Civil society activists marched in Tirana on Friday night, demanding that the freedom of women and girls to move at night, in particular, not be violated, as well as demanding justice for women victims of sexual violence.
In the march organized on International Women's Day, March 8, activists called on the Albanian Government to take concrete measures against violence against women, as well as demanded justice for girls and women victims of sexual violence and justice for the perpetrators.
In protest, the protesters burned their underwear in front of the Albanian Government building.
With the motto "The night is ours", the march started in the evening from "Liberty Square", from where the protesters headed towards the Albanian Government building, the Tirana municipality building and ended at "Skënderbe Square".
Earlier in the day, the Minister of the Interior of Albania, Taulant Balla, said that femicide is a very disturbing problem that requires quick addressing in Albania.
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March 8th march calls for equality and justice for women
During the year 2023, 12 women and girls were killed, while in the first two months of this year, out of 890 reported cases of domestic violence, 629 of them were victims of women and girls, said Balla, speaking at a table for the International Day of the Woman.
He also showed that out of 456 victim protection orders that were issued this year, 350 of them were given to women and girls.
These statistics show a "sad panorama".
Even the data on sexual crimes show that the majority of those affected are women and girls, specifically 103 out of 125.
The minister called the women and girls who denounce violence "heroines", but said that the published data are "only the tip of the iceberg of this disturbing phenomenon".
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Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice, Ulsi Manja, visited the women's prison in the "Ali Demit" area in Tirana, where he said that the number of women sentenced to imprisonment who benefit from the amnesty legislation, prepared by the government, is very high , but did not give a concrete figure.
He called on the opposition MPs to vote for the amnesty legislation, which has been held hostage for some time in the Parliament of Albania.
About 700 convicts have not been able to benefit from a reduction or remission of their sentence, as a result.
On International Women's Day, several activities were organized in Tirana related to raising awareness to denounce violence, strengthening the role of women in society and their economic empowerment.
"Safety is the watchword of this protest! Every day, at least one woman is killed, raped, stalked, blackmailed, insulted, or driven to suicide. Women's safety is threatened for life before it even starts, from selective abortion to substandard health care until the end of it", says the activists' call for protest.
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March 8th - equality and justice for women
About 80 percent of the girls and women surveyed by the Fredrich Ebert Foundation said that the most unsafe environment in Albania was in public transport, 30 percent of them rated the workplace as the second most unsafe, while the school as the third.
Based on these alarming numbers, an awareness campaign against sexual harassment has been undertaken in Tirana, which will last a month. /REL
