Tonight, experts will discuss a highly sensitive topic sparked about the recent sexual harassment of a teenage girl by 5 men. Do tougher criminal sentences work? What should society’s approach, as well as that of the state, be toward this worrying phenomenon?
Activist Elga Mitre said that abuse cases cannot be halted through protests, but by changing the entire population’s behavior. She insisted that women and minors should be more encouraged to speak up and report the aggressor, as well as toughen up criminal sentences, as cases tend to repeat.
“The fact that history is repeating itself has not worried us enough. We cannot go out and protest every day, but all of us can give our input in 365 days. Unfortunately, the easiest thing to do is start pointing fingers and then continue feeding the culture of impunity”, said the activist.
The director of Child Rights Center Albania (CRCA), Altin Hazizaj, emphasized that Albania is suffering from “gender inequality”. According to Hazizaj, society tends to be idle when it comes to reacting in face of violence. He said that the reaction must be “persistent”.
“Our dream is to have gender equality, but this does not exist in Albania. We’ve been protesting about that and working on that for 30 years”, Hazizaj said.
“The reality is that today we have neighbors … and it is us who choose to close our eyes in front of those women that are being beaten in their own homes, and we don’t react”, he added.
“In 95% of the cases, we’re dealing with individuals who have also experienced verbal, psychological, and sometimes even sexual abuse at a point in their life. Cases, when an abuser seeks help, are extremely rare. The person who has committed the act has also been a victim once. A person that abuses have been a victim of abuse, this is scientifically proven”, declared Neli.
Sociologist Gezim Tushi said that the sexual abuse of minors may occur for a variety of reasons, among others lack of communication in the household where they are raised. According to him, one of the most important duties of a parent is to teach their children to report to the police if they fear to have been fallen as prey to sexual predators.
University professor Iris Luarasi recalled that civil society has been an important factor in pushing and pressuring the Assembly to pass legislation aimed at fighting sexual offenses. She said that the amendments seek to create a public registry for sexual offenders.
“20.000 citizens have signed the draft and next week we will take it to Parliament. Our intent is to have a public registry that is accessible, but always within the norms so that no one is harmed”, Luarasi.
