A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Albania from 20 to 24 May 2019 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During the visit, which was one of the first in the framework of ECRI’s new 6^th monitoring cycle, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on effective equality and access to rights; hate speech and hate-motivated violence; and integration and inclusion.

The delegation held meetings in Tirana, with representatives of the national and city authorities, independent bodies, international organisations as well as NGOs. delegation visited also Pogradec and Korçë municipalities and met with the local authorities and civil society representatives.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report to be published in 2020 in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country. Among these, two priority recommendations will be revisited in two years’ time as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.

In its 2015 report, ECRI highlighted, among other concerns, that victims of discrimination lacked access to free legal aid; that many Roma and Egyptians could not regularise their homes and a considerable number of them were threatened by forced evictions without alternative housing; and that no legal regulation for important aspects of LGBT persons’ private life, such as registered partnership, change of sex and name, or access to gender reassignment treatment existed.

Link to the 2015 report on Albania