the border with Yugoslavia and Greece. The last use of antipersonnel mines in Albania occurred in 1998 and 1999 in the northeast of the country during the Kosovo crisis.

Albania may have been a minor exporter of antipersonnel mines in the past. Before 1975, Albania received large quantities of mines from the Soviet Union and China. According to the United Nations, Russian antipersonnel and Chinese antivehicle mines found in Kosovo after the 1999 conflict may have been transferred from Albania.[6]

Albania completed the destruction of its stockpile of 1,683,860 antipersonnel mines on 4 April 2002, more than two years before its treaty deadline.[7] In its initial Article 7 report, Albania stated that “there are no justifiable reasons for the retention of APM [antipersonnel mines] for training or any other purpose” and has therefore not retained mines since becoming a State Party.[8]

In 2016, the United States (US) provided US$1.5 million through the ITF Enhancing Human Security for victim assistance and clearance activities in Albania.[1]

Summary of contributions: 2012–2016[2]

Casualties  Overview

In 2016, the Albanian Mine and Munitions Coordination Office (AMMCO) did not record any mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Albania. In 2015, five child casualties of abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) were recorded. In 2016, no casualties of AXO were entered in the national database, but casualties continued to be recorded in 2017, with six casualties recorded as of August.[1]

The casualties registered to August 2017 occurred in incidents on 20 January 2017 and on 22 and 25 March 2017. The incidents occurred on private property in Pogradec, and around the army buildings in Porto Romano Durres and Yrshek Tirana. Of the six casualties five were injured and one died after being transported to the National Trauma Hospital. One casualty was military. The others were civilian, including two children.[2]

Since 2009, less than 10 casualties have been recorded in Albania for each year. The last landmine casualties reported were in 2005.

Due to decreased funding there are some challenges to data collection. The Albanian Red Cross and Albanian Assistance for Integration and Development (ALB-AID) used to collect Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) forms and submit them to AMMCO. However, only in 2016, was ALB-AID in a position to gather casualty information.[3]

A total of 998 UXO casualties (151 killed and 847 injured) have been identified in Albania between 1997 and 2016.[4] The Albanian Mine Action Executive (AMAE) casualty database for Kukës region contained information on 272 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (34 killed; 238 injured) for the period 1999–2005.

Cluster munitions casualties

There have been at least 55 cluster munition casualties in Albania. The Kukës database recorded 53 casualties from cluster munition remnants (nine killed; 44 injured).[5] Two additional casualties, due to the use of cluster munitions, were also identified.[6] Data on all injured people by cluster munitions is disaggregated by age and gender. Albania reported that there were no changes to casualty data since its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions report submission.[7]

Victim assistance action points

• Continue to provide follow-up to address the needs identified during the explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivor assessment survey completed in 2016.
• Develop existing capacities and management of the prosthetic center in Tirana to increase the quality of physical rehabilitation services.
• Increase financial resources for healthcare and rehabilitation of survivors or their family members.
• Maintain capacities of services and healthcare for amputees in remote areas.
• Improve access to services for vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities and populations in rural or remote areas.

Victim assistance planning and coordination[1]

International commitments and obligations

Laws and policies

Framework Law No. 93 of 2014 on the Inclusion of and Access for People with Disabilities is the key relevant legislationthat protects the rights of persons with disabilities. The framework legislation is only partially compliant with the CRPD. Persons with disabilities continued to face difficulties in accessing employment, healthcare, education, and social services and faced barriers to participating in decision-making. Challenges in removing infrastructural barriers to accessibility remained. Monitoring of the implementation of disability rights is hampered by a lack of data. Most of the secondary legislation related to the law on inclusion and accessibility from 2014 still needed to be adopted.[11]

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 the 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.[12]

The European Commission recommended that Albania improve access to services for vulnerable populations, including persons with disabilities and populations in rural or remote areas. The Law on Social Care Services entered into force in November 2016 and the Law on the Rights and the Protection of the Child in February 2017. The 2017–2020 national agenda for children’s rights was adopted in April 2017, promoting stronger governance in the protection of rights. In December 2016, the Council of Ministers approved the criteria, procedures, documentation, and amount of economic aid for offering more autonomy to local government units. The use of an information management system for beneficiaries of state assistance with disabilities was approved and was being implemented in a pilot phase.[13]

Major Developments in 2017–2018

Medical care and rehabilitation

Medical screening and regular check-ups for mine/cluster munition survivors are carried out regularly by family doctors or they are referred to a specialist as needed.

ITF Enhancing Human Security, with United States (US) Department of State funding supported the Kukës Regional Hospital prosthetics workshop with raw materials and components for the repair and production of prostheses in 2017.[14]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

Based on a needs assessment, the US Department of State, through ITF Enhancing Human Security, funded a project supporting the vocational training of 25 survivors.

Victim assistance providers and activities