Inter-Parliamentary Union - British Group - Parliamentary Delegation to Tirana, Albania 14 to 15 December 2008


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Delegation Reports

Regional Seminar on the theme, Developing a Protective Framework for Children: The Role of Parliamentarians to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents, Tirana, Albania

14 to 15 December 2008

Report by Anthony Steen MP

Delegates
Anthony Steen MP
David Chaytor MP

The conference was one of the best run I have attended. The Secretary General of the IPU, Mr Anders Johnsson, was there on the opening day to ensure all was in order. A team of young clerks from the Albanian Parliament, together with UNICEF, ensured that the presentations, supporting documents, interpreters and the general running of the conference were first class.
Although one or two country delegations were delayed or cancelled due to industrial action at Budapest Airport (David Chaytor MP, my conference colleague, was sadly one of these), the conference was dominated, in terms of both the numbers and contributions, by parliamentarians from Parliaments outside the 27 EU countries.
There was an absence of representation from, amongst others, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, and Spain. France, UK, Portugal, Latvia and Greece offered six delegates between them.
Although there was good attendance on Sunday morning, numbers dwindled by the late afternoon. On Monday, there were more observers than participants (1:5).
As to the conference, whilst there were probably too many papers presented, the slides supporting them were well executed and the content was of a high standard. However, there were many different levels of discussion, with some countries still considering basic legislation on child abuse and child ombudsmen, whereas others, like Britain, were well advanced in tackling sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
Lena Karlsson (UNICEF) gave a well researched paper on Developing an enabling legislative framework for the prevention of sexual exploitation of children.
Vincent Tournecuillert (French NGO: Terre des hommes), gave a fascinating exposé on child trafficking in Europe and the linkages between various child protection concerns. He highlighted the fact that in 2003, 75% children in institutional care disappeared in some countries and that child protection agencies were not always as effective as their titles suggested.
Child abuse, he said, was far more widespread than recognised, violence within the family was the order of the day in many European countries, and dysfunctional, poor families produced children who were easy prey to traffickers.
Mr Tournecuillert also pointed out that although there was sizeable amount of legislation to protect children in all EU countries, there was little evidence of widespread implementation. There was considerable laxity and confusion on enforcement of legislation.
I was invited to chair a substantial part of the conference on Sunday. I persuaded virtually every delegate to put aside prepared statements and instead interact with other members of the conference which created a constructive dialogue.
Whilst it was acknowledged that Albania in the 1990s trafficked children, particularly to Italy, the view of many was that child trafficking was now much more within their own country than over their borders.
However, within the Balkans there was mounting evidence of child and women trafficking over the Greek border because of the mountainous terrain. Albanian gangs were still linked to the Italian and Greek mafia.
A presentation on cyber crime and sexual exploitation online provoked a discussion on the new technologies which were extending the frontiers of trafficking and child abuse. The General Director of Albania State Police suggested that the numbers of child victims of trafficking in Albania were only 22 in 2008, down from 109 in 2001. However, these figures were viewed with a measure of scepticism.
Deputy Paulo Lustosa, MP from Brazil, spoke about the Rio de Janeiro Conference and the Pact that followed (4,000 attendees). He shared concerns for implementation of laws and felt without the political will there would be difficultly in making any progress. There was recognition that there was little political mileage to be had in tackling child trafficking.
On Monday morning, there were field visits to a private company and a college of further education that provided vocational training and education for young people from ethnic minorities; with disabilities; from institutions; or directed there by the courts.
There was a contribution on the role of the ombudsmen for children. Turkish MP, Erdol Cevdet, talked about the child rights monitoring committee in his country which he said was “now listening to the voices of children”.
There was general support for an independent post for children, with some favouring a children’s rights ombudsman, others were more enthusiastic about a Rapporteur on trafficking along the Dutch lines.