On March 10–14, 2019, HRDC worked with the dedicated team of The Advocates for Human Rights and directly engaged in lobbying and advocacy activities at the UN level regarding the Universal Periodic Review. Albania will be reviewed on May 2019 in the 33rd Session of the Universal Periodic Review. 

It is the third time that Albania reports in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process. The purpose of the reporting process is to closely monitor the human rights situation in each UN member country and make recommendations for its improvement. The official report of the Albanian state will be taken into consideration on May 6, 2019, at the 33rd session of the UPR Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council.

Prior to the Geneva visit, The Advocates and HRDC prepared the Albania Stakeholder Report for the United Nations UPR called “Situation of Domestic violence in Albania”.

https://ëëë.hrdc.al/index.php/en/neës/57-albania-stakeholder-report-for-the-united-nations-universal-periodic-revieë

The report focuses on the situation of violence against women and domestic violence in Albania as well as problematic issues of implementation of legislation in practice. The report includes a series of recommendations aimed at improving the situation of respecting the rights of victims / survivors of violence, which have been distributed in advance by electronic means to all delegations of UN member states.

HRDCs role at UN advocacy was to lobby with Council members by advocating for the local implementation of human rights standards and law. Another aim was to encourage the Albanian government to fully respect, protect, and fulfill human rights under the umbrella of international law and agreements.

During this time, HRDC carried out approximately 25 meetings with Human Rights Council members where we shared information about the general state of women’s rights and domestic violence in Albania. We discussed our concerns and lobbied with them about the recommendations that we suggest they make to the Albanian state in the UPR review in May.

On Wednesday, March 23, The Advocates for Human Rights along with United Oromo Voices and Alternatives Cote D’Ivoire presented for the Parallel Events at the Palais de Nations. Panelists discussed human rights abuses as well as the upcoming Universal Periodic Reviews – including domestic violence in Albania.

This was a great experience and opportunity as it allowed HRDC to directly present information to the international community about human rights with a focus on domestic violence.

The HRDC informed the delegates about the progress made by the Albanian state in meeting international commitments, but shared with them the main problems identified by the HRDC during its work on the prevention and addressing of gender-based violence.

The meetings with diplomatic missions were a unique opportunity to raise awareness of domestic violence in Albania on an international level. We shared the progress that the Albanian state had accomplished in complying with international commitments, but also highlighted our concerns about how the situation could be improved. We emphasized our recommendations that our organizations would like to see made at the upcoming UPR.

Working with The Advocates and other colleagues helped HRDC to gain skills on how to strategically conduct advocacy and we will use these skills back home. The Albanian NGOs needs to strengthen their lobbying and advocacy skills on both the national and international level.

This UN Advocacy experience was indeed successful as we were able to meaningfully engage over 25 states to advocate recommendations for Albania during its upcoming UPR review in May 2019. If such recommendations are taken into account, they will undoubtedly help improve the protection of human rights and the conditions of women/girls and victims/survivors in my country.

HRDC would like to thank the dedicated team at The Advocates for Human Rights for their precious support and their lobbying efforts, which will improve the human rights situation on the ground, not only in Albania but around the globe.