Child Trafficking for Organ Transplantation and Law Enforcement Failure in Albania

Child Trafficking for Organ Transplantation and Law Enforcement Failure in Albania

ALHASANI, Mirela
GERDECI, Alba

Trafficking in minors for sexual and labor exploitation, and, mostly for organs transplantation has grown globally over the last few years. The profits of child trafficking generate billions of dollars. Various researches have acknowledged child trafficking has a human rights issue: the trafficked minors are deprived of their rights to life, equality in education, dignity and security. Some governments have been coping with child trafficking as an organized crime issue where children are kidnapped, ‘sold like market products’, coerced and exploited to street begging, and definitely, the worst scenario of being ‘slaughtered’ for organ transplantation criminal networks. Unfortunately, Albania as a fragile non-consolidated democracy has become predominately a country of origin of child trafficking for lucrative criminal targets. Our study will argue that this growing phenomenon in Albania is directly related and accelerated by the ‘pure failure’ of the justice system. It will demonstrate by comparison and contrast of the textual analysis of the academic and empirical data that politics with its powerful network have captivated the police system and paralyzed the judicial institutions. Drawing on the root causes that make children prey of the non-functioning of the judicial system, and then assessing the investigative units’ incompetence to trace the victims and their perpetrators, this research will offer a multidimensional picture of the Albanian child trafficking case noting its peculiarities in connection with the political transition profile of the country itself. Finally, we finalize with recommendations on improving the policing capacities to identify and catch criminals, with judicial reform to clean up the corrupt judges and install the professional judicial system built upon international standards. This will turn a contribution to policymakers in Albania, to specialized units dealing with child trafficking, to non-governmental sectors, to the institutional reforming attempts and challenges of the country to end up political transition and consolidate the rule of law to its population and in particular to the most vulnerable group, - the children. Keywords: child trafficking, organ transplantation, failure of law

Article
PeerReviewed

ISSN 2303-4564

International Burch University

2014-04-24

2453