Numerous societal problems - including social customs that disadvantage women and soaring rates of poverty, domestic violence and governmental corruption - propagate sex trafficking in Albania, suggests a new study by Venera Bekteshi, a in the School of Social Work.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Despite a number of measures undertaken by the government in Albania to curb sex trafficking, rigorous comprehensive legal and social reforms are needed to address the practices that perpetuate it, a new study led by a University of Illinois researcher indicates. Patriarchal societal customs that disenfranchise women, along with high rates of poverty, domestic violence and governmental corruption have made Albania a pivotal location for the trafficking industry. The country serves as both a source of trafficking victims and a transit hub for moving victims through Russia and Eastern and Western Europe. Over the past decade, the Albanian government undertook a number of local and international initiatives to address human trafficking and improve the welfare of women, adopting policies addressing issues of gender equality, discrimination, domestic violence and governmental corruption. In a joint initiative with Western countries, Albania also opened the first anti-sex trafficking center in Europe in 2001. Although initially criticized by international aid organizations and European officials for being slow to recognize and respond to the problem, Albania implemented an anti-trafficking law in 2000.
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