child abuse in the albanian family

34 Pages·2005·0.44 MB·English

by  Altin Hazizaj

QENDRA PER MBROJTJEN E TE DREJTAVE
TE FEMIJEVE NE SHQIPERI

Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania - CRCA

CHILD ABUSE IN THE
ALBANIAN FAMILY

Prepared by:

Asoc. Prof. Dr. Edlira Haxhiymeri
Eliona Kulluri
Altin Hazizaj

Edited by:

AURELA PANO

AUGUST 2005
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania – CRCA, would like to extend its thanks
for the preparation of this research-report to the following:

- Ms.Edlira Haxhiymeri, Ms. Eliona Kulluri and Mr. Altin Hazizaj for the collection
and analysis of data, documents and interviews, and for the preparation of this
report.

- Ms. Aurela Pano, for the continuous review and editing of this Report.

- Olof Palme International Center, for the financial support of the Programme ‘The
Rights of the Child a Democratic Right’ of the Information and Research Centre
for Children’s Rights in Albania - IRCCRA, and its support for the preparation and
publication of this research.

- All children, who spoke to us openly about their life, concerns and problems.

- The Shelter for Battered Women and Young Girls for putting in our disposition
information and data that have been included in this research.
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CONTENTS

Page
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4

2. INTRODUCTION 5
- Child abuse in the family 5
- Methodology of the research 5

3. THE CONCEPT OF CHILD ABUSE 7
- Definition of child abuse 7
- Main forms of child abuse 7
- Physical abuse 7
- Baby Shaken Syndrome 8
- Emotional Abuse 8
- Sexual Abuse 9
- Child neglect 10

4. CHILD ABUSE AND ALBANIAN LEGISLATION 11
- Definition of child abuse and neglect 11
- Albanian Legislation and child abuse 11
- Family Code and the concept of ‘parental responsibility’ 11
- Governmental Policies and child abuse 13

5. PROTECTION OF CHILDREN FROM ABUSE AND NEGLECT 14
- Responsible institutions and child protection scheme 14

6. SOCIAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS CHILD ABUSE 16
- Scale of acceptance by the society of child abuse in the family 16
- Parents and their expectations by the child 17
- Scale of acceptance of abuse by the child 17
- Experts views on the phenomena of child abuse in Albania 17

7. SCALE OF CHILD ABUSE IN ALBANIA 19
- Scale of the phenomena 19
- Profile of an abusing family 19

8. PROFILE OF THE CHILD AND CONSEQUENCES OF ABUSE 22
- The profile of abused children 22
- Consequences of abuse to children 22

9. CASE STUDIES 25

10. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 29
- Conclusions 29
- Recommendations 30

11. LITERATURE AND CONTACTS 32
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Child abuse in Albania is not a phenomenon experienced risk of creating abusive future parents. Abuse causes
only recently. This is a wound, which has remained emotional, mental and personality damages making
dormant for long in the Albanian family and society. For abused children develop other characteristics from those
many years nobody has dared to “wake up the bear” of their peers. So, they do not ask for help, they do not
sleeping inside us. The research on child abuse in the know how to complain, isolate themselves, grow up
Albanian family, which we are presenting to you, is a prematurely, do not trust the people surrounding them,
result of a long research and practice work to identify the have disorders of eating, have problem with urination,
problem, detect the causes facing this way the reality in and generally have disorders with learning and a poor and
order to help the victims of abuse, abusing parents and all vulgar vocabulary characterises them.
those institutions, organizations and individuals that are
interested to prevent or cure the dolorous phenomenon of To illustrate these specific characteristics of children,
child abuse. This research is based on the contemprory through the chapter “Case Studies”, the research brings
literature on this phenomenon, researches of individuals some concrete cases of children that are treated in the
and groups working in this issue in Albania, but more Shelter.
specifically, the research is based on the cases of abused
children treated in the Shelter of Battered Women and The Constitution of the Albanian Republic of Albania, the
Girls in Albania. Penal Code, the Civil Code and the New Family Code
guarantee to children the protection of fundamental
The research provides a definition of the child abuse in rights, but it still remains much to do in the function of
general: “every behaviour or attitude that injures or risks the perfection of the legal framework.
the emotional, physical well-being of the child as well as
causes the interruption of the normal process of The research is provided with a special chapter, which
development”. Child abuse is manifested in various summarises the conclusions and suggestions on the
forms, such as: physical and emotional abuse, neglecting phenomenon in question.
and sexual abuse. Each of these forms is illustrated with
cases of people that have lived and have been treated in As a conclusion, it is pointed out the fact that the child
the Shelter. abuse does not know any limit, but the children asking
help come mainly from poor and risked strata of the
Part of this research is occupied by the attitudes of the society. During the last years, an increase of cases of
society towards the abuse concentrating on the degree of extreme child abuse inside the family has been noted.
acceptance of this phenomenon, the attitude of parents Persons inside family or relatives carry out child abuse,
towards abusing, the degree of acceptance of abuse by the although there is no lack of cases of child abuse by
children themselves and the attitude of specialists toward unknown persons.
this problem. It’s worth underlying the fact that in a
society in which prevails the opinion that “any stick is The roots of this phenomenon stand in the patriarchal
good to beat a dog” it is difficult to fight this mentality that characterises the Albanian family and the
phenomenon massively and immediately. These attitudes entire society in the country as well. Even though there is
reflected at the parents and children themselves, even an increased level of awareness rising on child abuse
among some experts, show the intolerant attitude towards among the population, it still remains much to do in order
child abuse. to overcome abusive stereotypes and models of
parenthood. To achieve this objective, it is required a
The phenomenon of abuse threatens all children better collaboration among the civil society, structures of
regardless of their age, residence, gender, and social- state, parents and experts of the field.
economic level of the family. To illustrate this idea in the
research there are presented data on the families of
abused children, concentrating on cases treated in the
Shelter.

Abuse causes wounds in children, and these wounds hurt
during all the life if we do not treat them. They bear the
2. INTRODUCTION purposes have become part of discussions, debates,
writings and publications, researches, policies and

services in the function of groups at risk.
2.1 Child abuse in the family

Dealing with the problem of child abuse as a social
Child abuse is not a new phenomenon to the modern problem has not a long history in Albania. This problem
society. It has been encountered since in the origin of started to be discussed during ‘90s, time when the civil
humanity. The Roman law gave to the father the absolute movement begun to take breathe as a result of political
right on his child. This right was understood as a right to changes taking place in the country. The interest of
act on child by every means. In the Middle Ages, children public, state’s structures and specialists increased
with mental retardation were burned into fire. considerably thanks to the work of many NGOs, which
not only organised awareness rising campaigns on the
With the evolution of human society, behaviours and defence of children rights, victims of abuse, but also
attitudes towards children have changed and evolved as offered the first specialised psycho-social services and
well. In most of the cases, parents have taken care of their legal support.
children thus ensuring the surviving of human beings.
Despite the cultural, religious or moral differences From the sociological point of view, the legitimacy of a
concerning the way of educating and upbringing a child, social problem indispensably requires the study of the
the majority of society never accepts child abuse. Family degree and dimensions of the threat that this problem
is always considered as the institution that is responsible presents for the society. Problems like child abuse, which
for the upbringing of child and not for abusing of him. involves many aspects and in most of the cases is kept
Different countries have experienced periods of various secret, are difficult to be diagnosed in order to enable us
experiences related to the attitudes assumed towards child possess a actual view of the social reality. The fact that
abuse. this problem not only was not discussed previously, but it
was kept secret and silent, makes its study more difficult.
During the last century, the attitude toward the problems Being that the interest on the problem of child abuse has
of child abuse took a full turning. The psychological been in low levels, today, at least few available data or
thought, which marked an epochal development during statistical figures can be found to illustrate the dimensions
this period, emphasised for the first time the importance of this problem. The most possible study is the one which
of the stage of childhood in the development of can be made on the basis of the cases treated by the
individual’s personality and character. Psychologists, services set up to come into help to this category of
from that time and on put have put the stress on the using children, or on the ground of the opinions tested by
more humane methods for the education of children. questionnaires.
Although law in many countries of the world prohibits
child abuse, it still continues to be used by parents for In the recent years, the situation of child abuse seems to
disciplinary purposes. Meanwhile, the authors keep have changed. More and more, different organizations
discussing about the problem of the definition of what can and institutions have initiated activities that aim the
be considered child abuse and what can be considered reduction of child abuse’s frequencies. The problem of
discipline, and it there can be draw a dividing line child abuse is being discussed more often in media
between these two kinds of attitude. helping this way to the augmentation of specialised
services for children. Although, we do not have a
For the first time, the discussion about the problem of specialised service to help the children yet, and the
child abuse became public in ‘60s of the last century, time realization of changes in legislation have become
when Freud published his work “Abused child” which indispensable in order to achieve the international
was followed by the book written by Heifer and Kemp standards for the protection of children, the fat that the
“The Syndrome of the abused child”. Since that time, the state has no more the monopoly over social problems, has
public interest on the problems related to child abuse has yielded its effects in this aspect of individuals life as well.
increased more and more.

Even in our country, attitudes related to this problem have 2.2 Research methodology
changed through years. In the last decade of the last

century, but also in the beginnings of the new one,
The study on child abuse in Albania that we are
problems like child abuse, women abuse, trafficking in
presenting to those who are interested is based on the
human beings for exploitation, prostitution, or other
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study on child abuse in Albania that we are presenting to based on a professional literature. The research reflects
those who are interested is based on processing cases of other studies of individuals and organizations serving in
abused children treated in the Shelter for Battered this field. We think that it is appropriate to mention since
Women and Girls in Tirana. These cases are collected in the very beginning of the study that in general, the
over a time span between 1998 and 2004. This is also the registered cases refer to mothers, their profile and
period that this Shelter has been functioning as a problems. In the case of the Shelter, there is lack of
specialised service for the category for abused women contacts with fathers, therefore the data on them are
and girls, which, in most of cases, bring their children limited or collected by any indirect source processing
with them. These children are abused and traumatised no cases of abused children treated in the Shelter
less than their mothers. Every child treatement in the
Shelter is registered in a separate document in which
recordes general data about age, district, family, problems

the child displays, and the way of intervention. As a
method for the collection of these recorded data, in
general structured interviews have been carried out, but at

the same time, there are realised unstructured interviews
with children and mothers aiming the gathering of
qualitative data and histories about each case.

Conversations one-to-one with children, interpretations of
their works, comments on tales or discussions over
different movies or books, are only some of the ways

employed to communicate with the children and to learn
about the problems they experience and the degree of the
impairment of their development.

Also, the study presents to the reader a viewpoint of the
phenomenon of child abuse in the family in Albania,
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3. THE CONCEPT OF CHILD ABUSE

3.1 Definition of Child abuse
3.2 Main forms of Child abuse

Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of Child abuse is manifested or realised in some forms:
a child that results in non-accidental harm or emotional, physical, sexualand neglect. In the practice of
injury and which cannot be reasonably the treatment of abused children it is noticed that there are
not pure cases of a single form of abuse. Child abuse is
explained. Child abuse can include: physical
encountered in complicated forms in which there are
abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and
interwoven all forms together or some of them. The
neglect.
following definitions refer to pure forms and we have
decided to do so in order to enable the reader to
understand better the causes that lead to various forms of
Referring to many publications in this field, but also
abuse as well as the specific characteristics acquired by
based in their experience in the work with cases of abused
children who experience more than one of these forms or
children, the authors of this study would define child
some of them.
abuse as:

The Albanian legislation lacks a clear definition of child
abuse. Both Criminal Code and Family Code do not a) Physical abuse
provide a definition when an action or lack of action of a
parent would be considered as child abuse. The lack of Physical abuse is the most visible form of abuse
definition in the Albanian legislation makes it difficult the and may be defined as any act which results in a
protection of the child in courts or other administrative non-accidental trauma or physical injury.
institutions. Inflicted physical injury most often represents
unreasonable, severe corporal punishment or
However the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child unjustifiable punishment. This usually happens
provides a set of measures that state parties shall take to when a frustrated or angry parent strikes, shakes
protect children from abuse and neglect. or throws a child. Physical abuse injuries result
from punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning
Article 39 or otherwise harming a child.

While any of these injuries can occur accidentally
Convention on the Rights of the Child
when a child is at play, physical abuse should be

suspected if the explanations do not fit the injury
States Parties shall take all appropriate or if a pattern of frequency is apparent. The
measures to promote physical and longer the abuse continues, the more serious the
psychological recovery and social injuries to the child and the more difficult it is to
eliminate the abusive behavior.
reintegration of a child victim of: any
form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse;

torture or any other form of cruel, Often, slapping is considered as an act that serves to
inhuman or degrading treatment or discipline the child, but in fact it is a child abuse despite if
punishment; or armed conflicts. Such it leaves bruises or not. The use of physical force as a
punishment crumbles destructively the needs of children
recovery and reintegration shall take
for affection and shatters the inner world of the child.
place in an environment which fosters the
Physical abuse confirms once again the vulnerability of
health, self-respect and dignity of the the infants at this stage of their life, their fear for their
child. protection and the reality of their independence. In some
cases, the parents, after screaming and shouting at their
child, cannot control their emotions, and instead of trying

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to understand the child and to explain their behaviour, Often frustrated parents or other persons responsible for a
they use the physical force. child's care feel that shaking a baby is a harmless way to
Often, they justify these behaviours with parental make a child stop crying. The number one reason a baby
disciplining. But, this kind of behaviour is nonsense. is shaken is because of inconsolable crying. Almost 25
Children of different ages are not so responsible for percent of all babies with Shaken Baby Syndrome die. It
things they or “their bad behaviours”. Abuse affects is estimated that 25-50 percent of parents and caretakers
children of every age, from birth to the age of 18, time aren't aware of the effects of shaking a baby.
when they are considered adults. In Albania, in some
cases, abuse happens even after this age. c) Emotional Abuse

B. 10 years old, from Tirana, was thrown down from the
2nd floor of the building where his family lived in, by his Emotional abuse is commonly defined as the
father who accomplished this act after consuming a systematic tearing down of another human being. It
considerable quantity of alcohol. “God saved my son” – is considered a pattern of behavior that can
said his mother. seriously interfere with a child's positive
development. Emotional abuse is probably the least
Whereas M. will never forget that night when he went understood of all child abuse, yet it is the most
upstairs rushing in order to arrive as soon as possible prevalent, and can be the cruelest and most
home where his father was waiting to give him such a destructive of all types of abuse.
hard slapping so as to make his nose bleed.
Because emotional abuse attacks the child's psyche and
self-concept, the victim comes to see him or herself as
unworthy of love and affection. Children who are
b) Shaken Baby syndrome
constantly shamed, humiliated, terrorized or rejected

suffer at least as much, if not more, than if they had been
What is Shaken Baby Syndrome? physically assaulted.

When a baby is vigorously shaken, the head An infant who is being severely deprived of basic
moves back and forth. This sudden whiplash emotional nurturing, even though physically well cared
motion can cause bleeding inside the head and for, can fail to thrive and can eventually die. Less severe
increased pressure on the brain, causing the brain forms of early emotional deprivation may produce babies
to pull apart and resulting in injury to the baby. who grow into anxious and insecure children who are
This is known as Shaken Baby Syndrome, and is slow to develop or who might have low self-esteem.
one of the leading forms of fatal child abuse. A
baby's head and neck are susceptible to head
trauma because his or her muscles are not fully Types of emotional abuse
developed and the brain tissue is exceptionally

fragile. Head trauma is the leading cause of
Rejecting. Parents who lack the ability to bond will often
disability among abused infants and children.
display rejecting behaviour toward a child. They tell a
child in a variety of ways that he or she is unwanted.
They may also tell the child to leave, call him or her
Shaken Baby Syndrome occurs most frequently in infants
names and tell the child he or she is worthless. They may
younger than six months old, yet can occur up to the age
not talk to or hold the young child as he or she grows.
of three. Often there are no obvious outward signs if
The child may become the family scapegoat, being
inside injury, particularly in the head or behind the eyes.
blamed for all the family's problems.
In reality, shaking a baby, if only for a few seconds, can

injure the baby for life. These injuries can include brain
Ignoring. Adults who have had few of their emotional
swelling and damage; cerebral palsy; mental retardation;
needs met are often unable to respond to the needs of
developmental delays; blindness; hearing loss; paralysis
their children. They may not show attachment to the child
and death. When a child is shaken in anger and
or provide nurturance. They may show no interest in the
frustration, the force is multiplied five or 10 times than it
child, express affection or even recognize the child's
would be if the child had simply tripped and fallen.
presence. Many times the parent is physically there but

emotionally unavailable.
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The damages are not only those visible, but also the inner
Terrorizing. Parents may single out one child to criticize ones that accompany the child during his whole life.
and punish. They may ridicule him or her for displaying
normal emotions and have expectations far beyond his or An example of sexual abuse is the case of A. 12 years
her normal abilities. The child may be threatened with old, which was sexually molested by her father. One day,
death, mutilation or abandonment. her mother told that she found the father in a laying
position over his daughter’s body. She reacted by calling
Isolating. A parent who abuses a child through isolation police and leaving together with her children to come to
may not allow the child to engage in appropriate activities the Shelter.
with his or her peers; may keep a baby in his or her room,
not exposed to stimulation; or may prevent teenagers Another example is that of three years old boy sexually
from participating in extracurricular activities. Parents molested by his father who caressed him all the time at
may require the child to stay in his or her room from the the genitals. The child had acquired the same behaviour
time school lets out until the next morning, or restrict and reacted in the same manner towards the people
eating to isolation or seclusion. around.

Corrupting. Parents permit children to use drugs or Types of sexual abuse
alcohol; to watch cruel behaviour toward animals; to

watch pornographic materials and adult sex acts; or to
Non-touching sexual abuse offenses include:
witness or participate in criminal activities such as

stealing, assault, prostitution, gambling, etc.
Exposing children to pornographic material

Deliberately exposing a child to the act of sexual

intercourse
d) Sexual Abuse Masturbation in front of a child
Indecent exposure/exhibitionism.

Sexual abuse is any misuse of a child for sexual
Touching sexual offenses include:
pleasure or gratification. It has the potential to

interfere with a child's normal, healthy
Fondling;
development, both emotionally and physically.
Making a child touch an adult's sexual organs
Often, sexually victimized children experience
Any penetration of a child's vagina or anus by an
severe emotional disturbances from their own
object that doesn't have a medical purpose.
feelings of guilt and shame, as well as the

feelings which society imposes on them.
Sexual exploitation offenses include:

At the extreme end of the spectrum, sexual
Engaging a child for the purposes of prostitution
abuse includes sexual intercourse and/or its
Using a child to film, photograph or model
deviations. These behaviors may be the final
pornography.
acts in a worsening pattern of sexual abuse. For

this reason and because of their devastating

effects, exhibitionism, fondling and any other

sexual contact with children are also considered
sexually abusive.

The sexual abuse occurs at all strata of population, in
rural and urban areas, in different social-economic and
cultural levels. In general, the abusers are adults which
familiar to children and their families. The abusers are not
only adults; they may be other children who are up to five
years older than the abused child or they are teenagers.

The degree of damage caused to the child depends on the
nature of abuse, age of the child and the environment.
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e) Child neglect abandonment, inadequate supervision, rejection of a child
leading to expulsion from the home, and failing to
adequately provide for the child's safety and physical and
Child neglect is the most common form of child
emotional needs. Physical neglect can severely impact a
maltreatment reported to child protective services. It
child's development by causing failure to thrive,
is defined as a "type of maltreatment that refers to the
malnutrition; serious illnesses; physical harm in the form
failure to provide needed age-appropriate care," such
of cuts, bruises and burns due to lack of supervision and a
as shelter, food, clothing, education, supervision,
lifetime of low self-esteem.
medical care and other basic necessities needed for

development of physical, intellectual and emotional
Educational neglect - occurs when a child is allowed to
capacities. Unlike physical and sexual abuse, neglect is
engage in chronic truancy, is of mandatory school age but
usually typified by an ongoing pattern of inadequate
care and is readily observed by individuals in close not enrolled in school or receiving needed special
contact with the child. Physicians, nurses, day care educational training. Educational neglect can lead to
personnel, relatives and neighbors are frequently the underachievement in acquiring necessary basic skills,
ones to suspect and report neglected infants, toddlers dropping out of school and/or continually disruptive
and preschool children. behaviour.

Emotional neglect - includes such actions as chronic or

extreme spousal abuse in the child's presence, allowing a
B., five years old, was hospitalised for burning of the
child to use drugs or alcohol, refusal or failure to provide
third degree in her leg. She went to the bathroom and
needed psychological care, constant belittling and
trying to take a wash by herself, she turned on the tap of
withholding of affection. This pattern of behaviour can
the hot water that burned her. Meanwhile, her mother was
lead to poor self-image, alcohol or drug abuse, destructive
watching the soap operas in TV during a.m. hours. This
behaviour and even suicide. Severe neglect of infants can
case is an example of negligence to take care of the
result in the infant failing to grow and thrive and may
hygiene needs of the child.
even lead to infant death.

Y., ten years old, has no desire to go to school because his
Medical neglect - is the failure to provide appropriate
friends offend and make fun of him. The reason is that he
health care for a child although financially able to do so.
smells of urine. The boy urinates during the night and his
In some cases, a parent or caretaker will withhold
mother takes no care for his hygiene. He feels neglected
traditional medical care during the practice of religious
twice or thrice. First, he does not enjoy an adequate
beliefs. These cases generally do not fall under the
hygiene. Second, he feels emotionally neglected, has no
definition of medical neglect; however, some countries
friends to play with. And, thirdly, the right to study is
will obtain a court order forcing medical treatment of a
being negated to him.
child in order to save a child's life or prevent life-

threatening injury resulting from the lack of treatment.
We should be very careful while working for the
Medical neglect can result in poor overall health and
identification of the forms of negligence, since they may
compounded medical problems.
be misinterpreted. So, all children may get dirty while

playing, and this is part of their experiences of game, but

when child does not have a wash and his clothes changed

for a long time, then we have to do with cases of

negligence.

The types of neglect

Physical neglect - accounts for the majority of cases of

maltreatment. The definition includes the refusal of or

extreme delay in seeking necessary health care, child
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