4. Establishing and commissioning the Institution of People's Advocate in Albania

Implementing the Recommendations of the Council of Europe, in line with the model followed by several European states, the Constitution of the Republic of Albania adopted in 1998 envisaged the establishment of a special institution, which would deal with the protection of the individual's fundamental rights and freedoms, respectively the People's Advocate. His role and function were defined in Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”. On February 16, 2000, the Albanian Parliament elected the People's Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani, who proposed the three commissioners. On March 30, the commissioners elect Agron Çaushi, Florina Nuni and Jorgo Dhrami were elected. On April 10, 2000, the Albanian Parliament adopted a supplement to law “On People's Advocate”, according to which, the People's Advocate is entitled to determine the structure and staff list of the Institution. This supplement to the law served further strengthening the independence for the Institution. Following that, the structure and staff list for the Institution were determined, with a view to commissioning the Institution. In compliance with Law No. 8549, dated 11.11.1999, “On the Status of Civil Servants”, the recruitment and employment test and procedures to fill the vacancies in our staff, respectively employ the experts, assistant commissioners, and the other auxiliary staff required were organized and completed during the period June-July 2000.

The Internal Rules Book, the Code of Professional Conduct for the Institution of the People's Advocate were drafted and adopted so as the Institution would be established and would function on legal foundations. Although initially our work conditions and premises were insufficient and unsuitable, we started our activity in June 2000 with complaints' verification and resolution. It was on the basis of an accurate strategy defined and determined, following the identification of needs, without wasting any valuable time, that the physical rehabilitation and refurbishment of our offices, which commenced in late November 2000, was accomplished in February 2001.

Along with rehabilitating, refurbishing and equipping our offices, attention was focused on establishing, stabilizing, and consolidating the administrative and management systems of our Institution, determining the policies and procedures related to services offered to complainants, management of human resources and their further training and qualification. Within this framework, our office has accomplished the implementation of a modern system of cases management (DOCULIVE), which enables the computerized storing of the necessary information associated with the complainants' cases. According to the procedure presupposing the utilization of certain software the information registered is possible to be exchanged, checked, and reported on through the computer network. It is through this work system that, during year 2002 onwards, the efficient management of time, direct facilitation, and orientation in the considerable number of complaints submitted to our office will be made possible. The system installed with our office has ensured good functioning for our Institution, hence guaranteeing an enhancing level of services our office provides to the complainants.

Currently, work is underway to draft a manual of policies and procedures applicable for our office, wherein there will be described the mission of our Institution, the respective organizational structures, their terms of reference, the office staff policies, training and the relevant benefits, policies in connection with complainants, standards of drafting the relevant documentation, the procedures of IT utilization, etc.

Apart from that, the strategy of public relations (marketing & lobbying) has been compiled with a view to acquainting the Albanian society with the role of the People's Advocate, making public knowledge the information gathered, analyzing the respective recommendations and solutions, as well as finding out the adequate ways and means required to promote improvement of legislation. In addition, the strategies associated with the other educational activities targeting the community and lobbying policies, thereby concluding the stage of establishing and strengthening our Institution. The promotional network involving new visual communication intended to extend the capacity of public knowledge acquisition concerning the role of the Institution for People's Advocate was conceived and accomplished to serve this function. Consequently, there has been enhanced the possibility of establishing closer contacts between the Institution of People's Advocate with Administration and public, within the mutual framework. To this purpose, during 2002 we organized “Open Days” in different cities.

Our institution intends to serve towards attaining professional, quick, and unbiased solutions for the complaints submitted. Therefore, in addition to establishing, stabilizing, strengthening and efficiently managing the administrative capacities within the Institution, priority attention has been attached to enhancing the people's faith and trust for it, through the services provided.

5. International support

Special significance has been attached to the international support for our institution, which is under the co-coordinating supervision of OSCE, consistently and continuously supported by Council of Europe, the Group of Friends for the People's Advocate, likewise financially supported by the Kingdom of Denmark. The support has been concrete, omnipresent, and extremely efficient. The group termed Friends for the People's Advocate consists of the representations of Tirana-based Council of Europe and OSCE, the Embassies of the Kingdom of Denmark, and USA, such organizations as USAID, World Bank, ABA-CEELI, CAFOD, ACHR, etc.

The Group Friends of the People's Advocate meets periodically at the office of People's Advocate. It has been monitoring very closely the establishment, strengthening, consolidation, and practical activity of the Institution, thereby rendering invaluable contribution, and assistance in protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as strengthening democracy in our country. We would like to highlight this fact, since it is through assisting our Institution that the institutions and states they represent have directly assisted the democratic processes and new institutions, as guarantors of democracy.

Council of Europe, both through its office staff in Albania, and directly have rendered considerable contribution by extending invitations to attend the activities organized with the focus on human rights, arranging visits of experts to exchange the necessary expertise, providing financial support, etc. In this respect, we would like to mention the contribution on the part of ABA-CEELI, as well as the American Embassy, through its representative in the Group of Friends. Naturally, the greatest financial support has been and is still being granted by the Kingdom of Denmark through Danida Project, and the active participation in the Group of Friends by the Counselor of the Danish Royal Embassy, Mr. Soren Knudsen. The Office of the Danish Ombudsman has provided the greatest contribution in its assistance through offering assistance and training our staff.

As mentioned in the previous annual reports, the Royal Danish Embassy in Albania has played a decisive role with the assistance provided through the Danida Project, within the framework of the agreement signed by both Governments in Copenhagen, in July 1999, thereby meeting a considerable part of the financial cost for the Institution of the People's Advocate in Albania. Council of Europe has stated its commitment concerning the financial support and expertise required for our Institution, consequently intending the People's Advocate to have its own position and status within the Albanian Administration.

The Group of Friends has played its positive role in assisting, monitoring and evaluating our institution in its very initial steps. This role has been welcomed and is appreciated on our part. Actually, the need for the Group of Friends is diminished; therefore the meetings take place rarely.

6. The Institution's Budget allocated for year 2002

The establishing and efficient functioning of a new institution, the People's Advocate being a case in point, require not only political, institutional, potential human support, but also financial support.

From this point of view, the financial support granted to our Institution by the International Community, especially the Danish Government, through the Danida Project, has been omnipresent, concrete, and efficient. This assistance has enabled our Institution's establishing and strengthening; hence making the accomplishment of the tasks assigned possible. The Albanian Government has had accurate and correct concepts in this respect in view of the fact that it allocated and endorsed a budget amounting to 8.567.000 Albanian Lek, or about 584,385 USD for year 2001, whereas the 2002 budget approved by the Albanian Parliament amounted to 85.194.000 Albanian Lek or 608,528 USD, which has been used to the extent of 95%, referring to the reporting period, respectively:

Account No.	Denomination	Planned in Albanian Lek	Expenditures in Albanian Lek	Realization %
600	Salaries	39.000.000	38.999.798	100 %
601	Social Insurance	5.994.000	5.843.433	97.5 %
602	Operative Expenses	31.000.000	30.621.953	98.7 %
605	Membership fees	200.000	178.129	89 %
231	Investments	9.000.000	5.160.826	56.4%
	Total	85.194.000	80.812.222	95 %

As regards the budget expenses, they have been mainly utilized to pay the employees' salaries, per diems allocated for travels within Albania and abroad, purchases of stationery, work materials and tools, fuels, electricity expenses, overheads, receptions for foreign delegations, etc.

In addition, we have paid the membership fees to the Ombudsmen's European Institute, the Ombudsmen's International Institute, and the Association of Francophone Ombudsmen. The membership fees have amounted to about 1,232 USD or 178.129 Albanian Lek annually.

Thanks to the financial support of the Danida Project, during year 2000 and 2001, the Institution of People's Advocate has accomplished the reconstruction work for the offices, purchasing equipment and a very advanced DOCULIVE system. It has also arranged several professional training and qualification opportunities for our staff. The total value of the Danish assistance granted for 2001 has amounted to 400,000 USD.

119,000 USD Danida’s support in 2002 has been used to organize national conferences, seminars, professional training and purchasing supporting materials for the staff (calendars, posters, and brochures), publication of the 2001 Annual Report, internet fees and maintenance of the equipment. Danida will conclude her support at the end of 2003.

A budget of 86.889.000 Albanian Lek or 665,000 USD has been approved for the year 2003. The budget didn’t include the request made by our institution. We have raised the issue in our previous reports and expected a positive solution by the Government in order to better serve the citizen’s needs. In concrete terms, we have asked to have our local representatives in Shkoder and Gjirokaster based on the requirements of articles 32 and 35 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”. We were not afforded the offices in the cities mentioned above both for reasons of lack of funds and willingness showed by local and central authorities.

We believed that Financial and Legal Commissions of the Parliament during their discussions on a raise of our budget of 3.600.000 Albanian Lek for employees’ salaries came into an agreement. We had that impression after hearing that the deputies voted and charged two representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Gjergj Teneqexhiu and Ms. Mimoza Dhembi to draft the changes accordingly. Surprisingly, the Ministry of Finance sent us the budget, which not only did not include our proposal, but was shortened by the amount of 3.790.000 Albanian Lek from expenses for goods and services.

Our objectives can’t be accomplished without financial support. We think there is a solution to the problem: the appropriate commissions can initiate drafting of a decision from the Ministry of Finance and the funds will be generated form the Reserve Fund. The foreign donors don’t include such an expense in their grants, so we have to rely on our resources.

7. Institution's Difficulties and their Causes

Under the conditions of transition for a country lacking the tradition of democratic institutions, such national institutions targeting the protection of human rights, as the Institution of People's Advocate, are assigned the difficult task of establishing legitimacy, not only for the Government and authorities, but also for the public concerned.

The difficulties encountered by our institution in the course of carrying out its functions and duties have been view from this angle. The main difficulties could be identified as:

1. There is not the same understanding of the People’s Advocate role and mission from ordinary people and the public administration. While, the first seems to be conscious of the presence of the People’s Advocate in our society, the public authorities, mainly local ones, are too delayed in responding to the recommendations made by us.

2. Increasing of the work volume carries the risk of being superficial and affects the professional performance of the staff during the performance of their duties.

3. Lack of adequate compatibility and compliance of Public Administration with the recommendations submitted by the People's Advocate, which, thanks to its disposition, have been envisaged to be challenging the Public Administration's decisions.

4. Lack of adequate awareness for the Albanian Public Administration to be seriously committed to implementing recommendations submitted by the People's Advocate.

5. Lack of familiarization on the part of the existing traditional state institutions with the presence and activity of the People's Advocate institution, in its capacity of external examiner, in the even of violations of the fundamental human rights and freedoms in Albania.

6. Failure to establish regular and consistent contacts of collaborations between the respective chains of all levels for the office of People's Advocate with the offices of public authorities and bodies.

7. In view of the consistently dynamic legislation applicable several difficulties have been encountered in implementing the newly adopted laws. In this context, we would like to single out Law No. 8485, dated 05.12.1999 “On the Code of Administrative Procedures”, Law No. 8549, dated 11.11.1999, “On the Status of Civil Servants”, Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999, “On the Right of Access to Information over the Official Documents" and the Law “On the Protection of Personal Data”.

8. We should have focused more on very important issues, such as legal regulation and arrangement of property and its compensation, which affect a considerable number of citizens.

9. The legal gaps and vacuum hindering the People's Advocate to extend the scope of his jurisdiction, say, the lack of entitlement to carry out inspections in places where human right are eventually violated more, such as prisons, police stations, mental hospitals, etc.

10. Lack of dispositions on the Law “On People’s Advocate” binding public administration to respond to our office within deadlines provided by law.

11. Lack of offices needed in order to perform the normal activity. Our letter addressed to the Prime Minister on September 17, 2002 says:

“… It’s a fact that in July 2000, the time when the Government accorded to our institution 10 offices it was unclear as to our need for space in order to allow us to carry out the tasks derived by the Constitution and the International Community. At present, after more than two years of his activity, which seems to satisfy both the Government and the international community, the need for additional space has become an emergency.

We would like to get your attention regarding the actual building where our offices are located. The National Agency of Privatization, the Institute of Integration for the Former Politically Persecuted Individuals, Journal Liria, the Association of the Work Handicapped and the coffees (in the basement) belonging to the Ministry of Culture and the High State Control Office have their offices here too. We think that these offices can be relocated to several locations all around Tirana. Actually, we think that the offices of the National Agency of Privatization, which occupy the other side of the same floor with us, can satisfy our needs. Another solution might be getting the offices of the Institute of Integration for the Former Politically Persecuted Individuals located one floor beneath us, which can be transferred to the building of the Association of Integration for the Former Politically Persecuted Individuals at the Elbasani road.

Relying on your understanding, we would like to emphasize that our main donor, Danida, has expressed her willingness to support us on the reconstruction of the aforementioned offices.

The General Secretary of the Government has expressed his concern on this crucial issue for our institution and by including it on this report we want to raise the awareness of the Parliament as well.

8. The foundations for the Institution's current achievements

The achievement of our institution can be identified as:

1. The independence guaranteed by the Constitution and the international principles of performance for the Ombudsman.

2. Impartiality in exercising the functions of People's Advocate have provided the pre-requisites required to enhance his credibility, both in terms of his relation to public, and the Public Administration authorities.

3. The support offered so far by all the Albanian Governmental Institutions with respect to the needs and activity of our Institution, aware of the fact that one of the conditions for membership or suspension of membership in the European Union, as stated in the Charter of Copenhagen is “respect for and stability of the institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights and protection of minorities". Even the People's Advocate is an institution guaranteeing democracy, since he assists in strengthening the concept associated with the rule of law.

4. The international support already granted, and still being granted to this institution constitutes a considerable advantage.

5. The staff professional qualities, ever increasing demands towards higher standards in our activity, our total devotion to prove that “we know how to establish and set up a democratic institution from scratch”.

6. Experience gained during these 2 years of its existence through the ongoing trainings and the continuous motivation of our staff in completing their tasks.

9. Challenges, the Institution's targets for Year 2003 onwards

From the early days of carrying out our activity, we have intended to set up an independent institution providing services to the citizens whose rights have been violated by the public administration. It will become possible by examining the relevant cases on a step-by-step basis, recommending the respective administrative measures, as well as offering opinions on preventing future violations by the public administration. Some of our activity's aspects implemented so as to attain the above results have been the following: making legal assistance available through recommendations and advice in the event of conflicts involving the administration and public, discovering the administration's defects, reporting the bad behaviour of employees as reflected in relation to public, exerting pressure to change the heavy, burdensome, and vague procedures of Public Administration, creating the conditions for the citizens to enjoy their rights of access to the necessary information from public administration, as well as encouraging the latter's transparency in its activity.

In our view, the following aspects should be focused special attention, so as to meet this target:

1. Consolidating the achievements made so far, intending to enhance the efficiency level for our institution's interventions in resolving the citizens' complaints.

2. More efficient collaboration with the Albanian Parliament with a view to effecting the necessary legal changes, which would bring about greater efficiency for the office of People's Advocate.

3. Establishing more regular and closer contacts with the central and local administration employees. Appointing our local representatives will contribute to meet this target.

4. Continuing with the street promotion and cognition campaign and other forms to reach the public.

5. Demanding and justifying the need for continuous support, both in financial and political terms, through lobbying by the Group of Friends for the People's Advocate with the supreme instances of the Albanian state.

6. Exerting influence towards respect for and stability of the Albanian institutions, which ensure and safeguard democracy and prosperity, especially the impartiality of the Albanian Judiciary.

7. Making public knowledge the main problems identified in the area of violating the human rights by the public administration, as well as exerting "positive pressure" against the Albanian Parliament and Government as regards improving legislation, and it better implementation.

8. Continuance of the program to strengthen the office’s capacities, including the further qualification of our staff.

9. We expect to preserve the actual administrative endurance in the event of no longer receiving funds from Danida. We have been envisaged the installment of a unit who will provide mediation services. This requires understanding and financial support, both from the Albanian authorities and foreign partners as well, whose help is vital in training our experts on this new practice.

10. Technical endurance is related somehow to our financial situation. The information system network requires continuous maintenance. Also, the increasing work volume has brought up the need of an Archive, reformatting the complaints and public relations office and experts as well.

11. Financial endurance might be questioned for the future since the Government is applying a very strict financial policy in considerably reducing the budget. Our successes, other than the dedication characterizing our staff, can be attributed to various trainings taken either abroad at our homologues offices or in Albania. In the situation that the funds from foreign organizations will be reduced in the future, we need internal support but it is clear that we are not a priority for the Government compared with other institutions.

In conclusion, the challenges we will face within the Process of Association and Stabilization to the European Union are as follows:

· Increasing the standards in handling the cases.

· Increasing the authority and cooperation with public institutions.

· Strengthening the collaboration with international partners.

10. Future Institution Strategy

In our opinion and belief the political and financial commitment of the Albanian Government and Parliament to support People's Advocate, as a modern type institution, which plays a significant role in the democratic process in our country, does exist and will exist.

In the course of the three years of our activity, there have never been identified any instances of direct criticism on grounds of political biases, since unless impartiality is maintained, we could very easily become target of political objections. Thanks to our high professional and ethical values, we will continue to avoid biases, hence maintaining the principle of political impartiality.

It is evident that, during year 2002, the number of citizens demanding the services provided by the People's Advocate has been increasing. The positive practice and good messages delivered to the Albanian people have created the necessary environment and awareness enhancement, so that the Albanian citizens could utilize our instrument of protecting their rights against the violations inflicted by public administration.

Through the dialogue established between the Institution of People's Advocate, the human rights organizations, the Albanian Parliament and Government, we will continuously encourage the authorities to undertake measures targeting improvements of legislation and its implementation. It highlights, and brings into the fore the significant role the People's Advocate plays in the area of democratic transformations, likewise justifying the need for the long-term existence of such an institution. In addition, we would like to encourage the authorities to effect the supplementation of the Law “On People's Advocate”, so that it would be more helpful to public.

The strategy of long-term existence is part of the process related to strengthening and developing the Institution, its role and impact in our society. The efficient use of the internal resources, utilizing them on the basis of correct criteria, care for the continuous staff training, qualification, and motivation, as well as good administration constitute the good foundation towards attaining long-term existence and success for our Institution.

Naturally, we are aware of the existence of shortcomings and drawbacks in our activity, since we are exploring new ground, we lack the experience required, therefore we will make efforts to improve our activity method, carefully apply the remarks and suggestions to be made, so as to correctly solve the individuals' complaints and demands, through protecting their fundamental rights and freedoms.

Apart from the targets and objectives presented in the previous reports, which are long-term objectives, from now onwards, the attention and intellectual resources available with our Office will be focused on several preventive strategies, of which education and training in the area of human rights have proven to be the most efficient. It is manifested in a series of actions we have undertaken and will undertake, such as: diffusion of information, training programme implementation, seminars with the participation of several interest target groups, as well as with representatives of Administration, NGOs, etc. At the same time, we will never ignore or neglect the development of practical strategies targeting the efficient education in such areas as training of police, penitentiary services and military forces taking into account our main constitutional obligation: resolving citizen’s problems means protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

CHAPTER II

1. Summarizing Statistics for Year 2002

(Cases classified according to the respective areas, and the solutions provided)

The People's Advocate has carried out his activity normally and efficiently through establishing, inter alias, a comprehensive statistical system. The statistical data provided have created the information infrastructure for the entire People's Advocate Office. We have been guided by the principle that without complete and accurate statistics, there will be no scientific organization and guidance of activity, consequently there will be neither objectivity, nor prospects for our Institution.

As previously stated, the efficiency of establishing and making a new institution function, first and foremost, is measured in quantitative terms, i.e. the volume of work performed to accomplish his principal task: Protecting the human rights and freedoms of individuals, groups of individuals, or NGOs against the illicit, or incorrect actions or omissions on the part of the Albanian public administration bodies. Setting up within the institution such a system which would be ready and willing to assist at any time the citizens submitting complaints, or making any request, without hindering them, thereby making them feel comfortable and welcome, and immediately benefit from the Institution's services, the way they deserve and expect from our administration has been a significant task for the People's Advocate. To meet the target of enhancing the quality level of services provided to citizens by our office, we have adapted patterns of other counterpart offices in Europe. In June 2001, Public Relations Office has commenced functioning. It is in this office that the citizens, at any time during the visiting hours, can submit their complaints, or requests, likewise be given the appropriate explanations by one of the office experts.

In addition, during 2002 our office implemented a new practice, called “Open Days”; we have been to 32 cities and have talked to people and received 603 complaints and requests, which seem to be within our jurisdiction. Analyzing the statistical report of complaints, we have received a considerable amount of complaints beyond jurisdiction. Apparently, many people do not have a clear understanding of the People’s Advocate authority. That was the reason we initiated the program of “Open Days”, which gave us an opportunity to meet and talk to people, explain them about our powers and helping them in finding a solution to their problems. Following up with the “Open Days”, a series of round table discussions took place on some local television stations to inform the public of the role and competences of the People’s Advocate. Consequently, the number of complaints beyond the jurisdiction and competency of the People's Advocate has been reduced.

During the period from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2002, the People’s Advocate Office has handled 4,675 complaints, requests and notifications (the complaints and requests handled by the complaints and public relations office included), of which 435 had been carried over from year 2001, hence reported as such in the Annual Report pertinent to year 2001. As a result, 3,363 complaints, requests and notifications have been handled by our office, of which 767, or 24 % of them, are still being examined. Comparing the number of the complaints and requests dealt with during 2002, an increase of about 1.6 as compared to 2001 is noticed or 5 times more than in 2000.

Referring to the process of handling the complaints submitted, it could be pointed out that 1,100 of them, or 45 % were beyond his jurisdiction, therefore the citizens have been advised as regards the ways they have to pursue to have their problem resolved. Referring to the complaints within the jurisdiction and authority of the People's Advocate, 759 complaints, or 30 % of them have resulted to be unjust, whereas 556 complaints or 22 % of them have resulted to be well grounded. The latter have been respectively recommended for further handling to public authorities, with a view to enhancing public administration, thereby safeguarding, and ensuring the standards of good governance. For the sake of accuracy, it should be clarified that, of those positively resolved cases, not all of them have been supported with written recommendations, since not infrequently have the positive solutions been achieved during the stage of receiving the necessary explanations or orally mediating with the public administration authorities, which finally realized their mistakes, hence giving up their initial negative attitudes. It is clearly evident that correct and just policies require good information basis, which has been paid due attention by the People's Advocate in the course of administrating the above-mentioned data.

22% positively resolved cases in 2002 compared to 25% in 2001 or less than 3 % in 2002 is a relative figure because we handled 124 more positively resolved cases than the year before.

In this Annual Report we will present the cases treated by the People’s Advocate Office, classified according to the respective Ministries, and the other bodies or entities of the Albanian Public Administration subordinated to them, against which the complaint or request has been submitted.

The number of complaints, requests and notifications dealt with by the Institution of the People's Advocate during year 2002, has been as follows:

1. Council of Ministers - 198

a- Supervisory Group for the Pyramid

Schemes - 15

b- Tangible Properties Registration

Offices - 88

c- Commissions for Ownership Restoration

and Compensation - 59

d- Institute of Integration for the Former

Politically Persecuted Individuals - 8

e- National Privatization Agency - 28

2. Ministry of Justice - 358

a- Prisons - 220

b- Bailiff's Office - 138

3. Judiciary

a- Courts - 405

4. Prosecutor's Office - 196

5. Ministry of Public Order - 283

6. Ministry of Defense - 236

7. Ministry of Local Government and

Decentralization - 457

Ministry Itself - 21

Local Governmental Bodies

a. Commune - 22

b. Municipality - 367

c. Prefecture - 44

Other - 3

8. Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs - 290

a- Institute of Social Insurance - 174

b- Administration of Social Benefits - 116

9. Ministry of Territory Regulation

and Tourism - 157

a. Ministry itself - 26

b. Illegal Construction - 126

c. Water pipeline, canalization - 5

10. Ministry of Economy - 9

11. Ministry of Agriculture and Food - 79

12. Ministry of Finance - 35

13. Ministry of Education and Science - 78

14. Ministry of Health - 25

15. Ministry of Foreign Affairs - 21

16. Ministry of Transports and

Telecommunications - 50

a. Ministry itself - 10

b. Telecom - 40

17. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports - 12

18. Ministry of Environment - 15

19. Ministry of Industry and Energy - 80

a. Ministry itself - 16

b. Electric Power Corporation - 64

20. Secret Services - 11

Others - 268

TOTAL - 3,263 complaints

2. People's Advocate and Albanian Parliament

The People's Advocate is aware of his institutional position as an Institution legally established the Albanian Parliament, whereas in his capacity as an individual he has been voted by this same Parliament. At the same time, he feels himself as “…a strong arm of Parliament over public administration, so that in the process of enforcing laws he could manage to attain the lawmaker's targets".

From the time it was established onwards, the Institution of People's Advocate has constantly felt the care, and support of the People's Assembly for the Republic of Albania as regards its strengthening and consolidation.

The People’s Advocate Office on several occasions has informed the Presidency of the Parliament as well as several Parliamentary commissions regarding his activity and/or special cases such as the maltreatment from the police in September and December 2002. Also, in December 2002, we have submitted to the deputies of the Parliament the conclusions of the National Conference on the Right to Information, accompanied by a calendar containing the constitutional disposition and the text of the law. In addition, we have been very active in several discussions on different draft laws and have sent recommendations to be considered by the deputies during the discussions in the Parliamentary commissions.

The presidency of the Parliament has shown willingness in meeting with our homologues all around the world and informing them about the achievements of our institution from his point of view. The Chairmen of Law, Finance and Human Rights Commissions, as well as deputies from the majority and minority parties, have met with the Ombudsman of the Kingdom of Denmark, Mr. Hans Gammeltoft Hansen and the High Commissioner on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Alvaro Gil Robles and exchanged opinions on the activities and experiences of Ombudsman in different countries in Europe. Apart from that, the Finance Commission understands of our requests for granting the financial budget, which would guarantee normal functioning of our office. Although, we have not had a solution yet on setting up two offices in Gjirokaster and Shkoder as we have presented in detail in the section of the Budget.

a. In 2001 Report, we informed the Parliament that we have recommended the Government on three occasions to take measures relevant to drafting laws and other acts so as to meet its obligations emerging from the Constitution of Republic of Albania:

1- On implementing article 181, paragraph 1 of the Constitution on correctly regulating the issues related to properties.

Regarding this issue, in September 2002 we sent a reminder to the Chairman of Parliament and the Prime Minister. You are aware of having adopted last October a resolution on property, to be voted on by the Parliament. We would like to mention a letter dated January 15, 2003 sent by Mr. Kristofer Paten, Member of the European Commission in Brussels in the framework of the requirements Albania should fulfill for initiating the discussions on Association-Stabilization Agreement with the European Union:

“I have the opportunity to emphasize that a successful accessibility of Albania to the European Union largely depends on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as the right to property.”

2- On signing agreements with the religious communities, as required by article 10 of the Albanian Constitution.

Based on the official information delivered by the Chairman of the Committee on Beliefs, part of the Government, a master agreement between different religious communities has been drafted and has to be examined and approved by the Government. To encourage this process, in December 2002 we sent a reminder to the Prime Minister of the obligation derived by article 10 of the Constitution. The fulfillment of this obligation is a priority for the Government in order to prevent some negative phenomena reflected in the deviation of Muslim rites in some undeveloped areas, which carries the risk of breaking the harmony between religions.

3- On adopting the law related to rehabilitation or compensation for the illegitimate acts or actions performed by the state bodies, as required by article 44 of the Constitution. The Ministry of Justice is assigned by the Government to draft a project-law during 2003.

b. During the year 2002, in compliance with our recommendations, amendments have been made to two existing laws:

1. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Defense, based on a recommendation made by us, initiated the procedure for amending Law No. 8087, dated 13.03.1996 on the “Additional Social Insurance for Military Officers.” As a result, the Parliament adopted Law No. 8948, dated 03.10.2002, regulating the issue in accordance with our suggestions.

2. Law No. 8950 on the “Civil Status Offices” was adopted by the Parliament on 10.10.2002. We initiated the adoption of article 51, which entitled the civil status offices to address courts regarding the removal of deceased people for whom no relatives or friends are interested from their registers.

c. In addition, during 2002 we have submitted to the Parliament the below recommendations:

1. Opinions on Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998” On the Strategy of the Privatization of the High Importance Sectors”, regards to the strengthening of the role of Parliament in the process of privatization.

2. Considering the fact that the collection of weapons from civilians according to the appropriate law hasn’t been implemented successfully in 2002 we sent some amendments on the above-mentioned law to the Government. They consist of changing the conception of the law: defining in an early phase the obligation of declaring and legalizing weapons for civilians and later on assembling them by the competent authorities. The Government did not take the idea into consideration during the drafting of the project-law, which has been submitted to the Parliament for approval. As a result, we have submitted our suggestions to the Presidency of the Parliament and the Human Rights and Law Commissions and expect positive actions from them.

3. In addition, we have submitted to the Human Rights, Law and Public Order and Secret Services Commissions, a recommendation to initiate some amendments on Law No. 8292, dated 25.02.1998 “On the Special Forces and Fast Intervention”, because the existing law does not contain any legal ground to punish the policemen who violate human rights.

4. A recommendation has been submitted to the Human Rights and Law Commissions to initiate a supplement on Law No. 8328, dated 16.04.1998 “On the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners” vesting the People’s Advocate with power on the inspection of prisons.

We are aware of the legislative initiative taken by deputies Vangjel Dule, Pjeter Arbnori, Shpetim Kateshi and Ligoraq Karameto to include the two last recommendations in the agenda of the Parliament. We will provide you with details on the relevant sections of this Report.

The report submitted will deal with these issues in detail in its respective sections. However, it is our duty to provide more information to the Albanian Parliament concerning our activity, the situation of legitimacy, and the implementation of human rights by the Albanian public administration. Apart from that, we should be making best use of our opportunity to make direct recommendations to the Parliamentary committees the attainment of their legislative initiative to the interest of protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The need for amendments of the Law “On People’s Advocate”

In the course of the practical activity of the People's Advocate Office, as resulted from the previous reports we have submitted to you, several problems which make necessary and indispensable some additions and amendments in the Law "On People's Advocate" emerged.

Therefore, there should be explicitly regulated by law the right of the People's Advocate to enter, without requiring prior authorization, the sites wherein there is evidence of possible violation of human rights, prisons, mental hospitals, military units etc., being cases in point. Likewise, this right is necessary in cases of researches or inspections. Fixing deadlines for responses to be given to the People's Advocate, or suspending the respective acts, in case his recommendations have not been examined, further strengthen the position of the People's Advocate and clarify the obligation of the administration bodies towards his recommendations. It is also necessary to anticipate the imposition of penalizing measures provided the People's Advocate activity is hindered. The deadline for submitting the Annual Report to the Albanian Parliament by the People's Advocate could also be regulated by law.

These indispensable changes are based on the respective legislation and work practices for the Ombudsmen in Denmark, Slovenia, Portugal, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Hungary etc., therefore they are necessary to strengthen the activity of the People's Advocate Institution in protecting the human rights and freedoms. Actually, it has not taken any legal steps in initiating the aforementioned changes.

The relationships between the People's Advocate and the Albanian Parliament will continue to be our priority. It is our belief that our institution will always be supported and assessed by all, and we will continue on the road of being a professional and independent body helping people in need.

3. Opinions on corruption and anti-corruption

During the political, economic and social transition period Albania is going through, without a doubt corruption has been favored for several reasons. We can list some of them: the weakness of the economy, a high rate of unemployment, low salaries and eagerness of some people to become rich through illegal actions. The most dangerous consequence emerging consists of a widely held opinion among regular people that bribing is the way to resolve their problems.

Corruption in every cell of power is the main obstacle to democratising and respecting the citizens' rights. Therefore, it is through influencing good governance that the People's Advocate at the same time as preventive factor for the corruptive behaviours of the administration or public authority.

From the point view of the People's Advocate, corruption is manifested in any action or omission of the civil servant, provided these behaviors clash with or are an expression of indifference towards the implementation of laws applicable, thereby favoring the creation of personal benefits or third party benefits.

Several bodies have been vested with power in fighting corruption, such as Public Prosecution Office, Courts, Police and Intelligence Services. The People’s Advocate plays a different role: amongst other responsibilities he encourages and watches the abovementioned structures to see how effective they are in the fight against corruption.

We are conscious and realistic of the difficulties encountered in cases of proving corruption as criminal offence, whenever the Court of Justice or the Prosecutor's Office deals with the respective cases. However, the People's Advocate has intervened with his recommendations addressed the Public Prosecution office and the Inspectorate of the High Council of Justice in those cases when, following the examination of complaints or requests submitted, there have been grounded doubts concerning the existence of corruptive elements.

Some of the Recommendations made by the People’s Advocate Office in relation to the complaints lodged, whose verification has aroused suspicion on the presence of the corruptive elements are as follows:

1. Recommendations for changes and ameliorations of 3-4 laws on the privatization. We have suggested that the Parliament has wider competences in drafting the contracts resulting from these laws. To this purpose, we sent an official letter on 14.05.2002 to the Former Prime Minister, Mr. Pandeli Majko and Former Minster of Economy, Ms. Ermelinda Meksi, notifying the Chairman of the Parliament as well, in order to submit it to the Commission on Laws and Finance and Privatization. The letter titled “Some suggestions on the Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998 on the “Strategy of the Privatization of the High Importance Sectors”, changed with the Law No. 8459, dated 11.02.1999 and the Law No. 8582, dated 23.02.2000 for strengthening the control and the participation of the Parliament during the privatization of the public property” includes:

“Considering your interest shown during several joint meetings and especially the need to become more effective and transparent vis a vis, both the Parliament and the public and broadening the recommendation made in the 2001 report, we have carefully studied laws on the privatization of the strategic sectors: Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998 on the “Privatization of High Importance Sectors”, together with its amendments, Law No. 8433, dated 21.12.1998 “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of the National Trade Bank”, Law No. 8515, dated 21.07.1999 “On the Privatization of the Anonymous Society, Albanian Mobile Communication (AMC)”, Law No. 8563, dated 22.12.1999 “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of the Savings Bank”, Law No. 8810, dated 17.05.2001 “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of AlbTelecom” and the Project-Law “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of INSIG, thereby presenting our proposal as follows:

According to Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998”On the Strategy for the Privatization of High Importance Sectors” amended by Law No. 8459, dated 11.12.1999 and Law No. 8582, dated 23.02.2000d, the Government should define the procedures for the election of the strategic investors. In our opinion, the law regulating the privatization of a certain object should cover these issues.

In addition, a separate law should be dealing with the formula of privatization, which defines as the rate of the society capital taken by the state, strategic investors as well as other investors and the allowed possible limit of ”treasury bonds” in privatization, according to article 9 of the above law. Otherwise, articles 7 and 9 should be incorporated in the article 5 of Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998. Also, an article should be included in the law, providing that a separate law should regulate the modalities of payment. We insist that the modalities of payment should be decided before finding the buyer. In cases of a late delay, for example, six or more months for objects considerably valued, the price of the object should be lower because in the meantime the buyer will take profits.

Besides the changes on the above law, we think that is important to the process of privatization, in order to assure transparence and minimize the abusiveness related, to reflect the above amendments into Law No. 8563, dated 22.12.1999 “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of the Savings Bank”, Law No. 8810 dated, 17.05.2001 “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of AlbTelecom” and the Project-Law “Identifying the Form and Formula for the Privatization of INSIG ‘. We think that the mode of using the profits from the privatization should be defined by the law and not by a Government decision, as it currently is.

We hope you understand, and we are positive that adopting the amendments will serve to the privatization process and minimize the legal gaps that are the premises for abuse and corruption. Our suggestions are based not on any kind of information we possess, but always on the sense of duty of good administration and good governance from the different public authorities.

2. Recommendation regarding the additional scholarship lists at the Universities. Fortunately, an achievement can be reported for this year: the Government and the Ministry of Education don’t have any more absolute discretion as regards to additional scholarships. The obligation of not including students that have not participated in the entries exams and taking students only from the exam’s list based on their rate, will definitely limit the risk of abusive behavior and corruption as well.

3. We can report as an achievement the new master contract created by the Albanian Electric Corporation for the payment due by users. We have contributed in stopping the Albanian Electric Corporation from using an abusive penalization mode: a collective break of the contract.

4. As we have mentioned before, we have made recommendations for changes in Law on Civil Status Offices, regarding the removal from their registers of deceased people, for whom there has been shown no interest from family or relatives for a long time. The change has multipurpose anti-corruption effects: financial, as it stops people from receiving economical assistance, and political, because it favors the manipulation of elections lists form different political parties.

5. In addition, we have focused our work on fighting the mentality that favors the corruption in every day life, especially in the police-citizen relationship. The precedent we created in removing an unfair fine of a citizen by a policeman, at the end, will serve to fight the mentality that feeds the corruption, present in our daily life. Otherwise, fighting the “small corruption” plays an import role in increasing the trust of citizens toward the state and building therein-good relations between them.

6. We keep receiving complaints against the Commissions of Restoring and Compensating Properties to Former Owners, for his abusive actions, mainly for document forgery. Because of an amnesty, we are not able to initiate any actions, nor can the Public Prosecutor’s Office do anything about it. Nevertheless, we have intervened to ameliorate the work conditions of KKK, as an important factor in rendering good services for people.

7. The National Conference on the “Right to Information”, organized in December 2002, proved once more that our institution aspires to help the public administration in providing transparence services to citizens.

During our activity, we have submitted recommendations initiating penal charges and disciplinary measures as follows:

1. Recommendation addressed to Korca District Prosecutor, as regards initiating investigation proceedings for the citizen Njazi Zite, a policeman at the Korca Police Station, concerning the felony of bribery. The respective recommendation has been accepted and after being investigated has been sent to court.

2. Recommendation addressed to the Attorney General to initiate investigation proceedings against the Chairman of Commune Gurre e Madhe, for robbing and damaging the secondary school of the commune, after failing before the Mat District Prosecutor office, which rejected the complaint submitted by the citizen B.B.

3. Recommendation addressed to the Minister of Justice to initiate disciplinary measures against the judge I. Maneku for the loss of documentation belonged to a party in a process.

4. Recommendation addressed to the Minister of Justice to initiate disciplinary measures against the Korca District judge B. Shehu and Tirana District judge A. Broci for unjustified impediment in civil cases.

In the above-mentioned cases, the presence of corruptive elements has not been evidenced, since the People's Advocate cannot presume guilty or not guilty the persons mentioned in his recommendations. That is an exclusive right of the judiciary. In the above-mentioned cases, the People's Advocate has only stated his grounded suspicions having resulted from the respective investigation for the cases concerned and evidence collection, with a view to restoring the citizens' violated rights.

Within the framework of commitments the Albanian state and society have undertaken in combating corruption, the People's Advocate has been rendering his modest contribution, both within the framework of the Anti-corruption Alliance, sponsored by USAID, as well as through taking part as observer in the Board of the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit, established with the Albanian Government. On the other hand, we have rendered our contribution at the Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit, both in terms of improving the Anti-Corruption Matrix, as well as within the global frame of these efforts (legislation, institutions, instruments, etc), already reflected in the questionnaire drafted by the Anti-Corruption Monitoring Unit, prepared within the framework of GRECO, (Group of States Committed against Corruption, within the frame of Council of Europe.)

At present, Parliament has adopted a whole package of laws on corruption, which constantly constitutes a high risk for the public administration, and the future of our democratic state as well.

In his capacity of a national instance playing a mediating role between the public administration and civil society, the People's Advocate has made efforts to serve the role of communicator between them.

Irrespective of the legislation approved and the respective structures employed to implement it, the People's Advocate is conscious of the continuous existence of corruptive actions in dealing with the problems practically. The combat against corruption lasts as long as the state exists, provided it is uncompromising in any way.

The People's Advocate in Albania has defined his duties in combating corruption, based on these ideas and the Albanian problem-range.

4. People's Advocate and Constitutional Court

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, the People's Advocate is included among the subjects entitled to commission and set in motion the Constitutional Court.

But, according to article 134, of the Constitution, the subjects entitled to set in motion the Constitutional Court are classified in two groups: subjects entitled to submit a request unconditionally, and subjects entitled to submit a request conditionally “concerning cases related to their own interests only ". This difference derives from the content of article 2, article 134, of the Constitution. The People's Advocate is included in the target group of subjects entitled to approach the Constitutional Court conditionally.

Defining through interpretation the range of issues, which constitute "interests of People's Advocate", the very moment we commenced our activity, was significant as regards the functioning of the People's Advocate Institution. Therefore, June 2000, we addressed the Constitutional Court with our request to interpret the signification of "issues related to the interests of People's Advocate".

In compliance with its competencies, through adopting its Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, the Constitutional Court decided that “People's Advocate enjoys the right to submit his request to the Constitutional Court concerning the compatibility of legislation, or normative acts with the Constitution, or international agreements, concerning the compatibility of international agreements with the Constitution, as well as to interpret the Constitution, provided the issue concerned is associated with his interests". In addition, the People's Advocate is entitled to submit requests as regards issues related to his function of protecting the individual's legitimate rights, freedoms, and interests, provided they have been violated by illegitimate and incorrect actions or omissions committed by public administration bodies and identified by People's Advocate, as wells as when the constitutional rules related to the organization and functioning of his institution have been violated". We are pleased with this Verdict adopted by the Constitutional Court, since it does not restrict our duty as defenders of the fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The entitlement to address the Constitutional Court is envisaged by paragraph c of article 24 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People's Advocate”, which determined that “In case the People's Advocate notices that it is the content of law, or normative acts, but not their implementation, which enables and leads to the violation of human rights, recognized by the Constitution or other laws, the People's Advocate is enjoys the right:

c) To recommend the Constitutional Court the invalidation of such acts".

We have applied our entitlement to submit four requests with the Constitutional Court in three instances. The example of the following case has been reflected in the 2000 and 2001 Reports.

1. In his letter, a citizen, former land owner complains that the Decision of the Council of Ministers No.119, dated 18.03.2000 “On the privatization procedures through bidding the state-owned packets of shares for the commercial companies operating in the non-strategic sectors” has restricted him and the other former land owners, having equal conditions, one of the fundamental human rights, e.g. exercising the right to his legitimate property.

Having examined the case concerned, the Constitutional Court, through adopting the Decision No. 26, dated 24.04.2001, decided to recognize our request, hence invalidating as anti-constitutional, paragraph 1, clause “c” of Council of Ministers Decision No. 119, dated 18.03.2000 “On the privatization procedures through bidding the state-owned packets of shares for the commercial companies operating in the non-strategic sectors”, as well as paragraph 4 of Council of Ministers Decision No. 438, dated 14.08.1995 "On Privatization of the State-Owned Enterprises Transformed into Commercial Companies", only as regards the sections wherein it has been stated: First “and the land price determined according to the Council of Ministers Decision No. 312, dated 30.06.1994”, and Second “... in proportions corresponding to the land price recognized by the respective Decision adopted by the Council of Ministers No. 312, dated 30.06.1994”.

The verdict adopted by the Constitutional Court has been welcomed by public opinion, especially by the former owners of the land wherein the state-owned objects subjected to privatization have been built. On the other hand, this verdict is significant, since it constitutes the constitutional foundation for the entire legislation, which should be changed by the Albanian Parliament, subsequent to the application of paragraph 1, article 181 of the Constitution, which obliges the Albanian Parliament “within a period of two to three years from the time this Constitution comes into effect, to issue and adopt the laws correctly regulating the various cases associated with the expropriations and confiscation carried out before this Constitution has been endorsed, thereby guided by the criteria envisaged in article 41". (Guarantees to protect the right to private ownership.) Therefore, we have sent a copy of this decision (even though it was published in 1991 in the Official Gazette) as a reminder, both to the ad hoc Parliamentary commission in charge of drafting a new Law on Restitution and Compensation of the Former Owner, and the Commission on Law and Constitutional Issues.

We expect that even the draft laws prepared by the Parliament, subsequent to article 181/1, of the Constitution, should be endorsed taking into consideration this verdict, so as to completely observe the entire range of the fundamental rights the enormous stratum of people, respectively former owners, are entitled to.

2. In 2001, we have submitted a request to the Constitutional Court to invalidate as anti-constitutional part of Law No. 8377, dated 22.07.1998 “On declaring moratorium and obligations of the former enterprises of Foreign Trade Ministry of the Republic of Albania due to the foreign creditors”.

Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court failed to the treat the case essentially and fundamentally, so as to examine our claims that this law violates the rights of the juridical subjects (equivalent to the individuals' rights, provided they are in compliance with article 16/2, of the Constitution.) The Constitutional Court, through its Decision No. 178, dated 08.11.2001 rejected our request on the grounds of "lack of legitimacy":

“The People’s Advocate requests the annulment of a law that is not considered as an administrative public act. Therefore, this court, subsequent to the application of article 134/2 and article 60 of the Constitution, concludes that in the situation that the People’s Advocate, not being an interested party in the case, lacks the legitimacy to initiate proceedings by this court.”

In 2001 Report, we emphasized that the People's Advocate implements the verdicts adopted by the Constitutional Court, but nevertheless is not deprived of his right to express his opinions concerning the juridical constituent elements of any law or judicial verdict, within the framework of academic discussion. In our view, we should express such opinions subsequent to Recommendation No. R (85) 13 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the member states of Council of Europe “On the Institution of Ombudsman". "Taking into account the fact that the Ombudsman's opinions could become the main factor in the evolution of the general principles and rules, which regulate the functioning of administration and public servants' behavior", the Governments of the member states are recommended (b) to take into consideration, whenever possible, vesting the Ombudsman with competencies, within the context of his general competencies, especially considering the issues related to human rights directly observed by him, human rights issues under his observation, likewise initiating investigations and providing opinions whenever there is involvement of problems on these issues … and (c) to take into consideration the extension and strengthening of Ombudsman's powers, in other ways, so as to encourage an effective observance of the fundamental human rights in the administration functioning".

Therefore, in our opinion, the Constitutional Court, through adopting Decision No. 178, dated 8.11.2001, has acted in contravention with its previous Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, serving to interpret paragraph 2, article 134 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. As pointed out in several occasions, Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000 has been welcomed in terms of the scope of activity it offered the People's Advocate, as genuine defender of the fundamental human rights and freedoms in Albania, which has constituted and still constitutes the essence of interests for this Institution. As regards the transition countries, even the conclusions of the Ljubljana Conference, organized by Council of Europe, with the National Human Rights Institutions, have emphasized that “... It is important for the Ombudsmen to be capable of submitting to the Constitutional Court an evaluation of the legal and constitutional aspect of rules”. The above Constitutional Court verdict has been criticized by Human Rights Watch in its 2002 Report, published in January 2003 in the section about Albania: “a Decision of the Constitutional Court (ruled in 2001) seemed to have considerably limited the competence of the People’s Advocate to initiate any proceedings regarding the constitutionality of the legislation.”

3. The Constitutional Court is already examining another request submitted by the People's Advocate, concerning the anti-constitutionality of paragraph 3 and 5, article 289 of the Customs Code, which in our opinion violate article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and article 8 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights “On Effective Complaining”.

We submitted the request to the Constitutional Court in November 2001. The Tirana Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a party in the process. According to article 134, paragraph f of the Constitution, the Chamber of Commerce may address to the Constitutional Court for issues relating to its interests (to us this attitude seems a paradox, because the Constitution vests the Chamber of Commerce with the same prerogatives as for addressing to the Constitutional Court.)

On January 24, 2002 the Constitutional Court envisaged the case. The People’s Advocate presented before the court the arguments why this court should accept his request. Because of the importance this case represents, we are including it in this annual report as follows:

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Dear Members of Constitutional Court,

We would like to address you on two issues relating to our request before the Constitional Court.

First, the content of the request:

The arguments presented in our request for the anti-consitutitionality of paragraph 3 and 5 of Law No. 8449, dated 27.01.1999, “The Customs Code of the Republic of Albania”, fully explain the right to an individual of an efective complaint. Besides, we would like to stress:

a) The implementation of paragraph 3 and 5 of the above code is an evident and flagrant violation of the individual rights for the reasons below:

In case the obligation together with the fine is considerably high (as it is the case of our complaint) and the subject is unable to pay it, there is no judicial ground to run to court. As a result, there is a violation of one of the main foundamental rights, the right to address to court, guaranteed by the Albanian Constitution, European Convention of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In article 2 of the Albanian Constitution it is stipulated: “Everyone, to protect his constitutional and legal rights, freedoms, and interests, or in the case of an accusation raised against him, has the right to a fair and public trial, within a reasonable time, by an independent and impartial court specified by law.”. The European Convention has foreseen the same regulation in article 6 while the Universal Declaration in article 10. We are asking this court to take into consideration this additional explanation as well.

b) Removing this fundamental right to an individual, through asking for an immediate payment and inhibiting him from further business causes irreplaceable consequences. The latter gets bankrupt, whether or not he might win the case before the court in 3-4 years, because the implementation of the court order doesn’t have any affect for the bankrupted individual. That is the case of our client. Regardless what the Tirana court has decided, the complainant has addressed to our institution the issue of the anti-consitutionality of article 289 of the Customs Code and not raising issues on the execution of the court decision from the Customs authority. Therefore, according to article 14 of the Law “On People’s Advocate”: “The People’s Advocate may refuse to initiate or may terminate the investigation of a case if the same case has been decided or is being reviewed by a public prosecutor or a court. In such a case, he shall be entitled to request information by those authorities.” We are legitimated to present this case before the Constitutional Court.

c) We would like to remind this court that the administrative issue fall within the jurisdiction of the Code of Civil Procedures (articles 325, 326, 328 and 329) and the Code of Administrative Procedures, which as it is well known doesn’t contain such prohibition as the Customs Code, article 289.

d) Envisaging the content of the article 17 of the Constitution, it is our opinion that the limitation put in article 289 violates the core of the human rights and fundamental freedoms and exceeds the restrictions set forth in the European Convention of Human Rights as cited above.

Second, Taking into consideration two requests of the People’s Advocate and two decisions of the Constitutional Court: No. 49, dated 31.07.2000 “On the interpretation of paragraph 2 of article 134 for the expression “Advocate’ interests”, and Decision No.178, dated 08.11.2001 “The anti-consitutionality of Law No. 8377, dated 22.07.19998 “On the Declaration of Moratorium...”, it emerges the necesity to clarify the legitimacy of the People’s Advocate for the request of such kind.

The issue we would like to address to this court: Is the People’s Advocate legitimated to request before the Constitutional Court the anti- consitutionality of laws and/or the other legal acts when it is evident that their implementation has resulted in violation of the fundamental rights of individuals from the public administration. Actually, there are two different precedents of the Constitutional Court in two separate decisions. But first, we would like to point out that the organic law of Constitutional Court entitles the People’s Advocate to address to the Constitutional Court on the consitutionality and comptability of the laws and normative acts with the Albanian Constitution and the international agreements (article 49), during the examination of the international agreements before the ratification (artice 52) and during the final interprtation of the Constitution (artice 71).

Since 2000, the time when the People’s Advocate started its functioning, we addressed to the Constitutional Court to interpret the words “issues that affect the People’s Advocate’s interests” set forth in paragraph 2 of article 134 of the Constitution.

We thought that the court took a position with its Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, which from the doctrinal point of view is an integral part of the Constitution. The summarizing part of the decision should be read together with the reasoning one, which interprets the word “interest”. According to the above decision: “Should be considered interested issues for the People’s Advocate, those infringing upon the rights, fundamental freedoms and interests of the individuals, resulting during the implementation of a law, a normative act and from actions and failures to act of the public administration, if these violations are included in the complaints, requests and notification received by its office.”

This decision clearly made the point that the violations from the public administration can occur not only during the implementation of a law, but during a normative act as well. This court affirmed the same approach with its Decision No. 26, dated 24.04.2001, confirming that the violation of the individual’s rights resulted by the enforcement of a normative act (Government decision), which infringes the Constitution. The People’s Advocate addressed this case to the Constitutional Court.

In additional to the arguments cited above, according to article 60 of the Constitution “The People's Advocate defends the rights, freedoms and lawful interests of individuals from unlawful or improper actions or failures to act of the organs of public administration”. In our opinion, the concept “unlawful actions” certainly includes the anti-consitutionality, so the People’s Advocate is legitimated to react when there is a violation of undividual’s rights by the public administration.

Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court has decided otherwise in its Decision No. 178, dated 08.11.2001. The People’s Advocate address to this court to invalidate as anti-constitutional Law No. 8377, dated 22.07.1998. The court decided that the People’s Advocate could address to this court for declaring the anti-constitutionality of the normative acts issued by public administration.

1. Considering the content of the Constitutional Court Decision, No. 178, dated 08.11.2001, it results in the contemporary notion of “public administration” is not quite understood. In the nowadays-judicial doctrine, this term implies to all the institutions and individuals financed and paid by the state budget as well as the public entities which are a union of property interests of individuals and state institutions. Consequently, public administration is not only the executive power (Government), as it was conceived in Albania before 1990, but it includes the Parliament, Courts, Public Proctor’s Office, People’s Advocate, High State Control, Armed Forces, etc. This definition does not exclude the principle of the separation of powers: legislative, executive and judiciary as it is stipulated in article 7 of the Constitution.

To the contrary, we would like to pose the question: “Which power does the President, the People’s Advocate, the Central Electoral Commission, the High State Control, the Governor of the Albanian Bank and so on, belong to? In our opinion, these institutions together with Parliament, Government and courts are part of the public administration (not private) of the Republic of Albania and are funded by the state budget.

2. The Constitutional Court, in its Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000 has interpreted positively once and for all the content of articles 60 and 134, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, regarding the “People’s Advocate’ interests. But with another decision cited above, the court gave a different interpretation of article 60 and 134, paragraph 2 of the Constitution as legitimizing the People’s Advocate to address to this court only for the constitutionality of normative acts, not laws. We oppose this decision for the reasons below:

a) The court has not applied accordingly paragraph 1 of article 48 of Law No. 8577, dated 10.02.2000 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Constitutional Court”, which stipulates that “The terms of reviewing the case are within the object of the application and the reasons provided through it.” In our request we have demanded the anti-constitutionality of Law No. 8377, dated 22.07.1998 and not the interpretation of the Constitution.

b) According to article 124 of the Consitution and article 21 of Law No. 8577, this court guarantees respect for the Constitution and makes final interpretations of it. In paragraph 4 of the Court Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, relating to our request for the interpretation of the paragraph 2 of article 134 of the Constitution, is stated: “This decision is final and enters into effect upon the approval of the Constitution.”

We are not aware of any other request or notification from this court to participate in a plenary session with regards to the interpretation or the amendment of Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000. In this situation, there is an incompatibility with article 80 of Law 8577: “1. The Constitutional Court cannot annul or change its own decisions, but it can: a. interpret the decision in case of doubts or disputes concerning its understanding, but never changing its content, b. complete the decision or correct any possible mistake in calculating or any other evident inaccuracy in it within 2 (two) months from the date of its proclamation. 2. The review of the above-mentioned cases is made at plenary hearing sessions with the participation of involved parties.

c) According to paragraph 3 of article 31 of Law 8577: “The application is preliminarily discussed at a panel composed of 3 (three) judges of the Constitutional Court, including the one who relates the case. As long as the request for abrogation of Law No. 8577 was considered by the session of all judges, we find appropriate that this Court, with Decision No. 178, dated 08.11.02, rejected or request as not legitimated.

d) In Decision No.78, dated 08.11.2001 it states: “The People’s Advocate has not the power to oppose the acts of the legislative power (laws), and following the sentence, it says: “In these cases, the People’s Advocate according to article 24 of the Constitution as well, has the right to make recommendations and not requests before this court…According to article 60 of the Constitution: “The People's Advocate defends the rights, freedoms and lawful interests of individuals from unlawful or improper actions or failures to act of the organs of public administration.” According to the content of this article, we are legitimated to address to the Constitutional Court for the abrogation of such acts as anti-constitutional.

Analyzing the issues above results in the following:

1. The term “normative acts” does not take into consideration paragraph 1 of article 116 of the Constitution: “Normative acts that are effective in the entire territory of the Republic of Albania are: a. -- the Constitution; b. -- ratified international agreements; c. -- the laws; d. -- normative acts of the Council of Ministers.” According to paragraph c laws are considered as normative acts as well.

2. We raise the question: Why should the court make a distinction about the “Advocate’s People interest”, when it comes to legitimate its request for the anti-constitutionality of a law, as in the case of a Government decision?

According to paragraph dh of article 134 of the Constitution:” The Constitutional Court is put into motion only on the request of: …the People's Advocate.” Referring to the name of the normative act the People’s Advocate should address to the Constitutional Court, we would like to emphasize also: article 24 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”, has defined clearly the right of the People’s Advocate to make legislative recommendations. It is true that paragraph c of this article says that the People’s Advocate is entitled to recommend to the Constitutional Court to invalidate those acts. (Laws and other normative acts), but based on article 134 of the Constitution, this recommendation can rename request. Hence, despite the name this act might obtain (recommendation or request), it is important that the organic law on the People’s Advocate, entitles the People’s Advocate when he finds that it is the content of a statute or other legal act and not its application that leads to the violation of human rights recognized by the Constitution or other laws, he shall have the right to recommend to the Constitutional Court to invalidate those acts. In our opinion, the name recommendation or request is not important. We should address to the Parliament this issue during the drafting of the changes of our organic law to avoid the misinterpretation.

We would like to present before you some opinions regarding the role and specifics of the People’s Advocate and courts for the protection of human rights. Both institutions are guarantees for the application of laws regarding human rights. While courts operate on the civil and penal complex payable procedures, the People’s Advocate functions on simple free procedures. Obviously, while the court decisions are mandatory for all subjects, although there are a lot of problems during the execution phase, the People’s Advocate recommendations are not mandatory, but play a very sensitive role in society and its mechanism, such as public administration and the civil society, often assuring its voluntary execution.

Finally, we would like to point out that the legislation of a lot of foreign countries vests the People’s Advocate with the power of representing requests before the Constitutional Court. This was one of the conclusions of the conference organized by the Council of Europe from12-13 November 2001, in Lubiane on: “The Relations between Ombudsman and Judiciary”. In paragraph 7, it is declared: “In transition countries, which are faced with old, incomplete and not-incorporated laws, as well as in the countries with a strong democracy, it is important that the ombudsmen have the power to make proposals relating to the legal aspect and constitutionality of regulations (laws) before the Constitutional Court. This should help in eliminating the holes in the laws, which might result in negative effects or violation of the rights of individuals.”

In some countries, like Poland, Slovenia and Portugal, the People’s Advocate has the power to address to the Constitutional Court about the anti-constitutionality of the laws that contain the indices and risks of violating human rights. We find not grounded the arguments used by the Constitutional Court in restricting the People’s Advocate from the right to address to the Constitutional Court. If this limitation will be accepted, it will do harm to the individuals’ rights, as they are not entitled to address directly to the Constitutional Court.

According to article 15 of the Constitution: “The fundamental human rights and freedoms are indivisible, inalienable, and inviolable and stand at the basis of the entire juridical order.” The creation of the institute of the People’s Advocate is a real guarantee for the enjoyment of these rights by individuals.

Fourteen months have passed and the Constitutional Court has not promulgated its decision yet. It can’t be rejected for the lack of legitimacy, for the simple fact that the Chamber of Trade is a party in the process.

We hope that the Constitutional Court will take into consideration the arguments presented by the People’s Advocate and the criticism of the Human Rights Watch for limiting with not-grounded, superficial-judicial arguments the powers of the People’s Advocate to seek the abrogation of laws that create premises for the violation of human rights in Albania.

1.The People’s Advocate together with the Association of the Albanian Constructors, in December 2002 presented to the Constitutional Court the request on: “The abrogation of the Government Decision No. 441, dated 26.09.2000: “On the immediate termination of the exploitation of the sand and gravel from the riverbeds”, as incompatible with the Constitution and laws.

In this request we presented:

“The administrator of the Association “Eurovini” has submitted a request to the People’s Advocate as follows: “He is licensed to use machinery for crushing gravel on his land. The Tirana Construction Police, in violation of the law, through two official letters has ordered the suspension of the activity of the subject and the disbanding of the facilities.

In addition, a lot of citizens have submitted complaints to the Association of the Albanian Constructors, as licensed subjects, exercising their activities in the field of inert, pretending that their activity has been illegally suspended and they had been ordered to disband the facilities.

We investigated the case and found that the Tirana Construction Police has acted in accordance with Government Decision No. 441, dated 26.09.2002. In our opinion, the above mentioned decision is issued in violation of article 118 of the Albanian Constitution, becasue it does not consider Law No. 8093, dated 21.03.1996 “On the Water Resources”, which in its article 6 says: “ The Water National Council is the central decision-making body for the administration of water resources. The Water National Council is headed by the Prime Minister.” Thus, the body that should make the decisions and administer water resources is the Water National Council and not the Government. This surpassing of competences, from the procedurial prespective is accompanied with the violation of the Constitution and relevant laws even with Decision No. 441, dated 26.09.2002, paragraph 1 and 2 as follows:

Paragraph 1 stipulates: “The immediate termination of the exploitation of the sand and gravel from the riverbeds.” We consider the termination of the exploitation for all subjects, without considering the time and the objects (all rivers), causing harm to the lincensed subjects, which have exploited the rivers according to the scientific methods and no consequence has come out of their actions. In a few words this “en block” prohibition, penalized unfairly all the subjects when it is well known that, to the contrary, the exploitation of rivers does not cause any harm.

Paragraph 2 says: “ The disbanding of all facilities for crushing gravel from the riverbeds should be halted until 31.12.2002.”

In our opinion, the way the order is formulated violates the Constitution, article 11 and 44, paragraph 1 and is not in compliance with the Civil Code as well. In a lot of similiar cases as the one cited above, the subjects have installed the facilites on their property, so the decision violates the owner’s rights, which are consitutional rights.

Following our reasoning, the owners of lands and the equipment will continue to exploit the limestone, but they are prohibited to use the sand and the gravel from the riverbeds.

We would like to refer to the Consitution once again, precisely article 11, paragraph 3: “Limitations on the freedom of economic activity may be established only by law and for important public reasons.” In our case, the termination of the activity (and not the limitation as the article above stipulates) emerges from a Government decision.

Law No. 8093, dated 21.03.1996, in articles 22 and 23, paragraph 2 identifies the organ for the reviewing, annulment, suspension or the strictly envisaged by law. We would like to inform the Honorable Members of the Consitutional Court that before we addressed this court, in conformity with the requirements of article 24, paragraph b of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”, we recommended that the Government make changes on Decision No. 441, dated 26.09.2002 accordingly.

Letter No. 3992 of prot., dated 14.01 2002 of the General Secretary of the Government said that they have sent instructions to all the state institutions, foreign organizations, civil and physical subjects, relating to the decision in question, but this letter does not contain any legal opposing argument.

Considering what we have introduced above, based on article 134, paragraph dh of the Constitution and article 4 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”, we

REQUEST

The abrogation of Decision No. 441, dated 26.02.2002, “On the immediate termination of the activities for the exploitation of the sand and gravel from the riverbeds.”

The representative of the Government failed to attend the January 15th and 29th’ sessions of the Constitutional Court, despite notification. Before examining the case from this court, the General Secretary of the Government met with the People’s Advocate and apologized for the response given in the letter cited above, and informed him that the Government is drafting a new decision, satisfying the People’s Advocate’s recommendations. Before January 29, 2003, he sent to our institution the Decision No. 19, dated 10.01.2003 “On some Amendments of the Decision No. 441, dated 26.09.2002 of the Government “On the immediate termination of the exploitation of sand and gravel from the riverbeds.” According to this decision, paragraph 1 and 2 are changed as follows:

“1. The activity of the exploitation of sand and gravel should be carried out in accordance with the definitions made in Decision No.1, dated 09.01.2003 of the Water National Council “On the exploitation of sand and gravel from the riverbeds”.

2. The disdain of the equipment for breaking gravel from the riverbeds for the subject that is not equipped with a construction license.”

As we can see, the Government through making some amendments to the previous decision has completed our request addressed to the Constitutional Court. As a result, we asked the Constitutional Court to drop the case and the court was recessed.

As a conclusion, our request was grounded and the case was resolved in favor of the “Eurovini” and to the Albanian Association of the Constructors.

5. General Opinions on the Situation of Human Rights in Albania

It is well known that one of the main goals of our society in this transition period toward a rule of law state is to build a legal system and strong mechanisms to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Legal framework has reflected the achievements and requirements emerged from the international instruments and mechanisms through largely broadening the scope of human rights and assuring an efficacy on the implementation process.

Human rights are mainly related to the relations established between the individuals and the state. They are controlled and regulate the exercising of state power over the individual, they guarantee the individuals' freedom in relation to the state, and require from the latter to meet the individuals' basic needs, within its jurisdiction. They are easily comprehensible and explicitly expressed in the international instruments, which the states have agreed upon, likewise the human rights standards apply.

The 1998 Albanian Constitution, which further reinforced the constitutional guarantees in the area of protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms, has been based on these principles. The constitutional chapter on the fundamental human rights and freedoms also includes the entire range of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, which are based on the highest international standards of human rights.

Article 15.1 foresees: “The fundamental human rights and freedoms are indivisible, inalienable, and inviolable and stand at the basis of the entire juridical order”, while paragraph 2: “The organs of public power, in fulfillment of their duties, shall respect the fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as contribute to their realization”. The limitation of the rights and freedoms provided for in the Constitution may be established only by law for the public interest or for the protection of the rights of others. These limitations may not infringe the essence of the rights and freedoms and in no case may exceed the limitations provided for in the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Union Human Rights Charter (Nice Convention.)
It must be highlighted that the legislation related to human rights in Albania is modern in character thanks to merging the entire set of international standards on human rights. The Albanian Constitution envisages that the norms and principles recognised by international law, and the international agreements recognised by Albania, are an integral part of the Albanian legal system, likewise these norms are a priority as compared to the Albanian legislation applicable. However, there is still much to be done on the part of the judiciary and the public administration as regards the implementation of the international standards associated with the genuine protection of human rights in Albania.

Based on Recommendation No. (85) 13 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe concerning the Ombudsman's, we avail ourselves of the opportunity to offer special considerations on the human rights issue. In this report, in the section focusing on certain areas, we have expressed our opinions about the situation of human rights and freedoms in Albania. Whereas, as regards the problems we are introducing in the following, we have relied not only on the complaints submitted to our Institution, but also in the information, and surveys published in the Albanian media, whose credibility is, of course, of average degree. Naturally, even the reports the focusing on Albania, submitted by the prestigious bodies and institutions, such as Council of Europe, European Union, Human Rights Watch and especially the Reports on the human rights and freedoms in Albania, submitted by the US State Department, have been taken into account.

The right to life as one of the fundamental human rights was the main focus of the National Conference organized by the People’s Advocate in December 2001. The Conference aimed at initiating a joint national strategy by all the state bodies and NGOs, as regards the imperative and sustainable preventive measures in defense of the right to life, especially targeting the phenomenon of blood feud. The conclusions and Recommendations drawn by the Conference have been published. To our knowledge, the Ministry of Public Order, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization and Ministry of Education and Science have been responsive to our recommendations.

It is common knowledge that the situation of individual freedoms and rights, such as freedom of expression, press, media and television, freedom of conscience and religion, individual freedom, inviolability of habitat, freedom of privacy and correspondence are guaranteed by law. There are and will be complaints, or their defense through the judicial processes organised, but in our opinion, the individual rights and freedoms have been respected. Therefore, the violators of human rights and freedoms have been punished, in case the individuals whose rights have been violated have proven such violations.

However, with respect to freedom of press, media, and television, it should be admitted that such freedom has been exceeded in several instances. Various journalists have failed to take into consideration what is envisaged in No. 8517, dated 22.07.1999, “On Protecting Personal Data Confidentiality". Not infrequently have our Media provided detailed personal data, which violate the right of privacy according to the aforementioned law. This phenomenon is far more pronounces in cases of charges on criminal offences, even more in cases when the children (minors) have been accused and inflicted detriments or cases involving trafficking in women.

Law guarantees political freedoms and rights, such as the right of election, organisation and assembly; hence they are generally respected. As we have mentioned in the 2001 report, we have implemented and strongly relied on the principle of impartiality, so as not to compromise us in the natural unhappiness of politics, which is always associative of competitions to power. Therefore, the People's Advocate would like to state the view that he completely agrees with the respective evaluations. In addition, everyone involved should contribute towards implementing the ODIHR Recommendations, with a view to respecting the fundamental right of free vote for every citizen of the Republic of Albania.

It has been rightly observed that several other rights and freedoms have been violated or failed to be realised. Numerous young people have resulted to emigrate illegally so as to have a better future; children's labour is wide spread; demands for obligatory elementary (eight-year) schooling are not being taken into consideration; the number of children abandoning school is increasing. According to the surveys number of children have abandoned schools has been dramatically increased, because of economic reasons. Apart from that, in several instances, the children have been exploited “as slaves”, through begging or prostitution. Zyberi family from Kukes, a case well known throughout Albania, demonstrates the risk children encounter in poor families. There are a lot of families that live on the incomes of their children working abroad. According to the data published by “Save the Children”, Albania is one of the countries with a high rate of trafficking in human beings. In North Albania, numerous children, prone to blood feud, are in a really miserable situation.

The UN Conventions on Child's Rights has been ratified by Albania, and decreed by the President in 1992. According to article 44 of the Convention,” States Parties undertake to submit to the Committee, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized herein and on the progress made on the enjoyment of those rights:(a) Within two years of the entry into force of the Convention for the State Party concerned; (b) Thereafter every five years.”

In 1994, our Government, based on this Convention, was obliged to submit to the UN Committee on Children's Rights a report, concerning the children's right situation in Albania. No Official Report, subsequent to the implementation of this Convention has been submitted so far.

In our opinion, it is indispensable to draft a law on the children's rights, which would contribute to the protection of children's rights. In addition, in our view, the special minor's courts are not functioning. Failure to establish the Centre of Minors' Education (with special focus on establishing the separate minors' prison) is worth noting. Considering the Zyberi case, we think the time has come to establish a state authority which will take over the promoting and protecting of children’s rights, a role until now played mainly by non-profit organizations.

Women's rights violations are really serious and grave. The Media provide various figures on the number of the Albanian girls subjected to trafficking and prostitution all over Europe, especially in Italy and Greece. Women's trafficking for prostitution remains to be a serious problem, treated in terms of organised crime, be it even trans-national in character. However, it seems as if the burden of success or failure has been shifted to the law enforcement bodies, police, prosecutor's office, court of justice, etc. Even the regional initiatives in this respect have no chances to offer final solutions for the phenomenon concerned, since the reasons leading to it, are of political, social, cultural, economic nature, and so on.

     As we mentioned in our 2001 Report, it is important to strengthen legislation, adopt programmes and policies, even monitoring this process by the respective bodies assigned by the Governmental structures to carry out this tasks specifically. This problem should be viewed and handled even from the angle of respecting the civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights. It applies to all areas, such as education health service, social insurance, employment, poverty mitigation, through adhering to the philosophy of victims' direct or indirect non-discrimination, but taking into account their social status, in relation to the domestic rehabilitation centres.

     Recently, there has more trafficking of foreign women using Albania as a transit place to western countries rather than trafficking of Albanian women. We might call it a success of the joint efforts of non-profit organizations and state authorities.  Submission of the first national periodic report, in the framework of requirements emerged from ratifying the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” is an important step taken by the Albanian state to be in compliance with the international commitments.

Issues related to spouse maltreatment or violence against women have often been published in the Albanian press. The new Code of Family has not been endorsed, although it has been submitted to the Albanian Parliament more than a year ago. “The Committee for Equal Opportunities”, having the same number of staff and experts as the People’s Advocate, seems to be focused on doing studies and outlining policies. We think its reorganization will help in being more concrete and effective in protecting and promoting women’s rights in Albania.

Treatment of prisoners and detainees remains very problematic even though there have been some successes over the years. Low health care is a significant problem for several handicapped persons. Treating the mentally sick persons in our mental hospitals is a great concern as well. The Albanian press has been often dealing with the problem of grave hygiene, food, heating, accommodation conditions, etc. The situation has been described and presented even in the 2000 and 2001 Reports. The CPT (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture) and Council of Europe inspections during 1998 and 2001 continuously have presented the situation as desperately grave. We deeply welcome publishing of the above reports from the Albanian Government and express our conviction, that Parliament and the Government will take measures to comply with the CPT recommendations.

It is understandable that not all the economic and social aspects can be fully guaranteed. However, the Government should take steps forward not backward in terms of accomplishing them. Although it might be difficult for everyone to be employed, the Government should make maximum efforts to offer employment opportunities, equal chances, and an adequate working environment. In this respect, concrete the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs should develop strategies, which should have accurate figures concerning the capable labour force, periodically inform the Government the real situation, thereby proposing concrete measure to overcome this situation.

Corruption is wide spread both in the administration and judiciary. The report focuses on several aspects and the special recommendations prepared. It should be pointed out that not infrequently there have been lodged complaints against the judiciary and the prosecutor's office, concerning the actions taken in contravention with human rights. The fifth Conference on the Reform on Judiciary, organized by the Council of Europe in Saranda, emphasized focussing on such important and critical issues as: “the need to improve the legal framework, e.g. the legislative techniques in all levels; fighting the corruption inside the judiciary; the need for improvement in the activity of the Inspectorate of High Council of Justice; the approaching of the national legislation with the international standards and mechanisms, especially on issues like money laundering, corruption, terrorism and protection of witnesses; improvement of the relations between Public Prosecution’s Office, Police and Courts; fighting the organized crime and reorganization of the Advocates Chamber after adopting a new Law on Advocacy.”

Health Care, aid, and social assistance stay at poor levels for lack of financial resources as well as corruptive and abusive behaviours. We welcome the ratification from Albania of “The Revised European Chart”; thereby its implementation required concrete steps by authorities.

As a conclusion, it should be emphasised that the Parliament and the Government in Albania are responsible for the situation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms. In this framework, aware of his role, the People's Advocate has a clear vision of his responsibility and duties in protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms of citizens.

6. The activity of People's Advocate and Public Relations

The collaboration with Media has been considered as the most efficient means of acquiring the necessary access to public, as well as creating the indispensable integrity in exercising the function, which both the Constitution and the Law "On People's Advocate" have envisaged.

Irrespective of the drawbacks present in any newly established institution, the practice so far has identified the problem-range made public in the media, as well as reflected in the activity and performance tables for our institution, appended to our Report.

Being in touch with the Media has helped us to become acquainted not only with the complaints of several individuals, but also the Albanian Government priorities. Hence, we have addressed our efforts towards attacking and creating precedents in those Government areas, which required the establishment and enhancement of public services standards, the implementation of the right to information, transparency, privacy of personal information, in the activity of police forces, and other areas, as reflected in the respective chapter for this report.

The media and press organs have been delivered the notification thereby requiring the accreditation of a journalist, who would maintain permanent contacts with the People's Advocate institution. In this respect, the commissioners prepare monthly statistics related to their respective sections. As advised by the People's Advocate, these data are made available to the Spokesperson, who will reflect them in the press, as the occasion arises. In our practice, the journalists could contact at least three staff members. The target has been better clarification of the problem to be dealt with in the press, as well as to transmit to the Media the idea we intend to convey to the readership, with a view to educating them with the correct legal practices.

The variety and diversity of problem-range employed in our commitment to press has been reflected, on a no comment basis, in the respective tables concerning media coverage. In a way, even proceeding from the headlines of information by us and about us, the activity performed is evident.

The information the press provides constitutes a significant aspect of our activity, as is the case with commissioning and setting in motion spontaneously, at our initiative foreseen by article 13 of Law “On People’s Advocate”. The entire spectrum of the Albanian daily and periodic press is especially screened every day in our office.

The information, which interesting in terms of our office scope of activity is distributed to the respective sections, according to their problem-range. Afterwards, depending on the circumstances, following the respective verification carried out, they either initiate investigation, or record them for research purposes.

As regards the media coverage strategy, we have taken into account the enhancement of public awareness, and the educational effect of information targeting both the citizens and the public administration. That has been possible through continuously covering in the press all the instances of understanding by the administration, thereby restoring the right the citizens had been violated. Apart from that, the press has assisted us even through its role as means of exerting pressure to us, to the administration or, the individuals vested with public authority, provided the latter have turned a deaf ear towards our recommendations.

The means employed have been envisaged in the strategy initially formulated for our informative and explanatory activity targeting various community groups. According to the 2002 statistics, we have appeared 243 times in the written media and 90 times in the electronic media, which represent a two times increase compared to 2001 year. This shows the quality of our work, which consists in geographical diversity and variety of themes as well.

The means employed have been envisaged in the strategy initially formulated for our informative and explanatory activity targeting various community groups. Last year, we managed to publish five new leaflets, a calendar reflecting topics from the area of human rights. In addition, an informative and promotional documentary film on the institution of People's Advocate was produced. A calendar reflecting the thematic of the National Conference on “The Right to Information, a Fundamental Right” has been distributed to local and central Governmental bodies as well as to deputies. We have likewise republished a brochure in Albanian and English, as well as five institutional spots, with a view to informing our public concerning the services we offer and the ways of acquiring such services. These forms of activity will be further enriched in the future. Installing information technology has enabled us to work towards having our web-site page, wherein the individuals interested in our office and its activity are expected to find the entire range of information required.

It is understandable that media coverage is always in compliance with the problem-range and work intensity of our Institution. After this first stage is over, we already feel a second stage is starting combining both the institutional consolidation and its public authority strengthening. We intend that the People's Advocate recommendation should accomplish greater positive impact expected in relation to Public administration. In our opinion, without neglecting for a single moment the citizens' daily complaints, our Institution will manage to positively influence even the administrative instruments, which are equally lucky and responsible to cope with the challenges Albania is by all means required to encounter in our integrating processes, the Agreement of Stabilisation and Association with EU being a case in point.

It has always been the vision of the People's Advocate that public relations signify not only the communication with public through the Media, but also the transparency concerning the institutional relations between him and the Parliament, Government, Local Government, NGOs, i.e. everything our institution creates and performs within the scope of its jurisdiction, through employing the competencies recognised by law.

Alongside with periodically analyzing the activity of each section, we have been making efforts towards implementing the essential issues of our strategy in the area of public relations, especially through the Media. All in all, this Strategy of media coverage formulated in the year 2000, as an important part of Public Relations has consisted in the following:

Objective: Further recognition and promotion in the media of the role, tasks, and functioning of the People's Advocate Institution, with a view to enhancing public awareness, maintaining constant contacts with the public, familiarizing the administration with the citizens complaints, exerting pressure and stimulating the public administration in admitting the People's Advocate recommendations.

Essential topics:

a- The Institution of People's Advocate, his constitutional rights, and duties.

b- Proceeding with the citizens' requests and complaints submitted against the violations of the state administration in all levels.

c- Relations established between our Institution and the other state bodies.

d- Advantages of addressing the individuals' complaints to the People's Advocate Institution.

e- The relations between the civil society and rule of law, as well as the way the People's Advocate contributes in maintaining the cohesion of the institutions which constitute self-regulating alternatives within the democratic state.

f- The manner of depositing the complaints and requests to the People's Advocate. The deadlines of examining the right violated the degrees of commitment for this Institution in restoring this right. Which is the price the administration pays in case of failure to implement the People's Advocate recommendations concerning the violation of citizen's or employee's right

Target group: Public opinion, public administration, NGOs representatives, as well as the entire civil society.

Vision: Collaboration with the Media is the basis of public relations, and the most efficient means of enabling the necessary access to the public, as well as the creation of the indispensable integrity in exercising the function envisaged in the respective constitutional law. Transparency and media have been, are, and will be the proclaimed and safest allies of the People's Advocate.

Implementation means:

a- Electronic and written media.

b- Informative and explanatory meetings with various community target groups.

c- Opening a website page.

d- Publishing leaflets, posters, calendars, and brochures.

e- Producing television spots, and documentary films, as well as enabling their distribution, both through the electronic media, and in various institutions, such as offices, schools, etc., in various regions of Albania.

f- Producing various promotional materials, such as badges, miniature statues, etc., bearing the institution's logo.

g- Daily contacts with the press, likewise making press releases focusing on important issues which have a comprehensive impact on good governance.

A. Media contact is accomplished through:

1. Interviews (programmed or non-programmed).

2. Talk-shows, live questions-answers.

3. Press releases.

4. Direct contacts with journalists serving to inform them about our cases, ranging from the expert, spokesperson, commissioner, to the People's Advocate.

5. Promotional campaigns (10-20 seconds video clips) in TV and Radio, through employing as a logo striking sentences, for instance “Your right - Our mission", “The People's Advocate - an open door to you” etc.

6. Series of television and radio broadcasts according to the problem-range of complaints submitted to the People's Advocate Office.

B. Meetings with public are important since they establish direct contacts with our office, hence making it more tangible. That is attained through:

1- Talks in schools and universities.

2- Talks in various towns and cities.

3- Talks with the administration according to the respective sectors.

4-Seminars with representatives from the administration, judiciary, legislative, and civil society (NGOs.)

C. Web-site page, as well as establishing links with various institutions, especially the other centers of human rights protection, in Albania and abroad. We set up a web-site in 2002 which constitutes:

1- Extracts from the Constitution and the Law "On People's Advocate".

2- The Structure of People’s Advocate Office.

3- Professional CVs of the People's Advocate and the Commissioners.

4- Logo message from the People’s Advocate.

5-Report on the office activity (Extracts from the annual reports or specific reports.)

6- Master forms concerning the citizens' complaints.

7- Contact e-mail address for the People's Advocate.

8- Mailing and telephone address.

d- Leaflets on the People's Advocate activity; the ways his office functions, contacts, various cases or topic dealt with, according to the problem-range of the respective sections, through working in teams within the office, or by working with foreign partners.

E. The Spokesperson addresses the Media concerning the office problems, so as to declare various attitudes, statistics, or clarify public opinion on certain instances, etc.

The possible forms and ways of Radio and Television broadcasting coverage are:

a. Direct talks, with a maximum of one-hour duration in the studio.

b. Interviews recorded in various environments following a talk with the interviewing journalist; general information talks of 15-20 minutes to be followed by telephone calls by the TV viewers.

c. Questions and Answers prepared by the Commissioners themselves and the Spokesperson. Afterwards they are broadcast once a week in the series "Information of the People's Advocate Institution", prepared by Tirana Radio.

d. Live radio broadcast talks with the heads of sections, or experts concerning concrete and spontaneous issues, as requested by the audience.

Methodology

a. The intensity of commitment should be in gradual progression; i.e. maintaining the hierarchical arrangement, in the sense that interest on the topic should be increasing rather than decreasing. Initially, there could be published general, but nor direct articles, referring to or quoting the Spokesperson's statements. Later, the Commissioners will be directly committed in succession, finally culminating with the People's Advocate commitment. The Spokesperson could make statements on various issues, whenever the People's Advocate judges the need and manner of reaction concerning a certain issue, hence declaring the Institution's official attitude.

b. The various official and protocol meeting and visits, or even the activities organized by our Office, such as seminars, or press conferences could be made public knowledge, depending on the circumstances, by making written notifications addressed to ATSH (Albanian Telegraphic Agency), as well as the various press organs.

Means of implementation:

Functioning of Information Technology, and the respective software of the Internet and Intranet systems. Scanner, Dictaphone, photographic cameras, TV camera.

Development of skills:

Participation in various national and international activities to be updated with the problem-range and work styles, to be trained, as well as to exchange experience.

Financing resource:

The Institution's budget, or foreign donations (DANIDA Program or Council of Europe), based on the projects to be endorsed according to professional criteria, as well as the administrative and financial rules of the Albanian State. The funds will be allocated according to joint projects involving different production teams.

The above-mentioned elements and aspects will be subjected to changes and improvement, depending on the commitment of concrete individuals, the financial capacities available to our office, or the other unpredictable conditions and circumstances.

A more detailed version of the above strategy has been made familiar even to the representatives of the International Organizations working with Albania, who has expressed their willingness to financially support our activities in this respect, as has been the case so far. We have presented our views and concerns on the issues mentioned above to foreign homologues paying visits to our institution and during the seminar organized in Sarajevo on January 25, 2003.

Irrespective of the time of their accomplishment, the informative and topic-based talks in the national and local Radios and Televisions, with which our Office has already established contacts have been and remain the essential activities organized.

These activities determined in the strategies agreed will be consistently carried out.

We have concluded that our public relations activity has influenced the increase of our workload and has been appreciated, both by the Albanian public and foreign partners as well.

7. Open Days, a new experience of the People’s Advocate

During the year 2002, we started to implement a new experience, so called “Open Days” as a way to a direct communication with the public. This form reflects a new vision we took to help citizen in need. Under the new circumstances emerged by the decentralization of local Government, People’s Advocate thinks that the problems should be given a solution at the place where they appeared. Every local representative, during his/her election and later on, promises to make the village, commune or city a better place to live, where the good governance will prevail.

“Open Days” was successfully experimented in 32 cities and it seems to be very efficient. We got to know every day people’s problems, most of them never find their way to a solution for many reasons. This form reduces considerably the bureaucratic procedures, financial costs as well as the abusive behaviors form certain officials and authorities, resulting in the citizens becoming more trustful of the state, institutions and the legislation. On the other hand, it intends to change the attitude of citizens toward the state: looking at it not like a stranger or in a hostile way, but a guarantee, standing up like a parent to his own child.

Practically, we processed as follows:

Initially, we notified citizens through local media the day before the event and the local authorities a few days in advance. When possible, we had a talk show at the local television station. The team was composed of 2-3 experts, who informed the public about the purpose of the visit, the competences and jurisdiction of the People’s Advocate. Meetings at the municipality followed the next day. We have been able to resolve a lot of complaints during the day through contacting the competent authorities. The rest of the complaint had been taken to our office, registered and subject to further investigations.

Concretely, by the end of October 2002, the teams had been in 32 cities, and registered 600 written complaints, which are being subject to further investigations (see the informative table enclosed).

We would like to make it clear that the number of people we have encountered, who’s requests were not grounded or were beyond our jurisdiction or had been given an answer, is much higher than the registered complaints.

The topics have been quite the same with those we face in Tirana, i.e. malfunctioning of the legal system, court’s decisions, non-execution of court’s decisions, arrogance and indifferentism shown by local officials in resolving daily crucial problems, such as lack of power, water, roads, sewerage, construction and unemployment.

It is our opinion that local authorities could have resolved a lot of problems if they had shown devotion and commitment to people.

In general, it seems that most of the people were satisfied with our services, which consisted of positive solutions to their concerns and problems, or giving legal advice about various legal issues, and telling them how to reach competent authorities. Among them, there are skeptics, largely because of the limited competences of the People’s Advocate, especially regarding our incompetence to make decisions or to initiate proceedings for annulment of erroneous court’s decisions.

It is our short-term goal to extend our services to 5 isolated far-away cities in the country. To this purpose, we have drafted a project and now we are looking for donors.

Table on “Open Days”, organized by the Institution of the
People’s Advocate in 32 Cities around the Country


No.	Date	City	No. of registered complaints	Covered by local Media
1	08.04.2002	Kavajë	37
2	06.05.2002	Kukës	24	+
3	09.05.2002	Korçe	60	+
4	10.05.2002	Pogradec	60	+
5	13.05.2002	Vlore	50	+
6	14.05.2002	Fier	25
7	15.05.2002	Lushnjë	15
8	17 - 19.06.2002	Burrel	18	+
9	20.06.2002	Puke	9	+
10	20 - 21.06.2002	Rrëshen	10
11	24 - 25.06.2002	Tropoje	8	+
12	25.06.2002	Kruje	6
13	03.07.2002	Lezhe	24	+
14	04.07.2002	Laç	8	+
15	05.07.2002	Librazhd	28
16	08.07.2002	Gramsh	10
17	08.07.2002	Elbasan	48	+
18	08.07.2002	Tepelenë	5
19	09.07.2002	Delvinë	2
20	09.07.2002	Përmet	16
21	10.07.2002	Sarande	5
22	10.07.2002	Gjirokastër	28	+
23	11.07.2002	Himare	2
24	23.07.2002	Skrapar	3
25	24.07.2002	Kuçove	4
26	25.07.2002	Berat	25
27	23-27.09.2002	Bilisht	3
28	24.09.2002	Erseke	3
29	26.09.2002	Durrës	35	+
30	27.09.2002	Shijak	1	+
31	11.10.2002	Peqin	11	+
32	17.10.2002	Rrogozhinë	20	+
	Total	32 Cities	603

8. International Relations

International relations, in terms of our activity during 2002 have increased substantially. These relations are extremely significant for our Institution in view of the fact that this is a very new institution, without any counterpart, or similar institution in Albania.

Being part of the big family of Ombudsmen, during the international activities organized in 2002, we have made public the achievements of the People’s Advocate in Albania and have exchanged reciprocal experiences with other Ombudsmen. These contacts and exchanges have been very productive in our work and have served to create a close collaboration with our homologues offices.

We all are aware of the importance of the internet as a fast way of transmitting information all around the world. Nevertheless, we think that direct contacts, which result in free exchanges of experiences and practices, are irreplaceable and we have put too much emphasis on it during 2002. Therefore, we have participated in several international conferences, study visits and training, and it is obvious the increase of such events compared to 2001.

I. Activities organised by Council of Europe

a) The Forth Conference on the “Reform on Judiciary”, Strasburg, January 28-30, 2002

Council of Europe and the European Commission, in the framework of Second Plan of Action on the Functioning of the Reform on Judiciary in Albania, organized the Conference. The People’s Advocate presented a report on the performance of his institution. He also made proposals regarding some changes in the Penal Procedure Code and Civil Procedure Code, as well as measures that should be taken to prevent the accusations of corruption among judges and how they can increase the quality of their job.

The participants pointed out that the People’s Advocate has established close relationships with state authorities. They greeted the constructive way People’s Advocate has operated in cases requiring actions from the state.

The Chairman of Presence of the OSCE in Albania, Mr. Gert Ahren, in his speech, among other things, mentioned that: “An effective international collaboration reflected in the creation and consolidation of the institute of People’s Advocate, it is an indicator that real democratic changes can occur and new democratic institutions can be established in Albania.”

b) Seminar on the “The Principle of Non-discrimination and the Protection of Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Rights of Minorities”, Trieste, Italy

In the framework of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, the Venice Commission organized a seminar on the topics of non-discrimination and the protection of ethnic, religious and linguistic rights of minorities from January 28 to February 2, 2002.

The Venice Commission has played a very important role in adopting the new Constitution and other laws in accordance with European constitutional standards. The Venice Commission has given much valued technical assistance in drafting the new Albanian Constitution and other important laws.

One of the major topics of the seminar was the discussion of electoral laws, e.g. how they reflect the principle of equality and non-discrimination and how they comply with the international standards.

c) Meeting of Ombudsmen in Vilnius, Lithuania on the “Role of Ombudsman in Protection of Human Rights”

This meeting was held in Vilnius, Lithuania from 5 to 6 April, 2002,

with the initiative of the High Commissioner of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Alvares Gil-Robles. The participants exchanged their views on the different issues.

The representative of our institution referred to several recommendations we have sent to the state authorities, regarding the obligation of each public official to be acquainted with the Code of Administrative Procedures and the Law on” The Right to Information”, as a guide in their daily work.

d) Second Round Table of International Human Rights Institutions, organized by Council of Europe in Belfast and Dublin

This meeting was held from 14 to 16 November 2002 and was intended to exchange views and experiences on the promotion and protection of human rights and other related issues. Topics discussed were as follows:

1. Role of National Institutions on Human Rights in preventing and resolving conflicts and tensions

The below recommendations were drawn from the round table:

a) The Human Rights National Institutions should be aware of the dimensions of the conflicts and take appropriate measures to prevent them, as part of their commitment to better serve citizen’s needs.

b) The Human Rights National Institutes should consider that their structures and capacities are adequate and should use the dimensions for the purpose of carrying out their obligations.

c) Council of Europe is invited to organize a workshop in the future for exploring new ideas in regards to further strengthening the role of National Human Rights Institutes in the prevention, management and the resolution of conflicts.

d) The National Human Rights Institutes are invited individually to think about their role and capacities in the resolution of conflicts as well as to what extent they might succeed, considering any mechanism or specifics on their mandates.

2. The cooperation among Human Rights National Institutes as well as Council of Europe and other International Organizations

The need of strengthening the cooperation among the Human Rights National Institutes as well as Council of Europe and other International Organizations was reaffirmed.

It was emphasized that the Council of Europe members should create and reinforce national independent institutions based on the Principles of Paris and the 1997 Recommendations of the Council of Europe.

Albanian Ombudsman, in his speech, saluted the Council of Europe for making the decision of coordinating all activities between Council of Europe and the Ombudsmen and National Mediators by the High Commissioner on Human Rights of Council of Europe in 2003 onwards. In addition, he suggested that the Council of Europe should take the initiative for establishing a network and bilateral agreements on the function of solving complaints of legal or illegal residents.

He proposed drafting of a law on defining the same regulation of the status, jurisdiction and competences of Ombudsman for Council of Europe Members and recommending its adoption from Governments. This will better serve to the protection of individual’s rights, the efficacy of network and exchanges of experiences too.

II. Activities organized by United Nations Organization (UNO)

The 58^th Session of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations held in Geneva on April 18-20, 2002

The representatives of different Ombudsmen all over the world, participating as observers in the 58^th Session, were enlightened with the activity of the Commission and its strategy for the strengthening of national institutions, the coordination of their tasks and the modalities of its institutional support over human rights national institutions. In their speeches, Ms. Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner of the United Nations and Mr. Alvaro Gil Robles, the High Commissioner of the Council of Europe, made special emphasis on the important role, played by national institutions on the protection of human rights of their citizens as well as the enormous efforts toward the awareness of their Governments in respecting the wide- ranging principles.

The Ombudsman’s representatives expressed their commitment in continuing the cooperation with international organizations and requested that the Ombudsman should be a permanent member of the Coordination Committee. The official appropriate steps have been taken, with no positive solution from competent authorities yet.

III. Other International Conferences

a) The 6^th Conference of European Institute of Ombudsman, Krakow, Poland

The Commissioner of Poland and the European Institute of Ombudsman (EOI) from May 22-24, 2002 organized the 6th Conference of European Institute of Ombudsman.

The Conference was focused on the role of Ombudsman in the 21^st century, especially in extreme and extraordinary circumstances. Mr. Marek A. Nowicki, Ombudsman of Kosovo, brought various examples of a country where ethnical conflicts are crucial. He pointed out the role of Ombudsman as a mediator not only between citizens and state, but different ethnicities as well.

The representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe condemned some practices employed in some states, regarding the mal-treatment of foreigners entering EU without visa. She put the stress on the fact that the Ombudsman should be allowed to have access and inspect the check-points in airports and other customs’ place and the important role Ombudsman should play to ameliorate the laws on foreigners.

The conference underlined the importance of the independence of Ombudsman, the degree of its responsibility and access, as well as the importance of being proactive, not reactive. This means that Ombudsman should study thoroughly and treat with precaution each single case in function of prevention rather than denouncing and acting after a violation occurs.

The Conference elected Board of Directors of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI). The Albanian People’s Advocate has been an EOI permanent member since 2000.

b) The 18^th Annual Conference of American Ombudsmen (TOA)

The 18^th Conference of Ombudsmen of the USA was held in Arlington, Virginia from 20-23 May 2002. The topic of the conference was “Ombudsman Performance: Motivation, Civilization and Respect on Challenges”. It was the first time that the People’s Advocate participated in an activity organized by American Ombudsmen. During the conference we learned about the American model of Ombudsman, which changes considerably from European Ombudsman. The experience acquired and the contacts established will help us in our work.

During his visit in the USA, People’s Advocate met with:

- Ombudsman of the City of New York, Ms. Betsy Gotbaum, who informed us about the structure, functions and the procedures applied in resolving the complaints made by citizens.

- Deputy General Secretary of the UN in charge of legal matters, Mr. Hans Corell. We informed him about our institution, legal framework and work done during 200-2001, emphasized the importance of the institution for the promotion and protection of human rights as well as the challenges we are facing. In addition, we underlined the close collaboration between Albanian Ombudsman and our homologues around the world, as well as the support we have from our Government and Parliament.

Mr. Corell, for his part, welcomed our work and underlined that what we have done is a step forward in the long-run mission for protecting human rights. He also mentioned the important role that Ombudsman should play in the process of adopting new laws and during the enforcement process too. He suggested following the Swedish model regarding the procedural actions of the judicial bodies. Sweden is the origin of Ombudsman and of Mr. Corell too.

- The Director of the High Commissioner on Human Rights Office in New York, Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye. We presented our activity and the relations with the Government and Parliament. Mr. Ndiaye esteemed the creation and the functioning of the People’s Advocate in Albania and pointed out that the recommendations addressed to public authorities should comply with the standards set by international instruments on human rights issues. He highlighted that a good functioning of our institution increases the credibility of public authorities as well.

Finally, Mr. Ndiaye saluted the delivery from Albania of the first report on “The International Convention on the Eliminations of All forms of Discrimination” to the United Nations.

In Washington, DC, the People’s Advocate paid visits to the State Department as follows:

- First Deputy Director for Central and South Europe, Mr. Jonathan Benton and the Head of Albania office, Ms. Michele Siders.

- Deputy Director for Democracy and Human Rights, Mr. Ralph Anske.

The American officials made it clear that they were well informed about the People’s Advocate Institution and the situation of Human Rights in Albania. They encouraged us in our work and suggested that we have to focus more on cases relating to private property, violence shown by police, all kinds of trafficking and corruption, which constitute our main concerns as well.

- We met also with the Director for Central and South Europe of ABA-CEELI, Mr. Scott Carlson and the representative of Human Rights Watch, Mr. Dorian Pavli.

After finishing the meetings with American officials, the People’s Advocate gave an interview to the “Voice of America”.

c) International Conference on Administrative Law

International Conference on Administrative Law was organized by the Council of the Administrative Courts of Canada (CCAT) in Ottawa, from 2-4 June 2002. The conference topic was “Legal Administrative System in Canada”. It’s the second time we participated in this event. Conference thematic embraced important issues related to the functioning of the administrative courts in Canada. We had an opportunity to extend the professional and institutional relations with Canadian administrative courts, as we have the same objective: solving citizens’ complaints.

During his visit to Canada, the People’s Advocate had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and was informed about Administrative and Legislative Structure of Human Rights Commission, politics, legal services and the procedure of analyzing, investigating and the mediation procedures.

People’s Advocate met in Ottawa the General Secretary of the Federal Commission on Human Rights, Mr. John Buck and the Director of International Politics of this Commission, Ms. Kerry Buck. In Toronto, he met with the Chairman of the Parliament of Ontario Province, Mr. Garry Carr and the Head Commissioner on Human Rights of Ontario, Mr. Keith Norton as well as several other officials.

He highlighted the importance of the visits, which will contribute to further cooperation with the Canadian homologues in the future. Also, he underlined that the People’s Advocate in Albania is a relatively new institution and appreciated very much the experience of Ombudsman of democratic countries like Canada. The Canadian officials expressed their interest in keeping and extending the relations with Albanian Ombudsman and promised to help with training of the staff.

d) International Conference on “European Standards and the Institute of Ombudsman in South-Eastern Europe”

The conference was organized by the Regional Office of the German Public Foundation “Friedrich Ebert” in Sofia from 6-8 June 2002.

Representatives from Ombudsmen’s Offices in Balkans expressed their concerns and difficulties encountered during exercising their functions on protecting human rights. One of the objectives of the conference was the drafting of supporting programs for Ombudsmen of South-Eastern Europe.

e) Annual Meeting of OSCE and ODIHR on the Enforcement of Human Dimension

The Annual Meeting of OSCE and ODIHR were held in Warsaw, Poland, from 9-19 September 2002. It constituted a unique forum for open discussions on human rights with the participation of non-Governmental organizations, Governmental delegations and representatives of human rights institutions.

The representative from our institute made a presentation on the achievements and objectives of the People’s Advocate during 2 and half years of his activity for improving the standards of good governance from the Albanian public administration.

f) Annual Meeting of Ombudsmen of European Region, Members of the International Institute of Ombudsmen (IOI)

Since 2000, the Albanian People’s Advocate has been a member of the International Institute of Ombudsmen, headquartered in Canada.

The meeting was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 5-7 December 2002, initiated by Ombudsman of Slovenia, which is the Director for Europe of the International Institute of Ombudsmen, Mr. Matjah Hanzek. The meeting topic was: The independence of Ombudsman”.

Among other issues, the meeting focused on the enhancement of institutional and financial independence of Ombudsmen, as is related closely to the success of their work: “the institutional independence, before all, excludes the dependence from the other constitutional institutions and requires the non participation in the political games. Ombudsman itself should pay the same importance to a separate budget and the defining of the structure and the staff. Building and maintaining an efficient institution requires not only the political and institutional support, but willingness by supporting it financially, and providing the necessary infrastructure in order to complete its task.”

IV. Visits to Albania by Ombudsmen of other countries

The Ombudsman Institute, being unique in each country, pays great attention to contacts with its homologues.

We have established close relations with Ombudsmen all over the world; Europe, the Balkans, the United States, and Canada. These contacts have been mutual, meaning that not only have we paid visits to our homologues, but we have received representatives of Ombudsmen in Albania too. We have established contacts with 12 Ombudsman offices.

During their visits in our Institution, the foreign homologues had expressed their willingness for collaboration and congratulated us for the achievements of our institution. Most of them have met with the highest-ranking personalities of the state, such as the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Chairman of Constitutional Court, the Minister of Justice, the Chairman of High Court, the General Prosecutor, etc., and have exchanged reciprocal opinions on the performance of the People’s Advocate in Albania and respective countries.

1. Mr. Bernard Stasi, the Mediator of the French Republic and Head of the Ombudsmen and Mediators’ Association of Francophone countries, paid a visit to Albania from 21-24, 2002. Mr. Staci was acquainted with the activity of the People’s Advocate and participated in the seminar on “A Fair Legal Process”, organized by the Albanian Center for Human Rights and the High Court with the participation of the lawyers from Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. Mr. Staci gave a presentation on the role of the French Mediator on a fair process of administrative courts. He saluted the achievements of the People’s Advocate in Albania and assured us of further collaboration. Upon his return to France he invited the Albanian People’s Advocate to pay a visit in France and in November offered two one-month scholarships for training of two Albanian experts.

2. From 3-5 April 2002, the Chairman of Parliamentary Ombudsman of Sweden, Mr. Claes Eklundh participated in the seminar organized by the People’s Advocate of Albania on: “People’s Advocate and Judiciary”. He made a very interesting presentation due to his long experience as Ombudsman, on the relations of Ombudsman and the judicial system in Sweden. After his return to Sweden, 5 Albanian experts were invited for one-week training in his institution to closely become acquainted with Sweden Ombudsman activity.

3. From 26-29 June 2002, the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Denmark for 17 years, Mr. Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen, paid his third visit to Albania, invited by the People’s Advocate. He is our main supporter in the building and well functioning of our institution. He reaffirmed his institution support for the year 2002 and 2003. He expressed his willingness to provide a technical and logistical support on opening new offices in some cities. He met with the Chairmen of Parliamentary Commission on Laws, Human Rights and Finance. He highlighted the necessity of respecting the independence of the People’s Advocate and the importance of continuous financial support to guarantee the good functioning of the institution. He paid a visit to the local Government’s authorities in Gjirokaster and Saranda and learned about their considerations on the People’s Advocate work.

4. Mr. Nikolaus Schwarzler, Executive Board Member of the European Institute of Ombudsmen, headquartered in Innsbruck, visited Albania from 8-10 July, 2002. He saluted the achievements of the People’s Advocate in Albania during the last two years and assured us of further help and support, especially regarding professional training for our staff.

5. The Human Rights Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Ombudsman against the ethnic discrimination of the Kingdom of Sweden, Mr. Frank Orton, visited Albania from 17-22 July 2002. He brought his long experience with the judiciary and human rights in Sweden to the seminar organized by the People’s Advocate on: “Methods of receipt, verification and answering a complaint or request and the Recommendation, the main instrument of the People’s Advocate”.

Our staff welcomed his report; also we appreciated the positive evaluation he made on the Albanian People’s Advocate, underlining that the visit’s intentions and benefits were mutual.

6. Mr. Oleg Orestovich Mironov, the Commissioner on Human Rights of the Russian Federation visited Albania from 30 July to 3 August 2002. He came after a meeting of the Board of Directors of the European Institute of Ombudsman, held in Innsbruck and informed us about the evaluation of Albanian People’s Advocate work from the Board. He came up with the idea of setting up an association of Ombudsmen for former socialist countries, because of similarities during the transition period. He suggested that the Albanian People’s Advocate should take the initiative on the issues and assured us that we will be getting support from homologues of the former Soviet Union Republics.

The People’s Advocate, after considering the suggestion made, responded that our institution inspires to become part of euro Atlantic structures and according to him there is no need to create another structure, but be active in the existing organization: The European Institute and International Institute of Ombudsman and the Association of Ombudsmen and Mediators of francophone countries.

7. From 20-22 October 2002, the Commissioner of Human Rights of Council of Europe, Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles visited Albania, invited by the People’s Advocate. During his meetings with the high authorities of the country, he was informed about measures taken on different issues and the situation of Human Rights in Albania. He was focused on two issues: a) trafficking of human beings and b) women’s rights, family abuse, social rights, etc.

Mr. Gil-Robles mentioned that until now he knew Albania only through written reports, and he actually is having an opportunity to meet and talk to different representatives of Government, minority parties and civil society.

After we informed him of the increase in work volume since 2000, he evaluated our devotion in carrying out our tasks and the eminent support we need from Government and other bodies.

The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ilir Meta, mentioned the good relations the Albanian Government has established with the People’s Advocate. He informed Mr. Gil-Robles about the publication and distribution of a brochure for the Albanian prisoners convicted in foreign countries, intended to inform them about human rights and the legal means for their protection.

Mr. Gil-Robles transmitted the Council of Europe opinion on the fact that the violation of human rights of minorities in Albania doesn’t constitute a big problem and has complied with obligations derived by “The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.” He spoke of joint activities, such as a study on immigration and a meeting that will take place in Athens in March or April 2002, where it is expected that Albania will participate and contribute. Mr. Meta responded positively to the invitation and emphasized the need of raising the cooperation with the Council of Europe.

During the meeting with the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Ms. Valentina Leskaj, Mr. Gil-Robles took interest in the employment opportunities of women, increased participation of women in the police, family abuse, roma issues, mentally ill people and the elderly. He proposed organizing a joint seminar with the People’s Advocate, Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the NGO’s on the sensibility of the public on family abuse issues, considered a Balkan phenomenon. Ms. Leskaj welcomed the proposal and the preparation of the seminar is under way.

Mr. Luan Rama, Minister of Public Order met with Mr. Gil-Robles. Their meeting was focused on the cooperation of the institution he represents with the civil society, especially on the issue of blood feud and vengeance, demonstrating the work done by police to prevent these negative phenomena. In addition, he informed Mr. Gil-Robles of the relations with the People’s Advocate and how the Ministry of Public Order has welcomed the recommendations, e.g. taking necessary measures to ameliorate the conditions of the detention and custodian places. They agreed upon a proposal from Mr. Gil-Robles on arranging a regional activity and Mr. Rama expressed his willingness to be in charge of organizing the event with the High Commissioner of the Council of Europe.

Z. Spiro Peci, the Minister of Justice, during a meeting with Mr. Gil-Robles, was focused on the work done by his institution in increasing the quality of investigation procedures and judgments, as well as the strengthening of control over courts. Mr. Gil-Robles stressed the need of a strong judiciary, capable of fighting corruption, and the need for training of judges, police and prisons officers.

Mr. Gil-Robles met also with the Prime Minister, Mr. Fatos Nano. He put emphasis on the acceptance of the People’s Advocate’s recommendations from the Government and not undermining the exercising of the competences within its jurisdiction vis a vis the courts and public prosecutor’s office. In terms of efficacy, this should be helpful to them in their ambitions to fight corruption and all kinds of trafficking.

V. Visits of the People’s Advocate to the Ombudsman Offices across the world

In the framework of bilateral cooperation and the obligations emerged by The Stability Pact, the People’s Advocate paid visits to homologues offices of some countries.

1. From 10-23 April 2002, he was invited by the Ombudsman of the Greek Republic, Mr. Nikiforis Diamandouros. Agenda of his visit consisted of: a) getting acquainted with the structure and work methods of Ombudsman; b) how Greek Ombudsman helps Albanian immigrants with their complaints. In fact the number of complaints from Albanians was not high; it constituted 9.3% of complaints deposited by foreigners. Greek Ombudsman informed us about the proposal, for a supplement to the Law on Immigrants he submitted to the Greek Parliament to accelerate the procedures for legalization of immigrants’ status, accomplished by the Greek Government in April 2002.

He expressed his concern and put emphasis on further cooperation, e.g. sending the complaints to each other’s offices and exchanging staff visits.

During our visit to Athens we met with the Minster of Public Administration and Decentralization, as well as the General Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order. We presented to them the concerns of the Albanian immigrants in Greece, demanding the respect of human rights from the Greek authorities following the example of other European Union states. While there, we met with the representatives of the Albanian community, who informed us of the situation of Albanian immigrants and the problems they face in every day life.

2. Invited by Mr. Marek Antoni Nowicki, Ombudsman of Kosovo, appointed in this office by the UN Secretary General, a delegation headed by the People’s Advocate, visited Pristine from 2-5 May 2002. Mr. Marek welcomed our delegation and expressed his gratitude for the help we have provided, as the most important they have ever received form the Ombudsman offices in the Region, as well as in Europe.

Together with the Kosovo Ombudsman, we determined the aspects of collaboration between both our Offices, e.g. seminars, joint publications, trainings, etc. He thanked us for the opportunity we gave to his staff to visit the Ombudsman’s office of Albania. We expressed our readiness to welcome the other part of his staff, belonging to the Serbian minority. Those visits have already taken place.

The benefits of the visits were and are mutual. We followed the example of the Kosovo Ombudsman and set up “Open Days” to reach people living in far and isolated areas.

The relations between our Office and that of Kosovo in the future will continuously be multidimensional and prioritized.

During our visit to Kosovo, the People’s Advocate met with the Prime Minister, Mr. Bajram Rexhepi. He informed him on the activity of the Albanian Ombudsman office and expressed his consideration on the work of Mr. Nowicki, who on several occasions has challenged the UNMIK (United Nation Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) authority on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Kosovo people. During the meeting with the Member of Presidency of the Kosovo Parliament, Mr. Fatmir Sejdiu, he considered our visit as a new expression of the collaboration between Albanian and Kosovo institutions, as well as emphasized further cooperation.

The People’s Advocate had other meetings with several Kosovo officials, such as the Chairman of the Supreme Court, Dean of the Law Faculty and the Head of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The latter made an expose of 13 years activity of the organization, which might be considered a live archive for the violation of human rights of the Kosovo people from Serbia, the reason for NATO intervention against Serbia. He met also with the representatives from local Government, such as the Chairmen of Pristine, Gjakove and Peje Communes. There was readiness for cooperation between the Albanian local powers and those of Kosovo, as well as the construction of the road Durres-Pristine. We passed along the message to the Chairman of the Association of the Albanian Mayors, Mr. Edi Rama, as well as to other mayors when the opportunity arose. On May 5^th, the Martyrs Day, we paid a visit to the Memorial Complex in tribute to the martyr Adem Jashari in Perkaz, Drenice.

The Kosovo Media and Television covered the Albanian People’s Advocate’s entire visit, considering it as a success and a step forward within the framework of the bilateral cooperation.

3. From 11-15 July 2002, invited by the Mediator of the French Republic, Mr. Bernard Stasi, the People’s Advocate, lead a delegation to visit the French Mediator’s Office. The Council of Europe, supposedly to happen in 2000, when our institution was established, funded the activity. While visiting the French Mediator office, we became acquainted with the intermediary techniques applied by the French Mediator during the exercising of his competences toward the public administration. We learned about the new practice of Mediator office working with contact persons at the respective ministries and institutions, in order to accelerate the collaboration with state authorities. We have implemented this experience in the Albanian context. We clarified the status of the French Mediator in receiving complaints from citizens through the deputies of the French Parliament, not addressing them directly to him. The Mediator Office publishes a quarterly bulletin to be distributed to all French deputies. We are currently studying these experiences, in order to apply them in our context when the time comes.

4. From 20-24 July 2002, invited by Mr. Werner Palla, the Albanian People’s Advocate paid a visit to Ombudsman of Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Italy. Mr. Palla, currently the Bolzano Ombudsman, was elected the Chairman of the European Institute of Ombudsman in May 2002. The visit was intended to exchange experiences and to strengthen the cooperation of our institutions. Mr. Palla, from his side, visited Albanian Ombudsman in December 2001.

The People’s Advocate met with the Albanian community in the Province of Balzano as well as with the chairman of the Council of the Province.

5. From 24-30 September 2002, invited by Mr. Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen, a delegation headed by the People’s Advocate paid a visit to his Danish homologue. Our visit intended to benefit from the experience of the Danish Ombudsman, in particular from the management of the office.

During the inspection of the state prison of Juddered, we became aware of the respect, trust and powers of the Ombudsman over the prison authorities and the prisoners themselves.

During the meeting with the Prefect of Arhus, Mr. Peter Christensen, our delegation was given an opportunity to learn about the structure and the functioning of the local Government, as well as to understand the way the Ombudsman and the local authorities work together to solve citizens’ complaints

VI. Visits of experience exchange and staff training arranged for the People’s Advocate staff to the counterpart offices.

1. According to a schedule approved in 2001, following the professional training a year before at the Parliamentary Ombudsman Office of Denmark, the fourth group of the administrative staff of our institute, visited Copenhagen in March 2002, and became acquainted with the administrative work of the office.

2. From April 22 to May 3, 2002 our librarian paid a training visit to Geneva and Strasbourg to learn about the administration and maintaining of our library. The Council of Europe funded this training.

3. From May 27 to June 14, 2002 and from 7-25 October 2002, two assistant commissioners of our office participated in the training organized by the Sweden Agency for Development and International Cooperation (SIDA) in Stockholm.

4. From 7-14 September 2002, five assistant commissioners of our office paid a training visit to the Parliamentary Ombudsman Office of Sweden.

5. From 4-29 November 2002, two assistant commissioners of our office participated in the training organized by the French Mediator in Paris.

VII. Training and exchange experience visits from foreign experts to the People’s Advocate Office

1. In January 2002, two groups of Albanian experts from the Kosovo Ombudsman Office paid a training visit to our office.

2. From September 30 to October 5, 2002, a group of Serbian experts from the Kosovo Ombudsman Office paid a professional visit to our institution.

3. From 18-22 September, three experts from the Greek Ombudsman Office paid an exchange experience visit to our office.

4. From 12-14 December, two experts from Kosovo Ombudsman Office paid a training visit to our office to learn about our software program, called Doculive, set up in the office in 2001 within the framework of Danida project.

VIII. Foreign Experts’ Visits to the People’s Advocate Office

1. In January 2002, the Danish Chief expert, Mr. Jens Olsen, and the Information Technology expert, Mr. Christian Moller visited our office.

2. In February and November 2002, two representatives from the registration office of Parliamentary Ombudsman of Denmark came to our office to teach our staff how to proceed in registering complaints through the software mentioned above.

9. Collaboration with Amnesty International

During 2002, our institution established very good collaboration relationships with Amnesty International as we mentioned in the last year report. The numbers of cases we have cooperated with Amnesty International on have increased each year. We have close relations with Amnesty International groups not only in England, but also in Austria, Norway and Italy. During 2002 we received 21 letters from Amnesty International. In 14 cases they have requested our immediate intervention and the rest were notifications. In most of the cases, Amnesty International called for People’s Advocate actions against the maltreatment of people from the police as the case below:

Developments in the case of a minor brutally tortured by the Saranda police in June 2000 were illustrative of official indifference. In 2000, protests by human rights groups caused the Minister of Interior to fire the main suspect, police officer Rrapo Xhavara, and the public prosecutor started a criminal investigation into the case. Within months, however, Saranda prosecutors dropped the charges for "lack of evidence." In 2001, new protests by rights groups and high-level interventions by the Albanian ombudsman forced then-Prosecutor General Rakipi to reluctantly order the re-opening of the case. When Xhavara was finally tried under reduced charges in July 2002, he received an eighteen-month sentence that was immediately converted to parole. The conviction did not affect his June 2002 appointment as commander of Saranda's municipal police.

The Amnesty International Group requested a detailed report on the case of Azgan Haklaj, his home was bombed and he claimed mistreatment for him and his family from the police. An investigation into the allegations had not been completed by the end of the year 2001.

We recommended to the General Prosecutor to complete the case and take disciplinary action against the prosecutor of the case.

According to Amnesty International letters, Albania's executive and judicial authorities continued to fail to combat police violence. Torture and physical abuse of detainees were widespread and unpunished. Developments in the case of a minor from Albania's executive and judicial authorities continued to fail to combat police violence.

In all cases we have acted accordingly in compliance with the Law “On People's Advocate”, always responding to the demands made by Amnesty International correctly. Even in the future we will have close collaboration with this organization.

10. National Conference on the “Right to Information, a Fundamental Human Right”

One of the main tasks of the Albanian state toward protection of the rights of individuals in their relations with the administration is drafting of a new administrative system. This is part of the long-run process Albania has to accomplish in order to be a part of the European family.

According to article 23 of the Constitution: “1.The right to information is guaranteed. 2. Everyone has the right, in compliance with law, to get information about the activity of state organs, as well as of persons who exercise state functions. 3. Everybody is given the possibility to follow the meetings of collectively elected organs.”

In conformity with this article, several laws have been adopted, such as Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents” and Law No. 8485, dated 12.05.1999 on the “Code of Administrative Procedures”, which have been adopted taking into consideration the standards, set by the European Union. Unfortunately, even three years after their adoption, it is our belief that ordinary people and the public administration do not know them, while their enforcement encounters a lot of difficulties and obstacles.

According to article 30 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”, we are required by the law to organize, at least once a year, national conferences on the state of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in collaboration with NGO’s working on the issues.

In conformity of the above obligation, the National Conference on the “Right to Information, a Fundamental Human Right” took place on December 12, 2002, under the auspices of the President of the Republic. The organizing parties of the conference were our institution, the Minister of Sate close to Prime Minister and the Institute of Public and Legal Studies (OJF).

The preparatory work was spread throughout the year 2002 and included observations made on the administration, studying the cases relating to the right of information and surveys conducted by the teaching staff and students of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The goal of the conference was to raise the awareness of the public administration, both central and local ones on their rights and obligations foreseen by laws and the responsibility of the heavy task of being responsive and punctual on resolving the citizens’ problems.

Conclusions of the conference were as follows:

1. Considering the fact that Albania is facing the challenge of meeting the requirements for signing the “On Stabilization and Association Agreement” with the European Union, it is part of the process that the activity of the People’s Advocate and the Public Administration should focus on the building, enforcement and respecting of the European standards of good administration and good ruling from the state authorities.

Those standards are based on the principles of democracy, liberty, and the rule of law and the protection of human rights. An integral part of these rights is the right to information and access of official documents.

2. The idea of organizing the conference came at the right time and in the right moment, not only to lecture the rights of a good administration and the right of information, but mostly to sensitize all concerned parties; i.e. institutions, individuals, media and civil society.

3. There is a close link between democracy and human rights including the right to information. That is why both the Constitution and the law on information are envisaging them in their regulation. They define rules, regarding the good administration and the transparence of the public administration in its relations with the public, media and civil society. Compared to the state of laws, which seems to be conforming to the European standards, the enforcement of the laws is being problematic and difficult. The complaints received from individuals, groups of individuals and media, regarding the violation of administrative procedures and the lack of transparence from the public authorities is an indicator of what we tried to say above.

4. Albanian state has the obligation of receiving, answering and responding to citizens’ complaints. We regret to say that a lot of institutions haven’t made progress; instead of creating relevant offices, they have preferred to increase the number of their spokesmen rather than experts who will be involved directly in the process. Even in the case of existing offices, they take a superficial view of the problem, without defining concrete measures and steps to be taken to resolve the problems.

5. Among several reasons that lead to these attitudes, we may list some as below:

a) The responsible officials seem not to have the necessary training to handle their tasks. There is no clause or requirement, in the job description of their responsibility to provide the information required by the proper laws.

b) Their personal behavior sometimes doesn’t fulfill the law’s requirements. Instead of keeping secret the personal data, they publicize a lot of the information, violating the Law on Information. This attitude applies to the media and individuals as well.

6. Even though the Government has included in its program the necessity of transparence of public administration, this directive hasn’t been put into practice adequately, thus resulting in a lot of legal acts not being published, and as a result not being known by ordinary people. The enforcement of the above laws, which guarantees the transparence, hasn’t been made part of the work method by local authorities yet.

7. The People’s Advocate, since the very start, has constantly paid attention to the enforcement of the Law on Information. He has sent a recommendation to all public administration offices to issue appropriate regulations, according to the requirements set up by the law. He publicly, in several occasions, has stressed the need of the Law on Information and the administrative procedures becoming like a “bible” for the public officials in their daily work. An anti-corruption system can be established only through acting in conformity with these laws.

8. The transparence issue and the aforementioned laws have been the focus of several surveys, seminars and other events of the civil society. We salute their commitment to protect human rights and encourage them to continue in this way.

The conference draws these recommendations:

1. The process of approaching Albania to the European Union should be accompanied with a practical engagement of the Albanian public administration to comply with the European Union Standards. This implies the enforcement by the Parliament, public administration and the judicial system of the obligations emerged from the international conventions and agreements adopted by the Council of Europe and the European Union. The lack of transparency from each of three powers, legislative, executive and judiciary shows that the efficacy of their mechanisms is not at the required level. The drafting of new laws and other legal acts, should be deemed the opinion of civil society and the appropriate communities, such as the business community, which seems to have complaints about the arbitrary of the customs and tax bodies.

2. The central and local authorities should become acquainted with the Law “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents” and the “Code of Administrative Procedures” and act in compliance with the requirements of the above laws. These laws provide the citizen with a better understanding of their rights vis a vis public administration and establish standards for public authorities to consider while exercising their powers. The Public Administration Department of the Government as well as local authorities should comply with the requirements of these laws during the hiring process.

3. All the local and central bodies, such as commune, municipality, and ministry, should publish the services they offer for the public. The current regulations and manuals should be changed, reflecting the experience gained during the completing of the functions by the public officials.

4. The civil officials should be careful in providing information regarding individuals, bear in mind to not violate the individuals’ rights and reveal the information considered state secret from the appropriate laws.

5. The public authorities should contribute to raising the awareness of the citizen for their role in the decision-making process. This gives the citizens an opportunity to control the administration and the efficiency in completing their tasks.

6. “The Government and law-makers should consider the reformation of the so-called “Offices for Receiving the Complaints”, Mr. Alfred Moisiu, the President of the Republic suggested during the conference, by changing the current laws or adopting new ones.

7. The judiciary and public services, such as public notary are not excluded from the transparency; therefore changes should be made to the laws and regulations on different issues, such as the fees for their services.

8. The projects and programs funded by the international community should be doing more publicity and should be managing in a transparent and efficient way from the institutions or public authorities.

9. The education and awareness of the public on the right to information and administrative procedures should be paid more attention by the public administration. The role of NGOs is very crucial and irreplaceable.

10. The People’s Advocate mission in this process can be summarized as the exercising of his authority over the public administration in order for them to be transparent to the public. Meanwhile, his role should not be limited only to protecting the individuals from the abusive actions of the public officials. It should be read also as an appreciative teacher to the public administration and very helpful to them in accomplishing the priorities of the state as a whole.

To this purpose, we should improve the governing culture too. This includes a good governance, transparence, sincerity and periodic reporting. The People’s Advocate through his recommendations intends to educate the administration and make it understand their role vis a vis citizens. The People’s Advocate should do an inquiry on the fees of the services for providing information in the public administration, for not allowing them to apply fees that pass the service’s value, as the law requires.

The role of the People’s Advocate as a guarantee for transparent public services should be strengthened through recommendations for legal responsibility of the officials that violate the laws in question.

* * *

The organizing of the conference under the auspices of the President of the Republic, as well as the participation of deputies, high-ranking officials from different ministries, judiciary and local Government through their interventions, was a huge contribution to the success of the event.

According to a majority of the participants, the conference achieved its objectives and intentions. It became a tribune of exchanging views, sensitizing the public authorities and their commitment to complying with the requirements of the Laws on the Information and Administrative Procedures.

The conclusions and recommendations that emerged during the conference have been sent to the President of the Republic, the Presidency of the Parliament, Deputies, Prime Minister, Ministries, Municipalities, Communes and Prefectures, accompanied by a calendar of the year 2003, which contains an article of the law on information on each page.

We are optimistic that the above recommendations should be given great importance by the public administration in accomplishing the task of better serving the people’s needs.

11. Other activities of the People’s Advocate Institution during 2002

The People’s Advocate or representatives from his office have participated in different events, organized by governmental bodies or civil society across the world. It constitutes a professional and civic commitment of our institution. Because the scale of these events can be the subject of a separate publication, we are listing only the thematic of them.

1. Seminar on “People’s Advocate and the Relations with Judiciary”, organized by the People’s Advocate with the participation of the Ombudsman of Sweden, Mr. Claes Eklundh, April 2002.

2. Seminar on “Examining the cases and the politics of the People’s Advocate Office” organized by the People’s Advocate with the participation of the Ombudsman of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Frank Orton, July 2002.

3. Seminar on “Human Safety and the Control of Arms in Albania” organized by the Program of Development of the United Nations and the Albanian Association of Atlantic, January 2002.

4. Seminar on “Corruption in Albania” organized by the Association of Women Lawyers, March 2002.

5. Seminar on “Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” organized by the Albanian Center of Human Rights, April 2002.

6. Seminar on “Informative Service” organized by the Center of Human Rights, April 2002.

7. Seminar on the “Recognition and Respect of Human Rights, according to the Universal Declaration and European Convention” organized by the Albanian Helsinki Committee, May 2002.

8. Seminar on “Child Labor. Stop exploiting children in Albania” organized by the Albanian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights, May 2002.

9. Seminar on the “Revised European Charter” organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, June 2002.

10. Seminar on “The implementation of The Code of Administrative Procedures” organized by the Department of the Public Administration at the Government and ABA-CEELI, October 2002.

11. Seminar on “Bailiff’s Office and the execution of the court decisions” organized by the Ministry of Justice and Council of Europe, October 2002.

12. Seminar on “Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights for a Fair Trail” organized by the Albanian Center of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court, October 2002.

13. Round Table on “The Cooperation between the Parliament and the Civil Society during the legislative process” October 2002.

14. Seminar on “The Project-Law on the Statement of Assets”, organized by the Parliamentary Commission on Laws, October 2002.

15. Joint seminar on “Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities and the Albanian Legislation” organized by the People’s Advocate Institute and the Albanian Center of Human Rights, September, October 2002.

16. Joint seminar on “The European Convention on Human Rights and the Albanian Legislation”, organized by the People’s Advocate Institute and The Albanian Center on Human Rights, October, November 2002.

17. Seminar on “The Detainee’s Rights”, organized by the Albanian Helsinki Committee and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, October 2002.

18. Seminar on “The Functioning of the European Court of Human Rights”, organized by the People’s Advocate, Ministry of Justice and the European Center of Human Rights, November 2002.

19. Seminar on “The Right to Information”, organized by the Albanian Group of Human Rights and the Association “Article 19”, November 2002.

20. Seminar on “The population and the development of the Family”, organized by Women Association, November 2002.

21. Seminar on “The Rights of Disabled Workers”, organized by the Association of Disabled Workers, November 2002.

22. Seminar on “Accounting Expert”, organized by I.E.K.A., November 2002.

23. Seminar on the 10^th Anniversary of the Constitutional Court, November 2002.

24. International Conference and Inter Activist. Promotion of “Acta Albaniae I-II”, organized by the Headquarter Directory of Archives, November 2002.

25. Round Table on “Albanian Police and its Vision for the Future”, organized by the Ministry of Public Order and the Albanian Center of Human Rights, November 2002

26. Seminar on “The Alternatives of Imprisonment Sentences”, organized by Council of Europe, December 2002.

27. Military Convention, Ministry of Defense, December 2002.

28. The National Conference of the Judiciary, December 2002.

29. The Albanian Helsinki Committee: “ The Evaluation of the Human Rights Situation in some Districts of the Country”, December 2002,

30. Seminar of the Association of the Albanian Constructors”, December 2002.

31. Four joint seminars on “The Education of the Police on Human Rights and the Cases of the Violations discovered by the People’s Advocate”, organized by the Albanian Center of Human Rights, The Police Department of Diber Region and the Police Department of Peshkopi, Bulqize and Burrel, November, December 2002.

Through these events, the People’s Advocate was given an opportunity to promote the role, competences and the jurisdiction of the institution he represents, as well as the cooperation with public administration and the civil society. The vast problematic discussed on those events, have been very helpful to us to define our attitude toward different authorities. Being very active in the public and social life is a priority of the office for the future too. We evaluate this inter- collaboration with the administrative authorities of the three powers and the civil society, as a necessity to remain a national body in safeguard to the protection of human rights.

CHAPTER THREE

Concrete activity of the People’s Advocate Office on the complaints, requests and notifications (cases), classified according to Governmental institutions.

1. Council of Ministers (Government)

During 2002, a total of 198 complaints and requests were filed against the Council of Ministers apparatus and administrative institutions under its supervision, the Supervisory Group of Financial Fraud Schemes, the Office of Tangible Assets Registration, and the Commission for the Return and Compensation of Property to the Former Owners.

Whilst performing its job to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individuals in Albania, the People’s Advocate has informed and made recommendations and proposals to the Prime Minister and other ministers on all the main issues arisen during its work. Despite the form in which the opinions of the People’s Advocate have been expressed, we believe that, in one way or the other, these opinions have influenced in the increase of the standards for better governance.

Concretely, during 2001, we presented the former Primer Minister, Ilir Meta with the following recommendations, requests and notifications:

1. On the need to allocate funds to provide shelter to Gjin Marku family in March 2001. The case was finally resolved in 2002.

2. Information on the impediments caused by the National Agency of Privatization for the registration of tangible assets sold to citizens on 14.05.2001. The problem was solved as the Government approved a decision, authorizing the National Agency of Privatization to pay the registration taxes for the tangible assets, the latter had sold to third parties.

3. Reference on 25.05.2001 and a Reminder, dated 01.10.2001 to assign the responsible ministry in resolving some complains for Bovilla reservoir. In February 2002, former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko created a working group, comprised of the Minister of Environment, the Minister of Public Work and the Minister of Health. The issue of cleaning the water was settled, however unsolved problems remain the fencing of the reservoir and the removal of some 40 families residing in the surrounds. These families represent a continuous danger.

4. 168 families of Bicaj Commune in Kukes submitted a complaint on 27.05.2001. The Government did not take it into consideration for lack of funds.

5. Proposal submitted on 12.10.2001 for some changes in the Law No. 7665, dated 21.03.1993 on “The Development of Priority Tourism Areas”. The proposal is pending and depends on the issuance of the law for the return and compensation of property.

6. Information on problems concerning Lazarat village in the Gjirokastra district on 12.10.2001. The actual situation in this village is stable and quiet.

7. Recommendations submitted on 18.10.2001 related to issuing some normative acts pursuant to implementing Law No. 8606, dated 27.04.2000 "On the Status of the Motherland's Martyr".

8. Recommendation for the preparation of the law on indemnification of inflicted citizens, in accordance with article 44 of the Constitution submitted on 24.12.2001. The Ministry of Justice has incorporated in its action plan for 2003 the preparation of such draft law.

9. Conclusions and recommendations of the National Conference on the right to life on 26.12.2001. These have been resent to former Prime Minister Majko in 2002, as well as actual Prime Minister Nano, as a reminder. The only minister that responded positively was the Minister of Public Order, Mr. Rama, whereas the Government and other institutions have not informed us on any concrete measures or actions to implement these recommendations.

10. Proposal submitted on 26.12.2001 for taking legislative initiative in the improvement of amendments of legal acts and normative acts for the conclusion of the process of re-evaluation and redistribution of property of former agricultural cooperatives, as well as the changes in Law No. 8435, date 28.12.1998 on “The Taxation System in the Republic of Albania”. We have not received any official response.

During 2002, the Government, headed by Mr. Majko up to July 2002 and later by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fatos Nano, has received from us the following recommendations, opinions, proposals and/or notifications:

1. Recommendation to amend the Law on Weapons. Explanations included in the issues brought before the People’s Assembly, dated 16.04.2002.

2. Information on social insurance complaints for state-owned companies such as Albanian Electricity Corporation, Telecom Communication and Aqueduct Company on 30.04.2002.

3. Recommendation to supplement Law No. 8328, dated 16.04.1998 “On the Rights for Treatment of Convicted People”, submitted on 13.05.2002. The Ministry of Justice is working on the preparation of the relevant draft law.

4. Recommendation to supplement Law No. 8092, dated 03.02.1996 “On Mental Health”, and prepare regulations “On security measurement for the persons that the court has issued the medical order of obligatory medication” submitted on 13.05.2002. We have not received any notification.

5. Recommendation to supplement the Law “On the Protection from Ionizing Radiation” submitted on 13.05.2002. The MoE and MoH notified that they are working on the preparation of the relevant draft law.

6. Proposals in relation to Law No. 8306, dated 14.03.1998 “On the Strategy of Privatization of Special Strategic Sectors” and to increase the control and participation of the Albanian Assembly in the process of the privatization of state-owned property, submitted on 14.05.2002. Actually, we have received no official response for the above proposals.

7. Request for collaboration in the National Conference on the Right to Information, submitted on 23.09.2002. The Prime Minister assigned the State Minister, Mr. Blendi Klosi to collaborate. The conference took place on 12.12.2002.

8. Proposal on measurements to be taken to implement articles 41 and 181 of the Constitution submitted 19.09.2002. The Assembly passed a Resolution suspending all actions on tangible property till a new law is passed.

9. Recommendation for taking measurement on prevention of maltreatment cases from the state police forces dated 24.09.2002. We have not received any response.

10. Recommendation, dated 15.10.2002 for planning necessary funds in the 2003 Government budget to conclude in 2005 the execution of all court decisions, where the state is the debtor, according to the commitment made in the Government program of July 2002. The Ministry of Finance notified us that an amount of 150 million Lek has been included in the 2003 budget for this purpose.

11. Increase the control on companies involved in the production and marketing of potable water submitted in October 2002. The Prime Minister created a working group, involving particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Ministry of Health to increase the control, according to our proposals.

12. Recommendation submitted on 06.12.2002 to change and supplement Decision of the Council of Ministers, No. 552, dated 27.11.1999 “On the Economic and Financial Treatment of Families of State Police Employees that Loose their Lives or Get Wounded on the Job”. The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Public Order to investigate on this issue.

The Prime Minister has been informed case by case and accordingly on the most relevant issues addressed towards the Government. We have discussed these issues also with our counterparts during meetings in Albania or while traveling abroad.

a. Supervisory Group on Financial Freud Schemes, under the Council of Ministers

During 2002, there were 15 complaints, versus 17 during 2001, brought to our attention and against the Supervisory Group on Financial Freud Schemes, under the Council of Ministers. We were able to complete 13 cases, while only two are still under our consideration.

The set of problematic issues and concerns, through the incoming complaints during 2002, has close similarity to that of the previous year. But at the same time it has its own specifics, expressed more concretely in the non-execution of courts’ final verdicts and obligatory payments of certain monetary amounts from the Supervisory Group to the specified commercial entities.

The main problems, submitted in the reviewed complaints, were as follows:

1. Objection on actions taken by the Supervisory Group or the administrators appointed to administer the pyramid financial schemes, in relation to the property of certain individuals such as the sequestration, suspension of property or obligations to be paid for certain monetary amounts.

2. Nonpayment of social insurance contributions by the financial pyramid schemes for their employees, or by the existing administrators assigned to administer these schemes, for the employees that have been contracted to work under them.

3. The manner in which the administration of the pyramid schemes has been performed by the independent administrators and the progress of the transparency process.

4. Delays in the process of back payments to the creditors of the pyramid schemes by the Supervisory Group.

5. Non-execution of court decisions by the Supervisory Group. These decisions have obliged monetary payments to various commercial entities.

The specifics during this year is that, on a number of certain issues, the complainants have brought their concerns first to our institution without prior addressing them to the Supervisory Group for clarification, thus not undergoing through the necessary procedures, which would have enabled the consideration from our side in an appropriate manner. Subsequently these complaints were passed to the Supervisory Group for close examination. At the same time this fact highlights the lack of true transparency in the activity of this institution, which has also been observed in our annual report of 2001.

Even during the National Conference on “The Right to Information, a Fundamental Right” held on 12.12.2002, various speakers and participants distinguished the activity of the Supervisory Group as a model of hermetic sealing of a governmental institution. On the institutional level, the communication between the Supervisory Group and our institution has been more collaborative than the previous year.

A very acute issue, as part of the activity of this institution of the public administration, is non-completion of the transparency process in its entirety and a lack of concrete deadlines to conclude the payments to creditors of the pyramid schemes. Being aware of the required timeframe to complete the administrative and judicial procedures and take the final decisions, we believe that this institution should have been more transparent and open to the public in clarification of these facts.

In many cases, it is observed that judicial processes are intertwined with the transparency process. Judicial processes are opened against the Supervisory Group and/or the administrators appointed to administer the pyramid schemes. The main problem springs from the non-execution of some judicial decisions when a final verdict was given, thus obliging the Supervisory Group to pay financial obligations. Even after the recommendations coming from our side, still there is either no real action taken, or partial unjustified actions, which violate the constitutional principle for the execution of the judicial decisions by the administrative bodies. Related to this fact, we are presenting the most typical cases:

In his complaint addressed to our institution, citizen E.A., representative of the commercial entity “A”, expresses his concern in relation to the non-execution from the Supervisory Group of the Decision taken by the Tirana District Court No. 2557, dated 16.07.1999. This decision has become an executive title and obliges the above-mentioned institution to pay the complainant the respective amount of 25.052.222 Lek. As the complainant states, the Supervisory Group (the respective administrators) while acknowledging the decision, has made two partial payments, but has not completed the total payment of the financial obligation, as stated in the decision. The remaining payment is delayed with no reasons, and this has brought financial difficulties to the complainant. The status of this case is described as to the moment the complainant submitted his complaint to our institution.

After taking into inquiry this complaint and getting explanations from the Supervisory Group (administrators of the company “M. Leka”), we were informed of the Decision No. 68, dated 21.03.2002, taken by the appointed administrator of this pyramid scheme. This decision states that, based on Decision of the Civil Court No. 2340, dated 21.03.2002, “M. Leka” company shall pay in favor of company “A” the amount of 25.611.664 Lek. (After correction of a mistake, the amount remains 25.052.222 Lek.)

After partial payment to company “A” by the administrators of company “M. Leka”, the Bailiff's Office orders the administrators to pay the remaining amount of 17.575.062 Lek. However, and besides these judicial decisions, the respective administrator decided that the payment shall be made for only 34%, or expressed in value in the amount of 5.975.520 Lek.

Referring once again to the respective judicial decisions, we have evaluated the recognition of partial financial obligation to company “A”, in only 34% of the amount, as illegal and absolutely invalid. The executive title defines that the financial obligation of the appointed administrators of company “M. Leka” is in the amount of 25.052.222 Lek. If the previous partial payments from the same administrators are subtracted, the amount is reduced to 17.575.062 Lek. The payment of the above obligation shall not necessarily abide by the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 610, dated 21.12.1999, because a final verdict exists for the mentioned civil case.

Bringing once more to the attention of the Supervisory Group the basic principle of distribution of powers, sanctioned in article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, and based on paragraph 3, article 142 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which explicitly says: “The state institutions are obliged to execute the judicial decisions”, we have recommended to the Supervisory Group under the Council of Ministers to pay 100 % the financial obligation to company “A”.

Actually the recommendation has been accepted, however the Supervisory Group conditions the full payment with the completion of total sales of the assets of the company “M. Leka”, under administration, as well as a judicial process under way. According to the actual amounts deposited in the corresponding accounts of the company at the Savings Bank of Albania, the administrators have monetary liquidity to make the payment, despite the argumentation provided by them.

Thus, we are continuing our work to identify the possibilities for direct payment, based on actual monetary amounts in the accounts of company “M. Leka”, under administration.

Another complaint, of the same nature, comes from the citizen P.V. from Tirana.

Recently we have approached the Prime Minister, Mr. Fatos Nano, as the Head of the Special Commission for Property Distribution of Pyramid Schemes, to order the execution of these judicial decisions by the Head of the Supervisory Group, Mr. Farudin Arapi.

b. Complaints against the Tangible Assets Registration Office

During 2002, the institution of People’s Advocate received 88 complaints against the Offices of Registration of Tangible Assets, versus 31 from the previous year. Sixty-six cases have been resolved, seven of which in favor of the complainants. Fifty-one complaints were considered out of our jurisdiction or resulted without a basis for consideration.

The majority of the complaints, classified as out of our jurisdiction, dealt with the non-registration of property from the Registration Offices because of double claim. This resulted from the interpretation of the same piece of plot, simple or arable land, from two different versions provided by the Land Commissions and the Commissions for the Compensation of Property. The latter took decisions without prior consulting with the respective maps, verifying the old and new borders, and without finding out if these pieces of land were free or claimed. In these cases we suggested to the citizens to appeal the court and solve judicially their concerns, as they face an ownership conflict. We contended with the difficult problem of having the citizens accept this. Most of them, for various reasons, do not accept and are not convinced that their cases can be solved in a legal manner. We believe this originates from the lack of a minimal judicial cultural background for the existence of legal ways to protect violated property and, in the concrete case, of claims of the same property by different parties. These complainants insist often that officers of these Commissions act in opposition and incompliant to executing their responsibilities.

On the other side, we have evaluated as quite appropriate and valid the complaints for unjustified delays from the Office for Return of Tangible Assets on the majority of the activities performed in relation to the public service and that this services leaves much to be desired. The personnel of this office lack evidently the civil culture, and particularly information desks to provide answers to the enormous flux of citizens. This situation makes the citizens raise suspicions for corruptive activity.

Against the citizens’ readiness to pay unhesitatingly all fiscal obligations for various applications, there are officers that, in many cases, lack the basic responsibilities to perform on the job. However, this note is not intended to accuse them of creating grounds for corruptive affairs.

Meanwhile we have a continuous, fruitful and productive collaboration with the Office for Return of Tangible Assets. In all the cases, when we suggested for taking concrete actions in registering or issuing property certificates, that we found the complainants right in their claims, they have responded positively.

Due to the complexity of the cases, we would like to highlight the positive settlement of the complaints of S.B., from Tirana, V.G. from Berat, A.B. from Korca, from the respective district Offices for the Return of Tangible Assets.

c. Complaints against the Commission for Restoring and Compensating Properties to Former Owners (CRCPFO)

During 2002, we received 59 complaints against the CRCPFO at all its levels. We resolved 49, whereas 10 were passed for further consideration during 2003. Two cases were solved in favor of the complainants. Due to our involvement, these complainants were able to receive the decisions for the recognition and compensation of property from the CRCPFO from the Prefecture of Durres and Tirana, after waiting for several years from the time they submitted the requests and the supportive documentations.

Among the received complaints, a set of them dealt with the objection of decisions of these commissions, in cases when the land has not been returned physically, being given the argument that it was already occupied with unmovable buildings. As the complaints of this group are out of our jurisdiction, we suggested to the complainants to object the decisions of the CRCPFO by appealing the District Courts where the property exists. They can file their cases based on article 27/a of Law No. 7698, dated 15.04.1993 “On the Restoring and Compensation of Properties to Former Owners”.

We considered the other set of complaints, which is the largest, as groundless and unjustified for the fact that the supportive documentations at the offices of CRCPFO have been incomplete. We advised the complainants of this group to approach the offices of CRCPFO and discuss and provide further required documents for their claims, in accordance to the laws and normative acts into effect. However, in such cases we would like to bring to attention the lack of transparency, as the CRCPFO does not notify or give explanations on the reasons for denial of decisions, thus violating the Code of Administrative Procedures.

From the review of all the complaints related to the restore and compensation of properties and the complexity of this issue, we have ascertained that many of the problems raised in our Annual Report of 2001, still continue to exist.

It is acknowledged by all parties that the Law No. 7698, dated 15.04.1993 “On the Restoring and Compensation of Properties to Former Owners” and the derived normative acts for its implementation, has many deficiencies and is incomplete. There is a great necessity to make the required amendments with the highest seriousness to the matter, including the supplement of the law with the European standards of property treatment, as a preliminary condition for the integration of our country to the European Union. Although article 181 of the Constitution has set defined deadlines for these amendments, they are already passed. The delays in the final treatment of the property issues are reflected in the slowness of the CRCPFO activity. There are numerous filed cases, with these offices that are not considered for years, or there are hesitations to make negative decisions in the cases when the claimed property is given in ownership to other people. These phenomena are present in all offices at all levels.

A specific issue becomes the fact that many public authorities of the local governance in City Halls, Communes, and various institutions, particularly in the Directorates of Forestry Services in the districts, due to lack of information on the existing law, keep a disregarding position towards the decisions of the CRCPFO, by not executing these decisions, when they are required to deliver the land or pasture surfaces to the declared owners.

The People’s Advocate has followed closely and with proper attention all the problems raised by the citizens and the association of former owners, related to the cardinal right of guaranteeing and protecting the private property, as a fundamental right of the individual. The People’s Advocate has kept the same stand while addressing issues with regard to protection of the public property in all the cases when there have been evidenced violations or abuse with it from individuals.

We have also supported in the development of the activity of the CRCPFO offices. To illustrate this, we are presenting the commendation letter that the Head of the CRCPFO of Tirana District, Mr. Robert Kreçi, gave to us:

“With Your official memorandums, addressed to the highest Governmental bodies, you, the People’s Advocate, have been able to influence the creation of better working conditions for the employees of the CRCPFO of Tirana District. Thus I am informing that the Prime Minister gave to our disposal four computers, and later probably a photocopy. With this first letter, typed in these new computers, we, the Commission of Tirana District, are very grateful to you and the institutions that you head. Hoping in future closer collaboration for the solving of the common problems, as the Head of the CRCPFO of Tirana, I commend you personally by wishing you success in your work and your mission.”

Besides the recommendations and the suggestions made to the CRCPFO, our institution has presented the Commissions of the People’s Assembly with various opinions for necessary changes in the legal acts and normative acts concerning the property issues. We believe that these argumentative opinions influenced the issuance of a Resolution by the Assembly for the temporary suspension of property distribution by the state, particularly coastal land.

We also encourage every recently taken initiative that not only require the execution of decisions, based on article 181 of the Constitution, but also attempt to restore all the injustices done to the owners of tangible assets.

We hope that all parties, with obligations in this sensitive matter, will soon find a consensus to end the process of property restoration and begin the process of compensation. Our institution has expressed, and finds it relevant to make once more public, the dedication to contribute its professional assistance in the protection of human rights and in solving, in the most acceptable manner to the Albanian reality, this major problem.

d. Institute for the Integration of the Persecuted (IIP)

A total of eight complaints were filed against IIP, out of which, two are settled in favor of the complainants, three are groundless and out of our jurisdiction, and three are under review. During 2002, we received only two groundless complaints.

The scope of the complaints consists of non-granting the status of the persecuted, renunciation of the compensation for the years suffered under dictatorship regime, and lack of housing for the homeless persecuted people.

The complaint of citizen K.L. states that, although jailed for 15 years with the motivation for propaganda and agitation, he still is not granted the political persecuted status and given the respective compensation. The complainant was registered as an ordinary convict and not as a political one. After verifying the documents at the Archive of the Ministry of Public Order, it was possible to take a certificate proving political conviction of the complainant, hence enabling him to start the process for receiving the status of politically persecuted.

In relation to gaining the status of politically persecuted, we observe that the legal procedures are in place, but practically, the 3-Parties Governmental Commission for the designation of the Status, which has the exclusive right to grant the Status, has not had a meeting in five years. Consequently, a considerable number of legitimate requests, for this purpose, have not yet found a solution. The IIP recognizes the need for the development of legal regulations and by-laws to enable the meeting of the 3-Parties Governmental Commission. Our office will intercede in speeding this process.

Another issue, under this category and for which many complaints have reached in our office, is the housing of homeless persecuted individuals and their families. A legal framework exists for a specific category of homeless political persecuted, who benefit free housing (Decision of Council of Ministers No. 476, dated 10.10.1994 “On the Housing Procedures for Former Politically Convicted and Persecuted People by the Communist System”.)

The complaint of Gjin Marku family, results now as resolved in his favor. After our recommendation, based on Law No. 748 dated 29.07.1993 “On the Status of Former Politically Convicted and Persecuted People by the Communist System”, the Council of Ministers issued the Decision No.335, dated 11.07.2002 “On the purchase of an apartment by the National Housing Entity to shelter the family of Mrs. Natalia Marku”. This family benefited free housing.

We have been informed by the institute that, although there are a great number of requests by the persecuted to benefit free housing from the Government and the fact that IIP has continually requested for annual housing funds for this category of people, still it has not been able to meet the requests for lack of funds.

e. National Privatization Agency (NPA)

This Agency is actually under the supervision of the Council of Ministers, although the scope of problems and issues it deals with is related to the Ministry of Economy.

During 2002, 28 complaints were filed against this Agency in our office, versus 20 from the previous year. Four were concluded in favor of the complainants, 16 were found groundless or out of our jurisdiction, and eight are still under review.

We emphasize that, for the 16 requests found groundless or out of our jurisdiction, we have clarified with the complainants the respective legal dispositions, particularly the claim of former landowners in connection to the violation of the right to preliminary purchase the objects. We have explained to the former landowners that the NPA does not make a special notification for the date and place of the auctions selling the objects build in the land owned by them. It is their responsibility to get informed on the status of the auctions and when the property will be sold, through the notifications that NPA places in the print and electronic media, or advertises at its district offices.

To create a clearer idea on the cases solved in favor of the complainants, we are providing two examples:

1. Representative of Human Rights Watch, D.P., complained that NPA did not inform (based on two requests made by him) on the documentation for the procedures on the bids made by NPA during October 2001, and on the publication in the daily journals. In both official responses given by the NPA to the complainant, without giving copies of the respective documentation, the NPA has considered his requests illegitimate. NPA based its refusal on paragraph 14 of the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 23.06.2000 “On the Regulation of Public Procurement”, which defines the responsibilities of the NPA, as a procurement entity that protects and discloses bid documentations to controlled authorities.

With a broader scope in view of this problem, we concluded that the right of information is guaranteed by article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and article 23 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, paragraph 2, which explicitly states that: “Everyone has the right, in compliance with the law, to receive information on the activity of Governmental institutions, and the individuals holding Governmental functions, without being obliged to explain the motives. The public authority is obliged to provide information in connection to official documents, except when the law states otherwise.” Article 4 of the above-cited law, defines the case when the right to provide information is limited. It says: “If the requested information for an official document is restricted by law, the public authority issues a written declaration to the requestor, in which it explains the reasons for not giving the information and the regulations that enable him to request it. If the limitation is only for a part of the information on official documents, the other part is not refused to the requestor.”

Based on the predictions of the specific legislation for this case (article 10 and article 33/1 of Law No. 7971, dated 26.07.1995 “On Public Procurement”), we concluded that the requested information, referring to the definition made by the complainant in his second request, should not be considered as restricted, on the right to be informed for it. Paragraph 14 of the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 355, dated 23.06.2000 does not restrict the right to be informed to the complainant, and it makes another functional adjustment for the respective organ, a function related to the archiving or the access of control that the respective control organs have on these documents. The documentation requested by the requestor, is not classified as restricted information to the public.

We also emphasized the fact that NPA, based on the request of the interested person, which initially has not been concise in the formulation for the classification of the required documentation, has not responded according to the manner defined by Law (article 4 of Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999.)

In this case the requestor of the documentation should have been shown the regulations based on which he should have requested the information, or more precisely, should have been explained for which part of the documentation he could have access. Although this was already exhausted by the requestor, with a precise definition of the kind of information he was requesting in his second request, NPA kept a refusing position.

We reached the conclusion that this has been a violation of the right of the individual to be informed for the respective official documents requested by him, and we recommended to the NPA of Tirana to inform and give the requested documentation to the complainant D.P.

The recommendation was accepted by the NPA and the complainant received all the information and requested documentation, which he is also using for the report of Human Rights Watch, published in July 2002 on the right of information in Albania.

2. In the complaint of citizens K.G. and M.G., they describe briefly the privatization process of bar restaurant “1 Maji” in Pogradec and claim that this privatization was handled in an irregular manner. After preliminary verification of this complaint from our office, it resulted that:

In 1993, the NPA publishes, in the list of auctions, the privatization of this object. In this publication, the surface of the functional land under the object is 467m². The winner of the auction, A.B., in the contract drafted by NTAN of Pogradec and NPA, Pogradec branch, is declared as the owner of this object. Later the object was sold to the two new owners and the NPA branch of Pogradec authorizes the sale of the land, which is surprisingly registered with a surface of 1967 m², thus 4 times bigger.

In 1994, through the Decision No. 55, dated 07.02.1994 of KKKP Pogradec, the above- mentioned complainants are recognized as the owners of a land surface of 462 m² for the surrounding sides of the object bar restaurant “1 Maji”, while not violating the functional space of this object. In the reasoning part of this decision it is made clear that the land surface of 462 m² is not declared in the auction and as a result it is free. This decision, in its reasoning aspects, explains also the leasing contractual relationship between the owners of the land surface of 462 m² and the owner of the object, who has made use also of this surface for his business activity. In paragraph 2 of this decision of the KKKP Pogradec, it is sanctioned this part of the reasoning, thus paving the way to a contradictive leasing relationship among the parties.

The complainants have been recognized by court the right for preliminary purchase of the object for the part of the land.

While viewing that this judicial decisions could not be executed, as the privatization took place in 1993 and the contract for selling the land was made in 1994, the complainants appealed a new case to the court with the charge subject of partial invalidity of land sales contract. This request was accepted through a decision of District Court of Pogradec and is in power by the Appeal Court of Tirana and the High Court. In these conditions, the decisions of the previous courts remain valid and should have been executed from the signing parties of the land sales contract.

The Ministry of Economy (where this issue was brought for review by the NPA) concluded that it couldn’t proceed with the assessment of the land anticipated in the contract, as its respective directorates assess only the surfaces of the objects under privatization. In order to solve this problem, we recommended that the NPA should accelerate the administrative procedures to execute the judicial decisions and undertake all legal actions, as the superior organ of the NPA Pogradec branch, for restoring the parties in the previous conditions, so that all the rights on ownership, denied to the complainants, are granted.

The NPA accepted our recommendation, thus the complaint was solved in favor of the complainants.

2. Ministry of Justice

During 2002 we reviewed a total of 358 requests related to authorities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, and concretely with the General Directorate of Prisons and the General Directorate of Bailiff’s Offices.

From the very beginning, we would like to highlight that the collaboration with this ministry has been more qualitative and effective, in comparison to previous years. This is dedicated also to the appropriate attitude and vision of the existing Minister of Justice, Mr. Spiro Peçi and his activity in acknowledging the issues of the human rights and the role of the People’s Advocate institution.

a. Complaints against the prisons and the penitentiary administration

By the end of 2002, there were 1,780 prisoners in the Albanian prisons, 272 convicts kept in the isolation cells of the police stations. Approximately there were also 1,220 detainees, as their investigation or disposition to the court had not completed. That brings a total of 3,000 individuals deprived of liberty versus 2,650 from the previous year. We have received many complaints in relation to the prisons and the penitentiary administration. The prisons are closed institutions and the freedom of speech is limited, consequently it is easier to abuse with the rights of the prisoners. Therefore, we have paid and will continuous pay closer attention to the complaints coming from this category of individuals.

During 2002, the personnel of the People’s Advocate has visited almost all the prisons in service and the isolation rooms of the police stations in the districts, where convicts with a court decision finally disposed and detainees waiting to appear to the court, are kept.

During the visits in these institutions, we met personally with 125 prisoners and/or detainees. In 220 cases, the complaints of the convicts were in a written form. A total of 345 persons complained, including prisoners, their family members or prisons’ administrative personnel who have brought to our attention their cases relating to the judicial administration, prosecutors’ office and the prisons administration. 107 more individuals complained this year, compared to the figures of the previous year.

As a characteristic for the prisons during 2002, we can highlight the considerable increase in the number of complaints reported in our office, the organization of several inspections from our personnel in the prisons and isolation rooms, and a new means given to the prisoners to present their complaints. In 12 cases (included in the total amount), the prisoners reported in their complaints via telephone lines, placed at their disposal. This indicates a great openness of the Albanian prisons and is a high achievement of the People’s Advocate institution.

168 prisoners presented their complaints in a written form. Classified according to the prisons, the statistics are as the following:

1. Prison 313 Tirana 19 complaints

2. Prison 302 Tirana 21 complaints

3 Prison 325 Tirane 07 complaints

4. Lushnja Prison 26 complaints

5. Tepelena Prison 11 complaints

6. Burrel Prison 28 complaints

7. Vaqarr Prison 14 complaints

8. Penitentiary Prison 21 complaints

9. Rrogozhina Prison 07 complaints

10. Kruja Prison 01 complaints

11. Detention Cells 13 complaints

The family members of the prisoners reported in a total of 44 complaints, and the directorate of prisons or the police stations in districts brought in 8 complaints. According to gender division, 194 complaints came from men and 19 from women.

In relation to the status of completion, the complaints are described as below:

From 220 received complaints, 209 complaints are resolved, while 11 are under investigation. 21 pending complaints from 2001 in the first months of 2002 are all completed.

In the resolved cases, 81 of them or 34% of the total are in favor of the complainants, 96 of them or 45 % of the total are forwarded to the competent organs, and 33 complaints or 17% of the total are considered as groundless or refused as invalid.

According to their nature, the complaints are classified as the following:

1. Many of the prisoners complained that are unjustly kept in the isolation rooms of the police stations, when the court decisions have been pronounced as final verdict long ago.

They claim to have been violated the right recognised by article 462 of the Code of Penal Procedure ordering immediate execution of the judicial verdict, when pronounced as a final verdict.

The number of complaints of this nature has considerably increased during this reporting year. For this reason, the People’s Advocate institution undertook an inspection and it resulted that a significant number of convicts is being kept and continues to be kept unjustly in the isolation rooms of the police stations in the districts.

For the concrete cases of convicts with presented complaints, we have recommended that they were immediately sent to prisons.

In response to our recommendations, in the memorandum dated 26.12.2002, the General Directorate of Prisons, although faced with an over population of the prisons, but acknowledging the legal obligation to administer the number of convicts with a final verdict, has taken measures for removal of these convicts from the isolation rooms.

As previously highlighted, one of the main directions of our work has been and will remain the settlement of the issue of prisoners kept unjustly in the isolation rooms. As known, in April 2001, the Institution of the People’s Advocate undertook an investigation to assess the situation and identify the reasons for keeping the convicts in the isolation rooms and not settling them in prisons. In conclusion, we recommended to the Ministry of Justice to take measures to stop the violation of the law.

In response to our recommendation, the Ministry of Justice informed that with the completion of the prisons in Rrogozhina and Lezha, this problem would be solved finally. With the construction of the Rrogozhina prison and adopting of Law No. 8895, dated 16.05.2002 “On Granting Amnesty” the number of convicts kept in isolation rooms is reduced only by 160 prisoners. Actually the number of convicts kept in isolation rooms is quite high. (On 07.01.2003 it was 272.)

In special cases, particularly for the juveniles, or those kept for long periods in pre-detention, we mutually agree with the General Directorate of Prisons to remove them to prisons.

In the ongoing meetings with the highest officials of the Ministry of Public Order and Ministry of Justice, we have requested that measures are taken to gradually pass the isolation rooms under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. In the April 2002 meeting, they stated that this process will initiate shortly for the isolation rooms in Durres and Vlora, nonetheless these promises are not yet a reality. Recently we were informed of the order given by the Prime Minister to pass, within the first quarter of 2003, all the isolation rooms of police stations in districts, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice.

Our institution will continue requesting that the commitments made to open new prisons in Peqin and Lezha, are kept. Nevertheless we believe that simply building new prisons will not solve the problem of over population in prisons. Above all, more priority should be first given to the preventive efforts that our society and the Albanian Government contribute and secondly, the offices of the state’s attorney and the courts should follow fairer policies in execution of security measurements. They should apply measurements such as fines or home arrests, and give other forms of convictions, and not only imprisonment.

The deprivation of freedom is an extreme measurement and should be given and used only if other alternative measures do not apply due to the high threat of the penal wrongdoing of its author.

2. Mentally ill prisoners kept unjustly in the prison’s hospital.

During 2002, the Institution of the People’s Advocate inspected the Hospital of the Prisons to investigate the status of mentally ill for which the court has taken medical measurement of obligatory medication, and are kept unjustly in imprisonment conditions. From the inspection, it resulted that these persons, although not convicted, are still kept with a prisoner’s status. Another hindrance, for finally resolving this matter, comes from the non-fulfillment with necessary acts and by-laws to protect these individuals. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice should issue these acts and by-laws.

The inspection identified these people as being kept in prisons without a conviction. Our investigation uncovered that the main hindrance for final resolve of this issue is the failure from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice to supplement legal acts and by-laws for the protection of this category of people. For this purpose, we made the recommendation, dated 13.05.2002 for the augmentation of the requests in Law No. 8092, dated 03.02.1996 “On Mental Health” to issue regulations “On security measures of persons that the court has not taken obligatory medical treatment measures”. Our recommendation is addressed to the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and the former Prime Minister, Pandeli Majko, with the following content:

The People’s Advocate Office has received complaints from the family members of these persons, which have committed a penal dead and are treated as convicts. They request the placement of these people in mental institution, as stated by article 45 in Law No. 8331, dated 21.04.1998 “On the Execution of Judicial Decisions for Obligatory Medication”. This law states: “The medical measurement of obligatory medication is implemented by a specialized institution as defined by the Ministry of Health based on the request of the Prosecutor”.

Article 42 of Law No. 8092, dated 03.02.1996 “On Mental Health” states: “Security measures for the above mentioned persons in article 41 are taken by the respective organs to protect them, according the regulations approved by the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health”.

Based on this provision, the law defines the responsibilities of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health to approve the regulations for the obligatory security of people, which have committed a penal dead and are given a verdict from the court and who should suffer their punishment in a psychiatric institution. Although six years have passed since the time the Law “On Mental Health” has been approved, this set of regulations is not yet issued. Actually all the convicts with obligatory medical treatment, in complete violation with the law, are still living the Prisons Hospital or in some cases in the police stations. This status speaks for failure to execute article 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania which states that each individual has the right to human treatment and respect of dignity, and has left open avenues for abuse with the legal obligations towards the rights of freedom of these people, while aggravating their mental health.

People’s Advocate has evaluated that the lack of issuance of such set of regulations, based on article 42 of the above-mentioned law, causes the premises for the violation of the prisoners’ rights. Thus it has recommended that the regulations “For security measures of persons that the court has not taken obligatory medical treatment measures”, be issued immediately. We have received no response to such matter.

In reality, former Kruja hospital, planned to become a hospital for mentally ill, operates as a prison and not as a mental institution. As the law forbids the placement of these persons in normal prisons, it becomes impossible to have them removed to this prison.

This issue will continue to be our concern and priority during 2003.

3. Use of force or other violations from the prison police.

Based on the complaints coming from the prisoners of Burrel prison, the People’s Advocate has started an investigation. At first, we have organized meetings with the prisoners and then performed medical-legal examination for use of physical beating. In conclusion, the prisoners claimed that these mistreatments have taken place long time ago and there can be no evidence of bruises. With the purpose to take measures for the prevention of such violations in the future, we made a recommendation to the General Directorate of Prisons.

In their response, the General Directorate of Prisons acknowledges as correct our observation that prisoner F.N. in Burrel prison had created a gang of convicts and exercised violence on other prisoners, and that our recommendation to take appropriate measures was right. Thus these measures have been taken by transferring this prisoner from the Burrel prison to another one.

N.T., named Nikoleta, has complained that she was mistreated while the police accompanied her to the court. From our investigation we found that the police offended her as hermaphrodite. Thus we brought this concern with the director of Prison 313 and later the offence was halted.

Prisoners A.P., Gj.K. F.B. and others have complained that they lack water during 24 hours that telephone calls are made in the presence of policemen that the medical service leaves much to be desired, that they cannot exercise religious rites due to lack of conditions, and other issues. As per their statement, we requested explanation from the General Directorate of Prisons. Based on this, it created a working group to verify the situation and take respective measures in accordance with the law.

4. Seven complaints came from prisoners with heavy illness, with no hope for cure, paralysed and unable to perform basic human activity. They have requested to be released to die at home than in jail, as it happened with two prisoners.

The People’s Advocate, himself, visited them in the prison hospital, saw their situation and heard the hospital doctors and personnel, who confirmed that this people had no hope to live. For these complaints the People’s Advocate sent a recommendation on the need to release the prisoners suffering from heavy illness. We addressed the Ministry of Justice by stating that: “…. based on their actual situation, which is worsening day by day and being on the brink of death, as it happened with prisoners Xh.S. and S.Gj., which were in bad condition, we think that their release does not represent any threat to the society. Their release from prison will be welcomed also on the human level. Although they have committed serious crimes, they are treated as human beings. Besides, the public budget clears out this financial obligation. Therefore, in perspective of amicus curiae (friend of the court) and based on article 478 of the Code of Penal Procedure, we suggest taking initiatives and requesting from the districts courts their release. This request was welcomed and the pertinent procedures for the release of such prisoners have started.

5. Some complainants claim that their rights, recognized by law on amnesty during 1997 and in 2002, have been violated. 10 complaints were reported in and in all these cases we had meetings either with the prisoners or their family members. We clarified with them the criteria for the implementation of the law, and showed the legal ways they need to follow to claim their aspired right. In the presented cases, there was no mistake on amnesty implementation.

6. Prisoners’ complaints against courts’ decisions.

There are 64 cases when the convicts have undergone through all the courts degrees and pretend that the courts have treated wrongly their evidences and the circumstances of the penal deed for which they have been convicted. They request legal assistance for presenting their requests for the review of judicial decisions. Simultaneously, they have evidenced their financial inability to pay private defense attorneys. In these cases we have made it clear to these prisoners that the revoking of judicial decisions is not under the jurisdiction of People’s Advocate. We passed their requests for free legal assistance to nonprofit foundations created for this purpose and we have also notified the complainants for such action.

7. Famine strikes

In four cases that the prisons administration informed us on the prisoners’ famine strikes, we intervened as intermediates between the parties. In some cases the prisoners ceased the strike, as the requests for which they were right, were fulfilled. Whereas, in cases when the strike was used as a means of pressure to change court’s decision, we clarified that their complaint was not under our jurisdiction and that this case can not be solved with a famine strike, but by appealing to the highest instances of judicial system.

8. Complaints for inexistence of prisoners’ personal files.

Five prisoners complained that the personal documentation files, kept by the prisons’ administration do not have acts certifying that the data for their sentencing are different from those reflected in their files.

Our office has requested detailed explanations for each case and we intervened quickly to restore the rights of these prisoners.

9. Complaints for unreasonable transfers from one prison to the other.

In 9 cases, prisoners have complained for unreasonable transfers or have requested for transfers in different prisons. From our verification it was found that there were no cases of illegal transfer from one prison to the other. In special cases, for enmity reasons, we have intervened that the General Directorate of Prisons makes the necessary and required transfers.

10. There were two complaints from prisoners claiming that they were denied the right to visit their families for special events. In both cases these complaints were groundless.

11. Complaints of prisoners extradited from Greece and suffering their sentencing in Albanian prisons.

By request of the Directorate of Rrogozhina prison, to hold a meeting with 16 prisoners claiming that they were violated the rights by the decisions of Greek courts, a delegated group from the People’s Advocate held individual meetings with each prisoner and heard carefully their complaints. They pretended that they were conviction was undeserved.

We explained patiently and persistently that these decisions are not under our jurisdiction, and at the same time explained the ways they should follow to solve their problems. We have recommended to them that they can object these decisions also by appealing to the Strasburg Human Rights Court, and we gave written clarifications on the procedures to take such actions.

12. There are four complaints coming from family members of Albanian citizens suffering prison time in other countries.

They claim that the prisons in Italy and Greece have exercised physical force to their family members and also that they do not know the reasons they are kept in prisons.

As these requests are not under our jurisdiction to review and solve, we have sent them to the Consul Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, which through the consul offices in these countries can provide assistance based on Law No. 8372, dated 09.07.1998 “On the Exercise of Consul Functions from the Diplomatic or Consul Entities”.

To aid these Albanian convicts outside the country, our institution has expressed its involvement by implementing the project of sending a brochure in Albanian language, titled “Legal acts in assistance to prisoners outside Albania” to the foreign prisons libraries. This brochure is printed and we are waiting for the permission to be granted by Ministries of Justice of other Countries to the Albanian Ministry of Justice, to allow this brochure to be part of the prisons libraries.

From the analysis of complaints and requests of the prisoners inside the prisons and isolation rooms of the police stations, during 2003, the People’s Advocate Office should aim to accomplish the following main recommendations:

1. Follow with priority the conclusion of the process of transferring the detention rooms from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Order to that of Ministry of Justice, as the Prime Minister has ordered in meeting the deadline of March 2003.

2. Put in a mental institute, as the law requires, the people for which the court has ordered obligatory medication.

3. Fulfill the requests of Law No. 8328, dated 16.04.1998 “On the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners”, by drafting a Council of Ministers decision and sending to the Government for approval, on the criteria of salary payment to the prisoners. For this recommendation, dated 04.09.2002, the Minister of Justice, Mr. Spiro Peçi gave this answer:

“We find your recommendation as correct and in conformity with the requirements of the International Convent for the people sentenced in prison.

In appreciation of your initiative we inform you that, in the review of the working plan of the Minister of Justice according to the Government program, during 2003, we will draft and send for approval the Decision of the Council of Ministers “On the Compensation of Prisoners’ Work”.

4. Recommend the creation of necessary conditions for the function of the Supervisory Commission executing the decisions for imprisonment, according to the third chapter of Law No. 8331, dated 21.04.1998 “On the Execution of Penal Decisions”.

This commission will operate under the Minister of Justice and will cover the whole country. It is responsible to recommend the proceeds of immediate measures in restoring the law and the violated rights, based on the presented complaints and notifications of the prisoners. According to article 60 of the above law, the commission, is comprised of 9 members, appointed by: (1) the President of the Republic, the Chairman of the People’s Assembly and the Prime Minister, who each elect an individual that does not hold public office; (2) The respective Ministers of health, food, construction and culture, elect as member one of their staff, with the condition that he/she is a specialist of a relevant field; and (3) the National Chamber of Lawyers elects one member. The chairman and vice chairman of this Commission are elected in the first meeting held by the members.

As we closely inquired into this matter, we found that:

The creation of this commission is still in tentative efforts. The appointed members of this Commission held the first meeting in 1999 and elected the chairman and the vice chairman. After that, it has performed no activity.

We recommended the creation of the necessary environment for this Supervisory Commission to start its activity in the execution of the decisions for imprisonment, as well as the proceeds for drafting and approval by Government of a decision for the compensation of the members of this Commission. They have received no response.

During 2002, in connection to the presented cases, such as the supplement of Law “On the Prisoners’ Rights” by Government decision for the compensation of their work and the issuance of sets of regulations for each involved institution, the recommendations of the People’s Advocate have become a reality.

b. Complaints against the Bailiff's Offices

During 2002, 138 complaints were submitted to our Institution against the Bailiff's Offices; 39 are pending for review during 2003, while 99 are reviewed and settled. Eighteen complaints, or about 18 % of the complaints lodged, have been resolved in favor of the complainants. During 2001, 104 complaints were submitted to our Institution against these offices.

The main scope of complaints relates to non-execution of final judicial verdicts by the state-budget enterprises that are on the debtors’ side. The problem of non-execution of judicial decisions from the losers of the cases, the state-owned enterprises, is ongoing and yet without a solution. The debit, from new judicial decisions and existing ones charging gained interest or lost profit, is increasing.

During 2001, People’s Advocate made a recommendation to the Minister of Finance and Minister of Justice, to take measures for issuing instructions as stated in Decision of Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 02.06.1998 “On the Procedures of Executing Judicial Decisions for Obligations Affecting the State Budget”. The recommendation was made due to the fact that the above mentioned Decision of the Council of Ministers states that the procedures for disbursement of financial amounts are established through a common set of instructions, by the Minister of Finance and Minister of Justice.

Unfortunately this Guide is not yet issued, becoming a serious hindrance for the execution of judicial final verdicts and violating the rights and legitimate interests of citizens. It is important to highlight that the constitutional obligations, underlined in paragraph 3 of article 142 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, are not yet fully understood and executed. The above-mentioned paragraph states: “The Governmental authorities are obliged to execute judicial decisions”. In relation to this problem, we have received complaints and requests for our intervention from officials of various public institutions, claiming that they have been fined from the Bailiff’s Office with considerate amounts, in execution of article 606 of the Penal Procedure Code.

However, in several cases, we have combined our insisting intervention with that of the Bailiff’s Office towards collecting debt from the state-budget enterprises, thus enabling the execution of the obligation. Worth mentioning are the cases of complainants G.P. and A.Gj. from Tirana, and N.C. from Burrel. Local and central administration organs paid the monetary obligations owed to the above complainants.

Typical is also the delay of judicial decision execution in favor of complainants N.M. from Fier, for release of house. The obstacle in this case was an order of the former Prefect advising the District Police Station not to assist the Bailiff’s Office to execute the obligatory judicial decision.

Intervention to execute the procedural law made it possible the release for use of the house, which should have taken place a long time ago.

Complainant LL.R. from Korca pressed charges against the Korca Appeal Court Decision, which revoked the Decision of the Korca District Court and the trial of the case, which is contrary to legal procedures. The complainant has presented his complaint with the High Court, which decided to rescind the execution of the Korca Appeal Court Decision, however the Bailiff’s Office did not take respective measures as the law required. Based on our recommendation it was made possible that the Korca Bailiff’s Office decide to put the construction work on hold, till further consideration and until the High Court issues its Decision on this matter.

In some cases, we have evidenced that the actions of specific bailiff’s officials have been based on civil procedural dispositions. There are several indefinite delays of deadlines for the voluntary execution of obligations, or non-execution of obligations even they involve minimal amounts, such as in the case of food obligations.

During the process of verifying bailiff’s official files for the complainants’ cases, the most flagrant fact is the decision to terminate executions due to lack of payment means or not find debtors’ assets, without prior verifying or receiving official confirmation from the Taxation Offices, second-tier banks, from which data can be obtained for tangible and intangible assets of the debtors.

We have informed the Bailiff’s General Directorate at the Ministry of Justice, with which we have satisfactory collaboration, on these deficiencies on a case-by-case basis.

We highlight another positive fact that numerous Bailiff’s offices, which follow continuously the procedures for the execution of executive titles and follow our suggestions. Such are the cases with the Bailiff’s Offices in Kukes, Mat, Gjirokastra and Berat.

3. People’s Advocate and its relations with courts and judicial power

1. Legal Background

The People's Advocate Institution is a rather new institution for the Albanian society and culture, however, along with the courts, it is one of the two most important institutions that protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens.

It is common knowledge that the judges are independent in pronouncing their verdicts, but they are not independent from the laws applicable. Their independence benefits public interests. Their verdicts cannot and should not by any means be subject to examination or evaluation beyond the judicial procedures, on the part of the courts of higher instances. Any attempt made by the other powers, the legislative, or the executive, with respect to evaluating justice or injustice given by the judicial verdicts, is dangerous for the rule of law and democracy. They are especially dangerous for the fundamental human rights and freedoms. In this respect, the judiciary has been and will be supported even by the People's Advocate.

On the other hand they should not abuse with this independence, by not executing the Constitution and its respective laws, and above all by violating the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens. It is known that in Albania the court should raise its efficiency and gain the trust of the public. The assistance given by the People’s Advocate’s office, which is apart from the judicial system as an institution, shall play an important role in this matter.

With reference to our information acquired through the literature consulted, as well as through exchanging the legislation and experiences with our colleagues from various countries, the Ombudsman's power in relation to the judicial bodies varies from one country to the other. The Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman, where this institution has originated and officially functions since 1809, has maximum authority.

The Constitution and the Law “On People's Advocate” have resolved our relationships correctly. Our jurisdiction, in relation to the judiciary system, is established in such a way that it does not affect, or threatens the judges' independence in pronouncing the judicial verdicts.

The Constitution of the Republic of Albania, endorsed in 1998, in its article 60 defines that: “The People's Advocate protects the individual's legitimate rights, freedoms, and interests against the illegitimate and incorrect actions or omissions of the public administration bodies”.

Paragraph 3 and 4 of article 63, of the Constitution, states that: “The People's Advocate shall be entitled to make recommendations and proposals on respective measures, in cases when violations of human rights and freedoms by the public administration have been noticed. The public bodies and senior officials are obliged to submit to the People's Advocate the entire range of the documents and information required.”

Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People's Advocate”, in article 25 emphasizes that: “In addition to other issues, even the judiciary verdicts are beyond the People's Advocate jurisdiction. Without violating paragraph c pertinent to this law, the People's Advocate admits complaints, requests, or notifications concerning human rights violations, deriving from the activity of the judicial power administration, and the judicial procedures. The investigation conducted by the People's Advocate does not affect the judiciary independence in pronouncing the judicial verdicts”.

Furthermore, according to paragraph b, article 18 of the Law “On People's Advocate”, after the complaint, request, or notification is received for further examination, the People's Advocate “…enjoys the right to demand explanations from the administration bodies, as well as the prosecution, in cases of arrests and pre-detentions”.

Paragraph b, article 19, states that the People's Advocate is entitled to require explanations from any central or local Government body, as well as have access to any files or material associated with the investigation underway”.

Whereas paragraph dh, article 21 pertinent to this law, states that “After the completion of the respective investigation, the People's Advocate takes the following steps: The People's Advocate notifies the competent body about the violation of rights by the judicial power bodies, without interfering into the procedures the latter apply”.

Hence, it is evident that the Constitution and the respective law, gives to our institution access to the judicial bodies. Our almost three-year activity speaks for a common understanding with the Judiciary concerning these issues and we believe that this relationship will continue in the future, since our mutual concern to be punctual in carrying out into effect the fundamental human rights. The judges, except of those who deliberately violate laws, should not fear the verifications of the respective judicial files made by the People's Advocate with respect to the complaints lodged. Furthermore, these files are open to every individual (involved in the judicial case, or their defense attorneys), naturally the examination carried out by the People's Advocate has not affected and will not affect in any way the independence of the judicial verdicts and their authority.

Our country, as a former communist country, is undergoing a period of transition and still has several shortcomings and drawbacks in the activity related to giving justice by the courts. These phenomena result from reasons varying from the judges' incapacity to their corruption.

Therefore, the access of the People's Advocate is considerate. It is not simply the People’s Advocate opinion, but also of many prestigious institutions operating in the field of human rights, that this is a good legal solution, given the Albanian conditions. There are also several advanced opinions, coming through numerous complainants requesting our participation in the judgment of their cases, that we should revoke the decisions considered unfair.

The People's Advocate assists the courts in their work when it notifies the Ministry of Justice or the High Council of Justice on procedural violations or administrative violations of the courts. The People’s Advocate assists also by asking the administration to implement by all means all the judicial verdicts. It is in this way that the judiciary authority is enhanced in relation to that branch of the executive, whose attitudes have manifested and are still manifesting disregard for the authority of the judicial verdicts, bringing about incalculable (non-economic) detriments to the rule of law.

2. Complaints against Courts

During 2000, in six months operation of our institution, we have processed 177 complaints comprising 22% of total complaints lodged. There were 392 complaints or 17% of total complaints, reviewed during 2001.

During 2002, we receive numerous complaints against court decisions and judicial procedures. There were 405 complaints, or 13% of all total complaints addressed for review to our institution.

The majority of them, 269 complaints, were against judicial decisions, thus being out of our jurisdiction. We refused these complaints. Besides them, 136 complaints came with the subject of delays of judgment for either penal or civil cases. Also these complaints were for:

- Violation of judicial procedures mainly when they have not been allowed to participate as a party in the court case when they had the legal rights to do so;

- Arbitrary actions of judicial administration;

- Requests for the People’s Advocate participation and representation on their behalf in the judgment of the cases;

- Clear judicial decisions are not given;

- Delays in passing the files from the District Courts to Appeal Courts and vice versa;

- Rejection for review of court decisions;

- Lack of financial means to defend themselves through a private defense attorney, as they are under difficult economic conditions;

- Accusation toward the “corrupted judges” that pronounce unjust decisions; and others.

During 2002 we settled 37 complaints in favor of the complainants for violation of judicial procedures and other violations made by the judicial administration.

a) Complaints against District Courts

Out of the total of 308 complaints against district courts, 110 are for cases under trial.

After analyzing the requests and complaints against the district courts, it results that the main subject is the delays in the trial of the cases by the judges, which they accuse that the main purpose of the delays are to show favors for the other party.

After verification of these complaints, it is generally observed that the documented reasons for these delays came from the parties not showing up in court, the witnesses or experts not showing up, difficulties in notifying people, the free movement of people, incorrect addresses and other reasons. Thus formally the complainants have no grounds in their claims. However it is worth highlighting that in essence they may not be right, but the accused judges have “cautiously” taken care that legally there is no proof of any violation.

Out of the group of complaints addressed for delays of sentencing, we can mention some cases, which speak for organizational subjugation or deficiencies for a swift judgment from specific judges.

1. Citizen E.K. from Korca complains that Judge M. Kuqo, in a civil case in the Korca District Court, has delayed her judgment without any legal cause. After verification, it resulted that this judge has suspended the case in order to make verification at the Korca Saving Bank, to which he has sent a written request. The Bank has not responded yet. While noticing that six months had passed since this action, we observed a negligent stand and unjustified delay in judgment of this case. Thus we recommended to the Ministry of Justice to take a disciplinary action against the judge of this case. The Minister of Justice, from his side, responded that the encroachment, found in our recommendation, is correct, but it is not found reasonable to take judicial measures against this judge.

2. Citizen S.M. from Shkodra, complained that his daughter A.M. was arrested on 01.05.2001 by the Tirana Persecutor Office on charges of theft and destruction of property and that the Tirana District Court has delayed this case without any legal causes.

After verifying this complaint, it resulted that the cause for the delay was the non-appearance of witnesses in court, because they changed the addresses they had given during preliminary investigation. We held a meeting with the convict in Tirana 313 Prison and it was clear that she was under mental depression during the pre-detention and it was difficult to communicate with her.

Under these circumstances, we recommended to the Tirana Court that the convict should undergo a legal and neuro-psychiatric examination to assess her mental state and if she is able and responsible to face the court for the penal acts she is accused of.

Meanwhile, her private defense attorney repeated his request at the People’s Court to change the security measurement from imprisonment, to house arrest, thus for her to be judged as free. The court accepted this request, by noticing the heavy mental and neuro-psychiatric situation of the convict.

3. Citizen S.L. From Korca complained that the judge B. Shehu, of Korca District Court, had suspended the judgment of the civil case during 1998 with the reasoning that both parties under judgment had another case open with the Tirana District Court.

After verifying this complaint, it resulted that during 1998 the parties had another civil case open with the Tirana District Court. The plaintiff had requested that the judge of the case be excluded and the file has been sent for judgment to the Tirana Appeal Court. This court, after judging the case, decided not to accept the request.

The file was sent again for further judgment to the Tirana People’s Court. It resulted that two other files related to this case existed and during the transfer from one court to the other, these files were lost.

Tirana District Court issued a certificate confirming that the case is under trial and that judge B. Shehu had suspended the case based on this. Thus these cases were kept under suspension from 1998 till the end of 2002. Even the judge A. Broci, in the Tirana People’s Court, with no ground for suspension, still suspended the judgment of the case by reasoning that the original files were still at the Appeal Court and he had not received them.

In conclusion, two civil files are lost. Thus we recommended to the Tirana Persecutor’s Office that the penal procedures should start for the two judicial secretaries of the Tirana Appeal Court. Whereas for the unjustified delay of the two civil cases, we recommended to the Minister of Justice to take disciplinary actions towards the two judges, based on Law No. 8811, dated 17.05.2002 “On the Organization and Functioning of the High Council of Justice”

4. Citizen M.P. from Fier, complained against judge I. Maneku of Fier District Court, stating that the judge intentionally has taken out of the file some property documentations. After verifying the complaint, it resulted that the loss of documentation came from the negligence of the judge I.Maneku. Thus we recommended to the Minister of Justice to take disciplinary actions against this judge. The case is being followed.

5. Citizen A.S. and M.S. from Korca, complained against the Korca District Court for delay in judgment of a civil case, with the subject of property. After verifying this complaint, it resulted that the Korca District Court had suspended the judgment of this case in absence of the plaintiffs. The District Court sent a copy of the decision. We informed the complainants and advised them to appear before the District Court so that they can receive the decision according to the law and later they can appeal to the Korca Appeal Court. The complainants followed our instructions and the Korca Appeal Court revoked the Decision of the District Court and returned the case for re-judgment. During re-judgment, the request of the complainants was accepted.

6. Citizen S.S. from Fier complained against the decision of the Vlora Appeal Court, which had revoked the decision of the Fier People’s Court and suspended the case. After verifying and analyzing the content of the decision of the Vlora Appeal Court, it resulted that the court had suspended the case because the complainant had wrongly raised his claim. In this decision, he was advised to file a new case with a different subject. Based on this, we also instructed the complainant and he drafted a new charge and the judgment of the case continued normally, thus settling the complaint.

7. Citizen R.Xh. presented a complaint by accusing a magistrate of the Lezha District Court for corruption in the judgment of the civil case with the subject of divorce. For this action, the complainant confirmed that he had given initially an amount of money to the judge, who took that and still did help him in the case. It resulted that the complainant had not denounced the actions of this magistrate to the prosecutor’s office. Later, through another request addressed to People’s Advocate Office, he requested for this case not to be pursued. Thus, based on article 13 of the Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1000 “On People’s Advocate” we decided to archive the complaint, as the complainant did not approve for us to pursue this case.

We have received complaints for delays in trials also from citizen K.A. from Elbasan, S.M. from Saranda, S.Gj from Lezha, A.Sh. from Tirana, H.M. from Shkodra and L.J. from Kruja.

In some cases the complaints dealt with occurred trials, claiming for bias positions and lack of objectivity. They requested the assistance of the People’s Advocate to represent them in the trial of their cases either at the Appeal Court or High Court.

In his notification, citizen K.M., a private lawyer from Saranda, informed us on some misdemeanors of magistrates of the Saranda District Court. According to him, the arbitrary actions and behaviors of these magistrates have made citizens loose trust, by arguing that these magistrates have the tendency to avoid defense attorneys from the defense of cases and want to perform this role themselves. We sent his information to the Inspection Office of the High Council of Justice.

While not being able to hire a private defense attorney, some complainants have requested our assistance. We clarified with them that they should approach the legal foundations that provide their services for free.

In his complaints, citizen S.C. from Mat, states that, although he has objected the judicial decisions of the Tirana District Court and Tirana Appeal Court and filed his complaint, signed by the secretary of the People’s Court, the Tirana District Court did not sent for trial his case to the High Court for more than a year. After verification of this case, it resulted that the cause for the delay was the prolongation in communication of all parties in the process. Due to our intervention, the file was sent immediately for review to the High Court.

Several complaints came against the judicial administration of some districts, which do not give the judicial decisions already revised and argued. For the identified cases, we intervened that the complainants receive these decisions and actually they have receive them.

In some cases, the complainants, due to tiredness and sadness from delays and prolongations of judicial processes from one court to the other, are not convinced with our response that judicial decisions are out of our jurisdiction. They insist that our institution should be able to evaluate the judicial decisions that are unfairly issued or given by corruptive judges. Several complainants have presented to us written documents or convincing facts that they are right. They claim that the court does not accept these documents as evidence. These complaints speak for the fact that in several occasions the complainants have lost trust in the courts and they also accuse them directly as corrupted institutions.

In relation to the delays of penal trials, it is important to highlight the need for some changes in the dispositions of the Code of Penal Procedure for the timeframes of investigation and judgment.

We believe that these prolonged deadlines create the grounds for abuse from specific employees of the prosecutor’s offices and the judicial organs. We think that this problem should be analyzed and some new reasonable deadlines should be proposed. The unjustified delays in the trials violate directly the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individuals.

In relation to the delays and prolongations of the civil trials, by referring to the dispositions of the Code of Civil Procedure, it results that these dispositions do not envision deadlines in the degrees of trial. In review and analysis of the number of complaints we receive for civil trials, it is advisable to explore the opportunities for making assumptions on deadlines for specific civil cases.

Another cause for the delay of civil and penal trial in the courts of first degree is that a trial body of three judges judges many cases.

b) Complaints against Appeal Courts

During 2002, 43 complaints were reported in against the Appeal Court, 10 of which are under review. They mainly dealt with the speeding of trials, revoking or changing of decisions of the first degree courts, issue of copies of judicial decisions, delays in sending required files when the cases are dissolved and are sent for re-trial, and other reasons. Most of the complaints resulted as groundless.

Complainant Ll.D. from Fier complained for delays in the trial of his case from the Vlora Appeal Court. After verification, it resulted that the cause for such delay was the appointment of another judge, as a member of the judgment body, by the High Council of Justice. This is often the cause for the delays in Appeal Courts.

c) Complaints against High Court

Obviously the High Court is independent of the Ministry of Justice, however we classified it under this section due to the fact that the concerns raised by citizens for this court are very similar to those raised for lower courts.

During 2002, 44 complaints were reported in against the High Court, 38 of which came from 2001. 16 complaints are under review.

While analyzing these complaints, it results that they stand for delays in case trials, requests for the People’s Advocate participation in trials, non-issuance of copies of judicial decisions, decisions are not taken on time, and other reasons.

Citizen T.Rr. complains that the civil executive council took one civil case under trial and, although a long time had passed, it had not yet pronounced its decision.

After verifying this case, it resulted that the parties had another open trial with the civil executive council. Thus far, this council had suspended the trial of one case till the other was settled. However the complainant had not been clarified on this fact.

In relation to the complaints against the basis of decisions taken by the High Court, we have clarified with the complainants that this is out of our jurisdiction. In the cases, when the complainants raise claims for an irregular legal trial, based on article 42 and 134, paragraph g of the Constitution, we have advised them to approach by request the Constitutional Court.

In some situations the complaints claim that unfair trial is given to their cases and they were violated the fundamental rights and freedoms from the Albanian public administration and the judicial organs of all levels. We heard their complaints attentively and advised them, based on article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, to approach the Strasburg Court of Human Rights, keeping in mind that these requests should be submitted within six months, after all legal means of complaints, according to the Albanian legislation, have been consumed.

3. Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court)

This function is not recognized by our legislation.

Amicus curiae, literally means, Friend of the Court, who is an individual having a strong interest or point of view concerning the case under trial, but is not a party in the trial process. He could ask the court's permission to introduce a file, seemingly on behalf of a party concerned, but in fact suggests a fundamental reason in compliance with his views. The files of the Friend of the Court are usually introduced at the Court of Appeal sessions to defend issues of wider public interest, for instance the issues concerning the rights of women, children, and other. Institutions, private individuals, or the Government could present these files. During the appeal sessions at the American Courts of Appeal, these files could be presented only provided they are associated with a written approval by all the parties involved, or the court's permission.

In Albania, with reference to our practice of examining the citizens' complaints, we notice that this role could be adequately played with regard to the cases under trial. In fact, we have been playing this role in isolated cases, such as the case for the tearing down of the building of Hawaii Company when we requested the execution of one-month deadline for this trial and no more delays. Sometimes the judges misunderstand this role, interpreting it as interference in their activity. Actually, this role should be played in connection to the judicial procedures, and major issues, such as the need to implement the fundamental conventions of human rights.

Thus we think that we shall continue to play this role without being influenced by possible misinterpretations.

4. Complaints against the Prosecutor’s Office

According to our Constitution, the Prosecution Office is not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, however for ease of analysis, we have included it under this section.

During 2002, 220 various citizens have reported in 196 complaints or requests against the Prosecution body. 31 complaints were submitted during 2000 and 100 during 2001. Thus we have an increase of 100% in complaints arriving in during 2002, in comparison to 2001.

Out of 196 incoming complaints during 2002, we concluded 175, whereas 21 are under review. 64 cases or 31% of them were settled in favor of the complainants, 87 were out of our jurisdiction and 24 were groundless.

Even during 2002, we reviewed the complaints and concerns of the citizens with high priority. For the complaints under our jurisdiction, the People’s Advocate has reviewed them and has ordered the start of the investigation process by taking the necessary actions such as receiving the required declarations, reviewing existing documentation, performing legal-medical examinations and scientific technical analysis for respective fields of interest, or studying of investigative cases, which the Prosecution office has suspended.

In many of the cases we visited the houses of the complainants and the requestors, or took requisite actions, by collecting indispensable clarifications from the Prosecution offices, for which the complainant has raised the claim.

The People’s Advocate Office has pursued with high priority the complaints of citizens or associations representing minority communities. As such, we can mention the start of an investigation from our side and with our initiative, after we were informed of a declaration of the Helsinki Albanian Committee in May 2002 for the maltreatment of two Roma people from the police in Ballsh. For two days in a row our experts investigated the case by visiting the police stations and prosecutor’s offices of Ballsh, Fier, Berat Kucove, Lushnje, and the respective hospitals of these towns. It resulted that the incident had not happened and that the declaration was written hastily.

We can also mention the complaint of the Albanian Roma Union for the death of one of their members in the maternity hospital of Fier. For this purpose, we recommended to the Fier Prosecutor’s Office to start the investigation for the penal crime of “careless medication”. Another case comes from “Drushto Prespa” association, which complained that the Prosecutor’s Office had started a penal case against Mr. S.N., who is one of their members. In fact, the complaint of the president of this association was found groundless and to our opinion, was written with negative intentions “to create the image of discrimination of Macedonian community in Albania”.

During the review of the complaints against the Prosecutor’s Office, we have found violations of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens, as declared in the article 28 and 31 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania (individual rights and freedoms during a penal process), article 42 (fair and public process within a reasonable timeframe), article 142/3 (Governmental bodies are obliged to execute judicial decisions), and article 5 and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights (the right of freedom and security and the right for a fair trial.)

While reviewing the complaints coming during 2002, we observe that the scope of problems has close similarity to that of the previous year. We have classified these complaints as the following”

1. For delays in investigation of the penal cases.

For this category, we can mention the complaints of citizens S.M. and P.B. from Tirana, A.S. from Kolonja, F.R. from Kavaja, D.D. from Korca, R.H. from Puka, J.A. from Lushnja, and others.

2. For non-completion of overall and objective investigations, such as the case of the complaints of citizens M.K. from Tirana, H.L. from Elbasan, P.M. from Korca, and others.

3. For not taking actions, or not finding as valuable the denunciation of citizens, such as the complaints coming from citizens B.B. from Gurra e Madhe Commune of Mat, A.H. from Burrel, Xh.K. from Lushnja, A.A. from Tirana, and others.

4. For not notifying or delays in notification for the manner in which the denunciations have been settled or the conclusion of a case been made. Some examples come from citizens S.N. from Tirana, Z.D. from Vlora, H.L. from Elbasan and others.

5. For unfair and groundless arrests, such as the complaints of citizens A.H. from Skrapar, D.P. from Lezha, Sh.T. from Kavaja, and others.

Throughout the review of some complaints, we observed that Prosecutor’s office, in many cases has acted hastily and unsubstantiated in concluding the investigations, by offering as a solution the cease or suspense of the investigation. The termination did not come as a result of objective and overall investigation, subsequently we recommended to the General Prosecutor or Head of Prosecutor in district offices to abrogate the decisions. There are several cases under this category during 2002, and we can mention the Penal Case No. 322 of year 2001 of the Elbasan Prosecutor’s Office “for the violation of road traffic regulations”, from the complainant H.L. from Elbasan; the penal case of Tirana Military Prosecutor’s Office for the “violation of guard service regulations, resulting in the death of citizen R.M.”, from the complaint of citizen P.M. from Korca; the case of disappearance of Kosovo citizen R.H., and other.

A. From the review of the complaints considered valid for the observed violations, the People’s Advocate has presented the General Prosecutor or the Head of Prosecutor in district offices, with 17 recommendations, out of which 11 are accepted and 6 are refused. In general, as stated, the recommendations of the People’s Advocate are accepted. However, and despite our insistence, the General Prosecutor or the district prosecutors took the corresponding actions with a delay of several months. The worst case scenario, they do not give a response at all on the ways the cases have been closed. A great concern of our institution comes from the six cases when we requested for disciplinary measures to be taken for the committed violations from prosecutors or officers of the judicial police. The General Prosecutor responded negatively, by saying that “he does not see as appropriate to take disciplinary actions against them”. We think that this response is incorrect, because it does not clarify if our recommendation was valid or not, and it does not provide arguments why it is considered inappropriate to take disciplinary measures. Here are the following cases:

1. Recommendation addressed to the General Prosecutor to start the investigation for the penal act of “Abuse with authority” and the suspense from the office of the Prosecutor of Kolonja district Mr. A. Prifti. This prosecutor did not take the required measurements for the execution of the penal decision to remove from the isolation room the citizen R. C. and sent him in a mental institution. As a result, he was kept there, in pre-detention, unfairly for nearly one year.

2. Recommendation addressed to the General Prosecutor to start the investigation against the District Prosecutor of Lezha, Mr. B. Çiçi for the penal act of “not taking measures for interruption of illegal status”, as stated in article 251 of the Penal Code. The prosecutor of this case should have authorized the immediate release of detainees D.P. and Gj.P. After sending the case in trial from the prosecutor’s office, the Lezha District Court declared as innocent the three Pegjini brothers, for the accusation of “objection to public order police”. This decision remained in power also from the Shkodra Appeal Court.

3. Recommendation addressed to the General Prosecutor to take disciplinary actions against the former military head prosecutor Mr. A. Goga. In his Penal Case No. 233 of 1998 for the penal act of “crimes against human kind”, the defendant S.M. and his friends, not only were not taken in question, but also were not notified on the decision to extend the deadline of the investigation. Also the decision for the suspension of the case was communicated with seven months delay, thus denying to them the right to appeal in time to the court and leaving them unfairly under the anxiety of investigation.

4. Recommendation addressed to the General Prosecutor to take disciplinary actions against the District Prosecutor of Gjirokstra Mr. A. Xholi for the penal case against citizens Sh.T., D.T. and Q.B. accused for the penal act of “production and trading of narcotics”. The prosecutor should have implemented article 257 of the Code of Penal Procedure, and ordered immediate release of citizen Sh.T. kept by police for two days in isolation without the required documents. Later the prosecutor unfairly requested for the same person “arrest in prison with no limit” as a security measurement. The District Court released him from the arrest to obligatory presence upon notification, a decision, which remained in power also from the Gjirokstra Appeal Court. This prosecutor continues to keep the complainant under the fear of being investigated, even after our recommendation.

5. Recommendation to the General Prosecutor to take disciplinary actions against the prosecutor of Tropoja Prosecution Office Mr. M. Laska, for discernible delays in the investigation of the Penal Case No. 12, dated 21.01.2001 for the penal act of performance of criminal actions” against citizen A.H. since June 21, 2002.The penal procedure is in the investigation phase and is not finished yet.

6. Recommendation addressed to the Prosecutor of Kukes district to take disciplinary actions against Mr. I. Muçmataj, an officer of Judicial Police, since June 12, 2002. This officer, during the penal procedure process of the convict E.I. from Kukes, accused of the penal act of “deceit”, contravened the procedures by not informing the convict of the results of the investigation. There were two written acts on the case. One had the signature of the convict and the other did not. Thus, this fact says that there is a falsification of the official acts.

B. During the investigation of the cases standing for maltreatments or arbitrary actions of the police organs against citizens, we state that according to the facts, there is a tendency of the prosecutor’s offices “to close”, suspend or annul the cases, when it is obvious that police people have performed penal acts. This happened in some of the cases that the People’s Advocate recommended the start of the investigation for “taking arbitrary actions” or “misuse of power” and others, or when we asked for the re-opening of investigations.

It is worth highlighting the following cases:

1. A classical case is the maltreatment of the juvenile Ergest Shele in the Saranda police station in 2000, for which the Prosecutor’s Office of Saranda terminated the investigation. It was re-opened after seven months from the former General Prosecutor Arben Rakipi, not out of his will or belief, but that the People’s Advocate raised this case to the attention of the President of the Republic. In the end the case of the former officer Rrapo Xhavarra was sent to trial and judged by the Saranda Court and he was given a conditional sentencing, however the police torturing the juvenile were never found by the Prosecutor’s Office of Saranda.

2. A similar case of maltreatment comes from the Police Station No. 2 in Tirana against the citizen B.K., for which, with the advice of the General Prosecutor, we delivered our recommendation for this case, by hand, to the prosecutor of Tirana office, Mr. Vexhi Muçmata. The prosecutor started the penal procedure, but only some superficial and delayed investigative actions were taken. In the end, the prosecutor, in an unfair manner, became a “partner” with the police, and decided the suspension of the investigation by reasoning that “the authors of this penal act are unknown”. Later the suspended file was sent to the criminal police of Police Station No.2 to find the authors of the case, in the same police station that these actions took place. (It is quite absurd that the criminal police of this station take the suspended file to investigate and find the authors of the maltreatment, who are the co-workers of the same unit.) By February 2003, the General Prosecutor abrogated the decision to suspend the investigation, however avoiding the analysis of this file case from the aides of the People’s Advocate.

3. Citizen A.Sh. from Shenmeria of Kukes brought in a complaint for the maltreatment of his brother B.SH. from the policemen of the Police Station of Puka. The battered B.Sh. was hospitalized in the emergency room of Puka hospital, where he remained for one week and later for six weeks in the Prison hospital of Tirana, where he was treated for uremia in kidneys. Although the Military Prosecutor of Shkodra initiated a Penal Action No. 72, dated 25.04.2002, against a number of policemen of police stations in Kukes and Puka, in the end he decided to terminate the penal act procedure, without condemning any policemen, even though in this case the life of this person was saved only as a result of the qualified emergent help from the doctors.

4. Similar to these cases, are also the complaints of citizen D.P. from Lezha for maltreatment from the policemen of Lezha police station, and of the officer Ervin Hado from Tirana. These cases are explained in details under the section for the police. The General Prosecutor, in his response for the Lezha case, states that “the materials against the policemen are kept aside and the investigation proved that violence has been exercised, even though the identification of the authors was not possible. On the other hand, the status of the presented acts is not sufficient enough to start the penal procedure against the officers of the prosecutor’s office, according to your recommendations, but we welcome them in the scope of collaboration to fight crime.”

We reached in the conclusion, that there is a lack of will and there are delays in taking swift and objective investigations form the prosecution office, in cases when policemen are accused. This conclusion is also supported by the case of the death of citizen G. Tahirllari from the police physical violence. This case is now well known for the public, the governmental institutions and international organizations.

C. In relation to the Prosecutor Offices, in our three-year activity, we have evidenced the tendency for illegal practices from its behalf, thus not implementing the Constitution and the respective laws in its collaboration with the People’s Advocate. The Prosecutor is among the few offices, which has shown and continues to show “resistance” to the access and activity of our institution. This attitude of the former General Prosecutor, Mr. Arben Rakipi has been intermittent and evident on several cases. Recently, the existing General Prosecutor, Mr. Thedhori Sollaku has expressed the same attitude.

The People’s Advocate held several meetings with the General Prosecutor, Mr. Sollaku to express our concern for these attitudes, which in essence we consider as signs of undermine of the human rights from the organ he heads. However the district prosecutors continue to be incorrect to our recommendations, by not giving detailed explanations for the complaints we have raised. The most negative attitude is that they do not accept to give us some file cases, for which the investigation has terminated, but we have received complaints from various citizens. They justify this actions by saying that “they have been advised by the General Prosecutor” to refuse the collaboration with us. The refusal of the prosecutors to give the required explanations and the documentations, requested by the People’s Advocate is based through the claim that such rights are not envisioned in the Code of Penal Procedure, while it is well known that this Code was drafted in 1995. The prosecutors do not execute article 63, paragraph 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, approved in 1998, which states, “The organs and high public officials are obliged to present the People’s Advocate with all the documentation and information requested by him”. They also do not execute articles 19 and 20 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate” which explicitly and authoritatively give the right to the People’s Advocate, while studying a case, to request and receive any documentation, including those classified as a state secret, without prior approval of the organ that possesses these documents.

In the review of the citizens’ complaints against Prosecutor’s Office, The People’s Advocate institution has based its activity in the correct and objective interpretation of the Constitution, which is foundation of our work, and the execution of the law on penal procedure. We observe that, while evidencing the real infringements of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individuals, who are under penal procedure, we intend to improve the activity of this organ and help increase its standards. As we analyzed the position of the General Prosecutor, who evaluates that there should not be taken disciplinary actions against the prosecutors abusing with the human rights; who does not mention at all the infringements of the human rights in his analysis report dated February 7, 2003; or who refuses openly and in a written form for the prosecutors to send the requested files to the People’s Advocate, we believe that there is a wrong concept towards the need to respect primarily the human rights and also the rights of the People’s Advocate, thus refusing to collaborate with us.

As relevant to this section, we would like to mention also the speech of the President of the Republic, Mr. Alfred Moisiu, participating in the analysis of the activity of the General Prosecutor’s Office dated February 7, 2003, who, among other things, advised: “It is in the same level of importance the fight against crime or putting convicts to justice, with the protection of human rights and freedoms during the penal procedure or during detention of convicts. There are infringements evidenced in this aspect, thus beside your work, you should collaborate with the People’s Advocate in a more concrete manner, and create all the facilities for this institution to receive information, explanations or files. You should evaluate as very important and with priority all the recommendations of the People’s Advocate, while he exercises his constitutional activity”.

In conclusion we hope that the General Prosecutor will respond positively in the implementation of the Constitution, the laws, and the above-cited advice of the President of the Republic.

5. Ministry of Public Order

The acceptance and the review with priority and rigorousness of the complaints and requests against the Ministry of Public Order and the Police Forces is and will continue to be one of our main activities. This not only for the fact that this organ of the public administration comprises one of the strongest power exercising function of the Government, but also for the specifics of the Albanian Police, which beside the positive results it has achieved, continues to have in its ranks ill-mannered elements, unprofessional, not trained with the basic concepts of the rule of law and respecting the human rights, or corrupted people and other factors.

Our institution received during 2002, a total of 283 complaints, notifications or requests, addressed against the police forces. 107 of these complaints were reported in from citizens of Tirana, and 176 from citizens of other districts. 197 have concluded as the following: 62 or 32% were settled in favor of the complainants, 29 were considered as out of our jurisdiction, and 106 were groundless. 86 complaints are carried over into 2003 for review.

At the same time, during 2002 we have worked to follow up 42 complaints which were pending from 2001. 40 of them are settled, and two are carried over for review during 2003. Four are out of our jurisdiction and eighteen are invalid.

The reviewed complaints, according to the concerns raised, are classified as the following:

I. Complaints for the maltreatment of the citizens

These complaints become more important, because in cases when they are true, they represents heavy infringements of article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that “No one shall surrender to torture, scolding or inhuman, humiliating, and criminal treatment.” Meanwhile, they also represent severe infringements of article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. A great concern remains the fact that a growing number is noticed during this year in comparison to last year. While observing this increasing tendency, since September 2002, we organized a study of this type of incoming complaints and officially raised our concerns to the Minister of Public Order and the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, on January 3, 2003, a grave event took place. The Korca policemen bit to death the citizen G.Tahirllari. This story is very well known to the public and will be dwelt in details in our 2003 Annual Report.

We received 70 complaints against the governmental police force, out of which 50 were settled as the following: 15 were evaluated as valid, 11 were out of our jurisdiction, 24 were invalid, and 20 are for review.

In the cases when we were able to find truth in the complaints of the complainants for maltreatments from the police forces, we have made the appropriate recommendations to the relevant instances. Only for the maltreatment cases, we made 21 recommendations during this year. Ten of them were addressed to Police instances and 11 to Prosecutor’s Offices. We need to highlights that all our recommendations were accepted and based on them, disciplinary actions were taken against a total of 12 police forces, consisting of eight officers and four policemen. At the same time the Prosecutor’s Office has started the investigation for 24 members of the police forces, respectively eight officers and 16 policemen.

The following are brought as example cases for this section:

1. Complaint of citizens Xh.Ç., S.Ç. and E.S against the officer of criminal police of Police Station No.2 in Tirana, Mr. Ervin Hodo, who in his unlawful actions, has violated the constitutional rights of the individual and his house. According to the complainant Xh.Ç. Mr. Hodo had performed an inspection of the house on 24.12.2001 without a judicial warrant and legal reasons. Whereas complaints S.C. and E.S. claimed that they have been unjustly accompanied to the police station and maltreated by Mr. Hodo during 24.11.2001 and 30.11.2001.

After we verified this complaint, it was proven that the officer of the Criminal Police Forces Mr. Ervin Hodo, with his unlawful actions, had violated the legal and constitutional rights of the complainants and more concretely:

(a) Immunity of the house holding, granted by article 37 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, and article 202 of the Code of Penal Procedure.

(b) Prevention to use torture, scold or treat inhumanly, humiliatingly and with cruelty, which is guaranteed by article 25 of the Constitution.

(c) Also detaining the complainants in the police station beyond the legal deadline, which states up to ten hours, constitute a violation of article 45 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”.

For these unlawful actions, we recommended to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office the initiation of penal procedure against the officer of Criminal Police Forces, Mr. Ervin Hodo, for the penal act of commission of arbitrary actions, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure. At the same time, we recommended to the General Director of the Police Forces to give another disciplinary measure, “the suspension from the office”. The above-mentioned instances accepted both our recommendations. Later the Prosecutor’s Office responded that the investigation on this case was terminated, as the complainants had withdrawn their claims. However, we emphasize that terminating a case for the stated reasons is not supported by any law, because, according to the Code of Penal Procedure, the investigation for a penal act of commission of arbitrary actions does not initiate and terminate, based on the request of the sufferer.

2. Complaint of citizen Xh.S. who claimed that on date 22.01.2002, during 06:45, four policemen of Librazhd Police Station, headed by the police inspector in charge of the area, Mr. Astrit Koja, went to his house in Gurre village. With no legal reasoning, he was hand cuffed, on the order of the inspector, and was accompanied to the police unit of Qukes. As soon as he entered this unit, he was put in a room, again handcuffed, with one cuff on his hand, and one on the bar of the window, which was in a height of two meters. In such difficult conditions, the complainant asked for the help of policeman Gezim Skenderaj, who offered a piece of concrete stand, in order to ease the pains of the sufferer from the situation created by the standing with one hand hanging. According to the complainant, he was taken into one office and was beaten by Astrit, with a plastic stick, kicks and fists. The complainant also claimed that the police officer Astrit Koja asked him to bring the next day an amount of 25.000 Lek, but he did not give this amount to him. After he left the police station, the complainant took some pictures, which clearly show the bruises of violence, which he got from the police officer, Mr. Astrit Koja.

From our verification of this complaint, it was proven that the above mentioned policemen went to the house of the complainant and asked him to go with them to the police station and interrogate him on a conflict he had with another citizen, during which three windows of a car were broken. Although the complainant did not disobey their order, he was chained in cuffs and was accompanied to the Police Unit of Qukes, based on orders of police officer Astrit Koja. There, he was kept in a detention room, which was locked and he was interrogated about the above-cited conflict.

These actions, such as the hand cuffing and locking the door for four hours, represent open and flagrant violations of the fundamental constitutional rights of the citizen Xh.S., which are guaranteed by article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. Simultaneously these actions have taken place in contradiction to the article 46 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”, which envisions the cases of the police officer using the force.

In conclusion of this investigation, we believe that the actions of the police officer Astrit Koja are unlawful and contain elements of a penal arbitrary act. On this basis we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Librazhd to initiate the penal procedure. Our recommendation was accepted and the penal procedure started. We also recommended to the Police Directorate of Elbasan District to give the disciplinary order of “suspension from the office”, which was given immediately. In the conclusion of the investigation the penal case was passed to the court and is actually under trial.

3. The complaint of citizens A.C., K.C. and L.C., who claim that their rights were violated by the unlawful actions of the police officers of the Police Station of Shkodra and more concretely:

The complainants K.C. and A.C. claim that on February 20, 2002, around about 18:00–18:30, while they were traveling in the same vehicle with the citizens R.Sh. and F.D. were stopped near their house from some police officers, who were led by the Chief of the Uniformed Police Section Mr. Valentin Florini and the Chief of the Traffic Police Mr. Fatmir Lleshi. After they were stopped, they were ordered to get out of the car and were given a physical personal check. The police officers checked also the car. They did not find anything unlawful. After this checking, they were maltreated, by being beaten with fists, kicks and plastic sticks and gunstocks, from Mr. Fatmir Lleshi and other police officers. Later, by order of Mr. Valentin Florini, they were accompanied and kept in the Police Station till 11:00 o’clock of the following day. They claim that they were also maltreated while being accompanied to the police station.

The investigation performed from our side, concluded that the claims for maltreatment from the police officers and being in custody in the police station beyond the legal deadline envisioned in article 45 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.199 “On the State Police” were true.

Besides the above stated facts, the complainant L.C. claimed that on March 23, 2002, around about 19:00, while traveling with two of his friends A.M. and Sh.M. were stopped by some police officers, led by Mr. Valentin Florini and Fatmir Lleshi. They were ordered to step out of the car and a physical personal checking was performed on them and their car. During the checking, the injured L.C. was hit with fists from Fatmir Lleshi and was kicked by another police officer. As a result he got two fractured bones in his left leg. After complaining from the pain in the leg, he was accompanied to the regional hospital of the district by the police officers and was given medical help. After taken the x-rays, the specialized doctor put his leg in a plaster cast.

These claims were proven from the interrogation of the witnesses and the orthopedic doctor.

As the investigation found out that the police officers Fatmir Lleshi and Valentin Florini had committed unlawful actions and given arbitrary orders, while consuming the elements of penal deed, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Shkodra District the start of penal procedure against them. We also recommended to the General Directorate of the State Police to take the disciplinary measure of “suspension from the office” for these officers. Our recommendations were accepted and the Prosecutor’s Office initiated a penal procedure, whereas the General Directorate of State Police gave the disciplinary notice of “Reprimand”. Some months later the Military Prosecutor of Shkodra district notified us that the investigation for this case was ceased, as the complainant did not appear in the interrogation process, although they were notified several times from the Prosecutor’s Office. In fact the termination of the interrogation, as per the above-cited argument, is not based on the dispositions of the Code of Penal Procedure.

4. In his complaint, citizen E.M. claimed that on August 9, 2002 around about 19:30, he was escorted unjustly to the Police Station of Berat and was released on August 10, 2002 at 11:00. He also claims that during custody in the Police Station, he was cruelly maltreated from some police officers, slapping, kicking and hitting him with plastic and wooden sticks in different parts of the body. From these violent actions, the complainant had several body injuries and a wound in his right shinbone. These injuries were evidenced also in the legal-medical examination performed by the medical doctor and proven in the injury investigation Act No. 108, dated 12.08.2002. According to the complainant, due to the harsh beating, for one moment he fainted. After recovery and to avoid the abuse of the police officers, he tried to jump from the window of the second floor, but that was prevented from these police officers. After this act, from the created concern, he hit the table with his head, by opening a wound and was bleeding. As his medical status was aggravating, he was accompanied to the hospital for medical treatment.

After verifying in place this complaint, it resulted that the complainant E.M. was escorted to the police station from the criminal police officer Ilia Gogo and police officers Hamdi Nezha and Vasillaq Bano, based on the order given by the criminal police officer Mr. Fatmir Varfi, as he was a suspicious person on the case of a house theft, that happened on the same day in Berat. In fact the police officers had no proof to confirm their doubts for the theft of this house. The complainant was questioned from the above-cited police officers in the police station with the subject of theft, but they could not prove that he was the author of this deed. From the interrogation of the police officers, it resulted that they had not noticed any violent bruises, while they accompanied the complainant in custody. They did not accept that they had exercised any violence, and justified the bruises with the self-hitting of the complainant, while they were interrogating him. They said that the complainant was hitting with his head the table, the chairs and was lying down on the floor.

These explanations were not convincing, as there were discordances among them. They were not convincing also because of the injuries caused in the body parts, their form and size. Even if we would take for granted the fact the he self-injured himself, then, the police officers have legal obligation, as they should have not allowed the complainant to injure himself while in custody in the police station and in their presence.

The escorting of the complainant in the police stations was made in contrary to article 45 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police” and article 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that “the freedom of an individual can not be limited... when reasonable doubts exist that he has performed a penal act...” As we saw the custody notice book and during the interrogation process, it was proven that the complainant was kept beyond the legal limit, envisioned in article 45 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”. Simultaneously the exercise of violence was proven through the legal and medical examination, the review of photos, taken after release, which the complainant brought along with his complaint.

As it resulted during the investigation, the above-cited police officers of this police station had performed unlawful acts, and had consumed elements of the penal deed of taking arbitrary actions, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure. Thus, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Berat district to start the penal procedure against police officers Ilia Gogo and Fatmir Varfi, as well as against the police officers Hamdi Nezha and Vasillaq Bano. Our recommendation was accepted and actually this case is under investigation from the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Vlora District.

5. Another complaint came from citizens Z.I. and I.I. who claimed that on October 1, 2002, in the afternoon, they were driving their minivan on the beltway, and near “Mondial” Hotel were hit by another vehicle, Mercedes Benz, with License Plate No. TR 2856 E. After the crash, the driver of the other car got out of his vehicle and without introducing himself, started offending them and asked for their driving papers. As they did not recognize who this person was, they did not show to him any papers. The driver of the other vehicle notified with his radio the police station, which came in the scene after some short minutes. The complainants asked from the police officers that the Traffic Police experts should be notified to come and verify the scene. The Benz driver, named Ervis Elezaj, and a criminal police inspector with Police Station No.2 of Tirana, ordered to accompany the suspects to the police station, along with their minivan. They claimed that, in the scene where the accident took place, they were offended and hit from the police officer Ervin Elezaj. They also claimed that, while in custody, this officer slapped and kicked them in various parts of the body. According to them, he ordered other police officers to hit them. Only two of them hit Zenel.

From the verification of this complaint, it resulted that their claim for maltreatment was proven true also from the testimonies of ocular witnesses.

As the investigation of this case resulted in unlawful actions of police officer Ervis Elezaj, by consuming the elements of penal act of arbitrary actions, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana District to start the penal procedure against him. Our recommendation was accepted and the case is under investigation.

6. In his complaint, citizen A.P. claims that on April 18, 2002 he was kicked and slapped by the officer of Republic Guard, Mr. Besim Hasana.

From our investigation, it resulted that on April 18, 2002, around about 10:30–11:00, the complainant, in the company of other fellow citizens, representatives of the Para-epilepsy Association went to clarify a problem with the Ministry of Work and Social Affairs. Initially they contacted with the service officer at the front door, who accompanied them to the front desk clerk. They informed the clerk of their problem. She told them to wait outside, in the garden of the Ministry and one person would come to clarify their problem. After some minutes, the officer of the Republic Guard, Mr. Besim Hasani got outside. He approached them by threatening and offending on their family honor. With no legal reasons, he slapped and kicked the complainant A.P.

In the conclusions of the investigation, it resulted that Mr. Besim Hasani, with his actions had consumed the elements of a penal act for arbitrary actions, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure, thus we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana District to start the investigation on him. Our recommendation was accepted and later the case was passed for trial to the Tirana District Court.

7. Another complaint came from citizen M.K., inhabitant of Tirana, who claimed that on September 3, 2002 at 20:30, some police officers came and inspected her house. Later they took her husband in custody at the Police Station No. 2 of Tirana, under the accusation for theft of cars. After the police took her husband, she went next morning to the police station and met him. She saw him in a grave health situation as a result of maltreatment.

While evaluating this case for its degree of seriousness, on September 5, 2002 we met and interrogated the convict. He explained to us that:

Since the moment he was taken inside the police station, he was beaten in the corridor and in one of the offices from five police officers with police uniforms. They were relatively young. One of them was around 50 years old and had moustache, while another was around 35 years old, and his friends called him “Grape”. During all the time that these police officers abused with him, they did not use their real names. The injured B.K. asked them not to beat him, and told them that he remembered their faces very well.

These police officers have beaten him in various parts of his body. They not only slapped and kicked him, but they used strong objects such as wooden sticks or leg chairs. During the night, he was kept in the corridor of the first floor next to the door of the detention room. He had to stand on his foot all the time with one hand cuffed and the other cuffed at the bars of the window.

Citizen B.K. complained also that the police officers indicted him for theft and after they formulated the relevant proceedings, they asked him to sign it. He told them that he needed to read it first and then sign it, but he was threatened and hit by fists. Under these conditions of psychological pressure and physical abuse, he signed the official records.

He also claimed that the warrant for house inspection and other relevant documents for car thefts were formulated and written in the Police Station office.

As we took the declarations form the arrested B.K., he showed to us the body injuries, by taking off the clothes. Black bruises, due to the physical violence, were clear on the back of his body, on his shoulders, on the front part of his legs and calves and on the heels and palms of his feet.

As we analyzed in entirety the administered information, we concluded that the police officers had infringed the procedurial regulations and more concretely:

The envisioned requests of article 202 and 206 of the Code of Penal Procedure, which clearly state the conditions and the timing for house checking. The use of physical and phycological abuse is an infringement of article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and consumes the elements of penal act of arbitrary actions.

For these reasons, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana District to start the investigation on the criminal police officers of Police Station No. 2 of Tirana, for the penal act of taking arbitrary actions, in collaboration, envisioned in article 250 of the Code of Penal Procedure. Our recommendation was accepted, but unfairly the Prosecutor suspended the investigation under the reasoning that “the authors are not recognized” and sent the file for revealing the authors to the employees of criminal police of Police Station No.2 of Tirana. This action was immediately denounced by the People’s Advocate, and the Prosecutor restarted the investigation. However there is little hope that the authors of this actions, will be ever brought to justice.

8. The complaint of four citizens, B.G. and others, convicted persons, who claim that on April 22, 2002, during their transportation from the Durres Police Station to the Prison 302 in Tirana were maltreated from the escorting police officers.

From the verification, it resulted that:

On April 18, 2002, the General Directorate of Prisons issued an order to trasfer the four prisoners from the Tepelena Prison to Prison 302 in Tirana, for better security measures. In Prison 302 in Tirana, the convicts stayed for two days and later, through an order of the General Prosecutor’s Investigation Directorate, were transported to the pre-detention rooms in the Police Station of Durres District, for investigation purposes.

The four convicts stayed in this police station for one night and the next day were transported to Prison 302 in Tirana. The transportation of the four convicts, from the Tepelena Prison to Prison 302 in Tirana, and from the Durres Police Station to Prison 302 in Tirana, was made by the vehicles and police forces of the General Prisons Directorate. Whereas the transportation from the Durres Police Station to Prison 302 in Tirana, was made by the vehicles and police forces of the State Police, the “RENEA” division.

In their declarations, the four convicts clarified that, during their transportation, they were treated correctly by the police forces of Directorate of Police Prisons.

Their concern and complaint stood agaist the police officers of the Police State, during their transportation from the Durres Police Stations towards the Prison 302 of Tirana, on April 22, 2002. On this date, these police forces, loaded the convicts in two minivans and accordingly E.Y and T.B. in one and G.B. and V.Y in another. In each vehicle, there were six policemen who were masked and as a result could not be identified by the injured. They also had their eyes masked with cloth.

According to the explanations of the convicts, the police officers had exercised physical and phycological violence since the moment they entered the cars. They put to each convict a helmet and dark shirts to close their eyes and later they used abusive words by dishonoring their families. They had beaten these convicts in various parts of their bodies with strong instruments such as wooden sticks and metalic objects. This violence continued during the whole trip. In certain moments, the police officers stopped the cars and asked the convicts to flee, with the back thoughts of taking eliminating actions and be justified under “tentative to flee” excuse.

The convicts showed to us, during their explanatory sessions, the signs of violence in various parts of their bodies. Under these circumstances, we requested that a medical and legal examiniation is performed from specialized experts of the Legal Medication Unit of Tirana.

In conclusion of the medical and legal examination, it was proven the use of violence towards the complainants.

In conclusion of the investigation, it resulted that the police officers, accompaning the convicts from the Durres Police Station to the Prison 302 in Tirana, had exercised physical and phycological violence during their job, thus infringing the rights of the citizens. Their actions formulated the elements of penal acts and arbitrary behavior in collaboration, as envisioned in article 250 and 25 of the Code of Penal Procedure. On this basis, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana Disctrict to start the investigation for the police officers that accompanied the convicts. The recommendation was accepted, however the investigation was suspended with the logic that, based on article 4 of Law No. 8292, dated 25.02.1998 “On Special Forces and the Intervening Forces”, each member of these special police forces is guaranteed with the right of personal identity confidentiallity, while performin their job. Thus from our side we recommended to the parlamentary commission of human rights to take the legislative intiative to improve this disposition, and not prevent the prosecutor’s office to undertake investigation and put before justice any policemen that violates the law and the human rights.

9. Another complaint came form citizen D.P., inhabitant of Lezha, who claimed that the police forces of the Lezha police station have maltreated him. Also for this case we notified from our side Mr. Pjeter Arbnoru, the Secretary of the Parlamentary Commision for Human Rights. From the verification in place from our side, it resulted that:

On April 5, 2002, around about 22:00, the police forces of Lezha police station had stopped citizen Z.P. for carryng a gun without permission from the competent state instances. The police found a small pistol, TT model, in the moment that he was having a coffee in one bar. After an hour, the police had stopped also his two brothers, D.P. and G.P.

After we contacted and questioned the detained Z.P. and D.P, former withheld person Gj.P., the officer of judicial police; reviewed the register of isolation rooms and that of the visits of the doctor of isolation rooms; and the studied available documents from the investigative file, we concluded that the police had exercised violence on the above cited brothers. Until April, 2002, the medical-legal doctor or any other doctors did not examine them, although they had requested for this action.

The service ledger of April 5, 2002 is signed by five police officers, which also served to stop the citizen D.P. When used later as material evidence in court, to justify the warranty for “arrest in prison” it did not prove the truth. In this report it was highlighted that: “D.P. was accompanied to the police station, in his disagreement and by threatening police forces”. Actually the detainee, who later became a convict, D.P. was not caught in flagrance, in consuming any penal deed, or immediately after committing a crime. He had gone by himself to the police station to find out on the reasons for the arrest of his brother. This voluntary visit is exploited by the police, which not only kept him in the station, but also maltreated him and later detained him.

We found out that in this case a heavy infringement of fundamental human rights and freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and international legal acts, had taken place. On this basis, we made two recommendations to the General Prosecutor’s Office, thus suggesting that it should cease the violation of law against D. and Gj.P. by favoring them legally and have them win the lost freedom, as the accusation against them with the charge that they had disobeyed police forces without collaboration, was groundless and with no legal basis. As per the police officers, who had exercised violence and drafted the proceedings in the service ledger unrealistically, on April 5, 2002, we recommended to initiate a penal procedure, for taking arbitrary actions and false denunciation, as envisioned in the crime section in articles 250 and 305 of the Code of Penal Procedure.

At the same time we recommended for the start of penal procedure against the police officer of the judicial police, Mr. Martin Dona for the penal act of “not taking measures to end an unlawful status”, foreseen as a crime in article 251 of the Code of Penal Procedure, because he was fully aware that citizen D.P. came voluntarily at the police station and was not caught in act of crime. The same penalization was requested for the prosecutor of the case Mr. Bujar Cici, who was informed and saw the signs of physical violence in the bodies of the three detainees. These signs were shown to him since the moment he interrogated them as detainees and later during the judicial session to assign the security measures in the court. The prosecutor and the judge have not kept a legal stand on this case to cease the end the illegal status, in conformity with article 257 of the Code of Penal Procedure, to release the above cited detainees.

The recommendation to start the penal procedure against the police officers was accepted, while the one to start the penal procedure against the prosecutor was refused unjustly.

We would like to emphasize that a court decision with a final verdict, from the Appeal Court of Shkodra, declared the arrested people as innocent on the charge of physical disobedience in collaboration against the police forces.

II. Complaints against other unlawful actions of the police forces

There were 87 complaints for arbitrary actions of the police officers such as house inspections bar or restaurant, physical checking, and the sequestration of objects from the police, arrests, stopping and unlawful accompany, as well as other cases. As proof of these complaints, we can mention the following:

1. Complaint of citizens P.T. and R.Gj. who claimed that their children, named E.T. and N.Gj. were taken unjustly by the police forces on January 7, 2002, and after being beaten by the police officers of Vlora police station, Vladimir Zani and Muço Aliaj, were arrested.

After verifying these complaints, we were not able to prove their claims as true for the maltreatment of their children. However after the review of the service ledger in the police station, it resulted that:

On page 67 of this ledger, in numerical order 7, dated 07.01.2002, around 21:50, the citizen N.Gj. resulted as registered, whom police on 08.01.2002 stopped, at 18:55. On the same page of this ledger, in numerical order 8, date 07.01.2002, citizen E.T. results as registered, while actually he was stopped by the police on 08.01.2002, at 18:55. The book states that police officer Vladimir Zani and inspector officer Muço Aliaj have interrogated the suspects. The ledger proves that the theft suspets are kept in police station beyond the legal limit, as forseen in article 45 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”.

For this legal violation of the police officers Vladimir Zani and Muço Aliaj as a damage to citizens E.T. and N.Gj., we recommended to the Police Director of Vlora District to take the disciplinary action of “preliminary notice” against them and the notfication on this action in front of their police unit, with the intend to prevent future infringements. Our recommendation was accepted.

2. The complaint of juvenile citizen, J.S., 13 years old, who claimed that on March 8, 2002, was caught stealing some key cars in the territory of the pedagogical high school and later was sent to the Police Station No.2 of Tirana. He reached the station around 11:30 with a group of police officers, who were led by the inspector of criminal police Mr. Ergys Lala. The complainant claimed that, after accommodated in the police station, he was taken for questioning by Ergys Lala. During interrogation the inspector offended him, beat him and kept him in a locked room with other adult people. After his parents arrived at the police station, in their presence, the police officers formulated the proceedings and around 20:00 released the suspect.

After verifying this complaint, it resulted that the juvenile citizen J.S., born in March 23, 1989, was caught around 11:00 on March 8, 2002 while stealing with three other children some car tools in a car in the territory of the pedagogical school. After the guard caught him, the director of the dormitory of this school questioned him and later she notified the police.

On call police officers came to take him, and along with them came personally the inspector of criminal police covering the area, Mr. Ergys Lala, who took under possession the material evidence and accompanied the juvenile to the police station. As soon as they arrive there, the inspector took the suspect to his office and started taking the required information verbally and asked on his version of the story. After taking the home address, he started to find out about his parents, thus calling them and visiting at home. A the inspector could not reach the parents, he left as an errand with the neighbors that as soon as the juvenile’s parents came home, to notify that their son was in the police station and they should come to Police Station No. 1. When the juvenile’s parents came to their house in the afternoon, they were notified by the neighbors and went immediately to the police station. They met with the inspector at the station and in their presence were written the proceedings for the interrogation of their son. Later, around 19:00 he was released and given to the parents.

In conclusion of the investigation of this complaint, we found out that the actions of the police inspector were unlawful as:

a) The arrest, the questioning and custody by the police of the complainant from 11:00 to 19:00 is unlawful, as he is a juvenile and cannot be kept that long in a police station.

b) His questioning, initially, without the presence of one of his family members or a specialist in child education, is an infringement of paragraph 5 of article 361 of the Code of Penal Procedure, which foresees that the questioning of juvenile witnesses should be made in the presence of a family member or a specialist in child education.

c) At the same time, keeping the juvenile locked in the same room with two adults, although for a period of 20 minutes, is a grave legal infringement and more concretely of paragraph 1 and 3 of article 54 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that “Children, juvenile… have the right of special defense from the state. Each child has the right to be protected from violence, maltreatment…” and paragraph 2 of article 27 of Law No. 8553 “On the State Police”, which states that “During the performance of their jobs, the police officers are not allowed to take unlawful actions, punishments, inhuman and degenerate treatment or any kind of torture against individuals”.

On this basis, we recommended to the Director of the Police for Tirana District, to take disciplinary actions against Ergys Lala and those measures should be notified in the presence of the police officers unit. Our recommendation was accepted.

3. The complaint of citizen A.D, claiming that he was kept unjustly for four days in the Police Station of Durres from April 17 to 21, 2002.

From the verification of this case from our side, it resulted that he was accompanied to the police station by the order of the Chief of Grave Crimes Office at the Police Directorate of Durres district, Mr. Dajlan Canaj, as a suspect in collaboration for the killing of one citizen on April 6, 2002 in Sukth of Durres district. After clarification of his position, he was questioned as a witness and on April 21, 2002 his testimony was secured as evidence in the Durres District Court. However, we were not able to prove the claim of the complainant for being kept for four days in the police station. We found out that, during the interrogation, the officer Dajlan Canaj had violated paragraph 4 of article 45 of Law No. 8553 “On the State Police” and paragraph 5 of the Ministry of Public Order Directive No. 168, dated 20.10.1993 “For the regulations for escorting citizens in police station, police offices and units or other offices” as the complainant was not registered in the escorting ledger of the police station.

While noticing the positive evaluation for good work for Mr. Dajlan Canaj, for this legal infringement, we recommended to the Police Directorate of Durres district to take a disciplinary action and notify it in front of the police officers unit. Our recommendation was accepted.

4. Another complaint comes from citizen P.O., inhabitant of Belorta village in Korca district. He claimed that by the end of 1999 or beginning of 2000, the police order inspector of Korca Police Station, Mr. Njazi Xite, accompanied his juvenile son, named S.O., in the police station. The reason for this action was that his son had quarreled with another juvenile. The complainant, to find out about his son, went to the house of the police officer Rajmond Duro, with whom he had some “acquaintance” and both of them went to meet with inspector Njazi Xite. Rajmond and Njazi went inside the police station and later they came out and Rajmond approached the parent saying that for this case to be closed, he needed to pay 1,200,000 (one million and two hundred thousand) Dhrahmas. The complainant told to him that his was a big amount and he could find it. After this, Rajmond told him that for you, we would close this case for 150,000 (one hundred and fifty thousand) Dhrahmas. Rajmond asked him if he had any money with him, but the complainant told that he had not brought any money. The Rajmond told him to go home and borrow from Rajmond’s mother 200.000 (two hundred thousand) old Albanian Lek, as they would need to pay the legal doctor. The complainant went to Rajmond’s house and borrowed from Rajmond’s mother the exact amount, in 1 x 5,000 and 30 x 500 cuts. He, along with the two other police officers, Rajmond and Njazi, went to the legal doctor. During the way, Raymond told him to give the amount of 100.000 (one hundred thousand) old Lek to Njazi, and the latter said that 50.000 (fifty thousand) Lek would do. The complainant and Njazi entered both to the legal doctor’s office, but they learnt that the doctor had not received any document or complaint for his son. At that moment, Njazi gave a sign by winking his eye and nodding his head for the complainant to leave the room. So he left the room and went to the car where Rajmond was waiting. Later Njazi came, and told them that he had to throw the money in one of the drawers for the doctor to take. In the evening, Njazi went to the complainant’s house and brought the detained son with him, whom he had accompanied one day before to the police station. As they entered the house, Njazi asked if there were other people in the house. As he learnt that some other people were present in the living room, he asked for them to go in another room and not to tell anyone that he was there. As they entered in the other room, the wife of the complainant came with some drinks and cookies, but he refused to take a drink saying that Rajmond was waiting for him at Belorta bridge and told them that the investigator had asked for 80,000 (eighteen thousand) Dhrahmas, to close this case, whereas for him, the complainant could give as much as he wished. The complainant asked if the case will be completely closed, and Njazi reassured him that this would become unquestionable. The complainant and his wife agreed to pay 80,000 (eighty thousand) Dhrahmas for the investigator and 50.000 (fifty thousand) Lek for Njazi and they gave this money to Njazi. After Njazi took the money, he let go of the son of the complainant. Next day, the complainant went to the house of Rajmond and gave to his mother the borrowed money and 50.000 old Lek as a bonus for the “honor” he did. Later the complainant worked in Rajmond’s house for two weeks for free, thinking that he had paid back the honor to Rajmond for releasing his son and closing of the case.

After several months, Njazi met with the complainant and told him that the prosecutor’s office is looking and investigating in his son’s case. P.O. was irritated and answered that “I gave you 500.000–600.000 Lek and you still did not close this case”. After this conversation, the complainant went to the prosecutor and was told the case of his son was not closed. Then he went to the Police Directorate of Korca District and complained to the Chief of Order Mr. Refat Shkembi. Mr. Refat confronted the police officers with the complainant, the latter told all the above claims, but they did not accept them. After two or three months the complainant was asked to go to the office of Refat, who returned to him 80,000 Dhrahmas, while he was told that the 150.000 old Lek, he will receive later. In fact the complainant never received that money. As the complainant did not receive this amount, he made a complaint to the former Police Director of the district, Mr. Pellumb Molla.

After the complaint reached the Police Directorate, a shallow analysis was made of it. Although it was reached to the conclusion that the indicted police officers had lowered the figure of the police forces by their actions, in the end it was decided to reduce their grade to simple police officers. After this action, the two police officers continued to disturb the complainant to the degree that, as the complainant stated in his letter addressed to the People’s Advocate, “he would either kill the police officers, or kill himself”. A maximal priority was given to this complaint for review and investigation and after verifying in place this case and questioning the relevant persons, it resulted that:

The police officer Njazi Xite does not accept that he went to the house of the complainant for the above cited case, that he has taken money to close this problem, or that he has given money to the Chief of Order to return to the complainant.

The police officer Rajmond Duro accepts the fact that he had acquired on this case at the police station togather with the complainant for the above cited problem. According to him, after two hours the complainant had met with Rajmond and told that he needed 200.000 old Lek to help release his sone, but he did not have that money with him. Rajmond told to the complainant that the latter could go to his house and borrow money form his mother. The complainant went to Rajmond’s house and took the money. Also he explained that, as the complainant had approached with his complaint the police station, this brought the lowering in Rajmond’s position. Thus he has forwarded a pretence against the complainant for false accusations while performing his job. In the conclusion of the trial, the court declared as guilty citizen P.O. and fined him in the amount of 50.000 Lek”.

Former Police Order Chief, actually the Chief of Uniformed Police in the Police Directorate of Korca, Mr. Rifat Shkembi explained that he knew this case and for this purpose he had asked the former police inspector Nazi Xite in his office. Njazi had accepted that he had taken the dhrahma amount, not as a bribe, but as a borrowing from the complainant and that he had not paid them back, as he did not have yet that amount. After some days Njazi gave the 80,000 Dhrahmas to Rifat, who later gave them back to the complainant. For this case, in the lowering of the police figure, the Police Directorate decided the dismissal of Njazi Xite from his position, and keeping him among police forces as a simple policeman.

The fact that Njazi Xite had gone to the house of the complainant and had taken money, either dhrahma or lek, for kidnapping was also proven by the proceedings in the questioning of citizens D.O. and S.L.

As Rajmond Dura had indicted the complainant for false allegations and the court had found him guilty, still he is not excepted from the disciplinary and penal responsibility. This, due to the fact that for the explanations given by Rajmond, it is fully proven that in violation with his job, he has pushed and helped the complainant to give bribes to close the problem of the son.

As from the investigation of this complaint, it resulted that the police officers Njazi Pite and Rajmond Duro had performed ilegal deeds, by consuming elements of penal act of taking bribes, forseen in article 260 of the Code of Penal Procedure, we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office of Korca to start the penal procedure against Mr. Njazi Xite, which was accepted. By the end of the investigation the case was sent to the court for trial. At the same time, we recommended to the Police Directorate of Korca district to suspend from its ranks these officers as members of the state police, for bridging their oath, by perfoming ilegal deed, contrary to article 26, paragraph 1 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police” and regulation 6, paragraph 4 of the Guide for Disciplinary Actions for the State Police. This recommendation was accepted partially, only by suspending Mr. Njazi Xite from his job. After this answer, we recommended to the General Director of Police to take appropriate measures.

5. In his complaint, citizen Sh.T., president of company “Klajda” with a B.S. degree and construction engineer by profession, claimed that on February 26, 2002, nearly 30 police forces inspected his house and because of this was kept in custody until March 3, 2002 in an unlawful way in the Prefecture Directorate of Tirana and in the police station of Gjirokastra. At the same time, with no legal basis he was questioned as a suspect from the Prosecutor’s Office of Gjirokastra, under the accusation for production and traffic of narcotics. The cause for this was the sojourn of a truck with license plate Kj 3548 A, in which narcotic drugs were found. According to him, he had sold this truck a year ago and had no connection with it, thus having no responsibility over its use. Since a year ago he had officially requested to the Police Station of Kavaja and Kakavija Customs to restrain this truck as it traveled with illegal documents showing unreal ownership. The last request to restrain this truck, he had repeated and submitted to the competent state instances on May 22, 2001, when he was informed that this truck was in an accident in Greece, on April 9, 2001. On the ownership of this vehicle, he was requested explanation by the INSIG Kavaja Branch Office and the traffic license office in Tirana, and he explained that this vehicle did not belong to citizen Sh.T. but was sold to citizen A.A., inhabitant of Gjirokastra.

From the analysis of the materials in the investigation file and the accumulated documents, it was clearly evident and well documented that the complainant Sh.T. had no connection either with the possessed vehicle carrying narcotic drugs, or the driver. He had sold this vehicle, a year ago. He had made official request, a year ago, to the state instances, which was deposited in the Police Stations of Kavaja and Gjirokastra. In this request, he asked the instances to restrain this vehicle from circulation, as the buyer had avoided intentionally the preparation and signing of the documents for the sale of this vehicle. It was found that the complainant had not performed a penal act, but his name was unfairly involved, as the buyer had not changed the ownership and the license plate of the vehicle. Every of these actions were clarified and documented.

Under these circumstances, when everything was clear, the Prosecutor of Gjirokastra district Mr. Adnan Xholi, should have abided by article 257 of the Code of Penal Procedure and ordered the immediate release of the complainant, and above all for the fact that he was kept for two days without any identifying documents. The prosecutor did not take this action, but at worst ordered the official arrest on February 28, 2002, for the penal act of production and trading of narcotics in collaboration, which is considered a crime according to the article 283 and 25 of the Code of Penal Procedure. On March 2, 2002, he sent the request to the Gjirkostra District Court, for the decision of security measure, thus asking for unlimited arrest.

The District Court of Gjirokastra, in its Decision No.17, dated 03.03.2002, had decided on the security measure “Obligatory presence in the Judicial Police offices every Monday at 10:00” by reasoning that “In all the materials gathered from the Prosecutor’s Office, all the claims of the complainant are proven completely, thus declaring this person with no connection to the accusations for the penal act, as the prosecutor pretended. Therefore, there are no legal doubts that can be cast upon this suspect that can prove or can be considered as proof according to the definitions in the Code of Penal Procedure, or can be taken as evidence in the envisioned cases in this Code”.

To deny this decision, the district prosecutor wrote a complaining request to the Appeal Court of Gjirokastra, seeking a change of decision of the District Court and taking of the security measures against the suspect Sh.T. under “unlimited prison arrest”.

On September 10, 2002, the Appeal Court took the above case under review and during the hearing, the Appeal prosecutor withdraws his complaining request of the District Prosecutor, and as a result the decision of the District Court remained in power.

It is important to emphasize that in the Prosecutor file, even after three months of investigation, in July 2002, there was not found any documented request from the prosecutor’s office, against the Kavaja and Gjirokastra Police Station, to verify if the allegations of Sh.T. declared on February 26, 2002, were true.

He had requested form these instances, a year ago, the restrain of this vehicle, and he had in his possession copies of the requests, which he had shown to the officials in the Kavaja Police Station, to the vice director of the Police Directorate of Tirana district, Mr. Sokol Bizhga, and to the officials of the Prosecutor’s Office in Gjirokastra, before they detained him. At the same time it could not be found in the investigation file the Request sent from the Kavaja Police Station to the Gjirokastra Police Station, No. 834, dated 23.05.2001, which documented the above. After our verification, it resulted that this document was at the Gjirokastra Police Station and it had the following content: “Company “Klajda” represented by its president Sh.T., owned the vehicle, gas tank type, Fiat Iveko brand, with license plate KJ 3548 A. This vehicle was sold to citizen A.A. from Gjirokastra and in good faith the seller asked A.A. to prepare the sales contract and change of the license plates, but it did not happen. For this purpose, the company “Klajda” on February 8, 2002 made a request to the border point unit of Kakavija to restrain the vehicle till the ownership and license plates are changed, but till now it did not receive a response. For this reason, we are asking for the restrain of the vehicle, till the appropriate actions are taken”.

The lack of such document in the investigation file, which was very decisive for the penal case and for the position to be taken towards Sh.T., before being detained and later kept as a convict, although several months had passed since the penal procedure had started, shows that the police and the Prosecutor of Gjirokastra did not keep an objective legal position, but showed intentional attitude to keep this person and others under pressure, which was evident also in the complaining request to the Appeal Court that under any circumstance the citizen Sh.T. should be given a restraining order for unlimited prison arrest. This was reinforced also by the fact that, beside the complainant, the police had kept in custody as a convict under the same charges also his brother, who went by himself to the Police Directorate of Tirana District, to bring some food for his brother, as well as the restrain and confinement of citizen Q.B., a former employed driver of “Klajda” company and who had left the job two years ago. This fact was made clear and was documented, even before the driver was arrested.

Simultaneously we would like to highlight that the high officials of the Police Stations of Kavaja and Gjirokastra and those of the Police Directorate of Tirana District, were very clear and it was well documented that Sh.T. had no connection to the restrained vehicle from the Greek customs. It was their negligence that they did not contain this vehicle a year ago, before this could happen, although they possessed an official request for such an action. This illegal restrain, the police forces sold as a big success of the police action, and on newspaper “Korrieri” of February 28, 2002 it was written in capital letters “Four real owners of drugs are cuffed and caught by the Greek Customs of Kakavija. The brothers D.T. and Sh.T. and Q.B. and A.M. are caught after a perfect operation of an investigative group of Gjirokastra Police”.

As discussed above, in the cases of restraining citizens Sh.T. and D.T. and Q.B., there were no circumstances to order personal security measure, as foreseen by article 228 of the Code of Penal Procedure, and as a result their restrain is illegal and contrary to the conditions set by article 253 of the Code of Penal Procedure.

It is also illegal that a penal procedure was started against them and that they are kept as convicts even today, thus committing a grave violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms, sanctioned by the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and international laws and acts.

As per the above, we recommended to the General Prosecutor to take disciplinary measures against the prosecutor of this case, Mr. Adnan Xholi, as he had not kept a legal position and terminate the unlawful status and release immediately the suspects when there was no evidence, against citizen Sh.T., D.T. and Q.B., in conformity with article 257 of the Code of Penal Procedure and the illegal start of penal procedure against these citizens. A per the above convicts, it was suggested that through the execution of his legal competences, to make possible the termination of the legal violation on them, by ending the allegations, based on article 328, paragraph dh of the Code of Penal Procedure.

Adjacent to our interest in this case, we received a response in February 2003 from the General Prosecutor, stating that he did not see as fit and reasonable to take disciplinary actions against the prosecutor Adnan Xholi.

6. The complaint of citizen Gj.B., inhabitant of Durres, who complained in relation to the compensation of material damage from the Police Station of Burrel. According to him, on September 30, 1999, while he was traveling with his vehicle for work towards Burrel, around 22:30 he was taken by force from police officers and was at their disposal to catch a criminal band. After he drove for 15 kilometers, along with a number of policemen and one civil person, they were shot with a hail of fire from the band. Two policemen and the civil person remained wounded. As the result of the gunfire, several damages were made to the car, including the break of the front window, which cost 180.000 Lek to repair. The vehicle is out of use. To receive the reparation on the damage cause as a result of putting the vehicle under the service of the police, the complainant requested several times from the Police Station of Burrel and other central state instances, but he has not been able to resolve this problem.

According to the responses given to the complainant on February 21 and 28, 2002, the police confirms the fact that it has used the driver and the vehicle for its needs and recognized the reparation, but also said that it would be given when the authors of this damage are caught or either wise he can approach justice institutions. Whereas, according to the response of May 16, 2000, given by the Chief of the Traffic Police at the Ministry of Public Order, Mr. Gezim Licaj, it was said that the Police Station of Mat should sent the completed file of the operation performed by them to the Ministry of Public Order so that the latter can approve a special fund for this reparation.

We judged the response of the Chief of the Police Station of Burrel that “we will compensate when the authors are caught or either wise you can appeal to justice institution”, as incorrect and unlawful because: first, the complainant was damaged while in service of the police forces; secondly, the reparation is given by the police and not third parties, based on paragraph 2 article 42 of Law No. 8553 “On the State Police”; thirdly the compensation includes not only the damage of the vehicle, but also the work and the expenses made, while in service to the police forces; and fourthly, it is not in the dignity of the police to “play” with the citizens that contribute to it with their services.

To bring to justice the rights of the complainant, we recommended to the Police Station of Burrel and the Police Directorate of Diber District to implement swiftly the required regulations related to this issue, and sent the file to the Ministry of Public Order, making also the request for the allocation of a fund for the reparation of the complainant. Our recommendation was accepted and the problem is underway to be resolved.

7. The complaint of citizen I.D. claiming that on November 21, 2002, the Police Directorate of Tirana District sequestrated the vehicle that he was using, Audi A 6 type, with the License Plate No. M-W 1770. According to him a German company owns this vehicle and he is hired as a driver. The documentation of the vehicle is all in appropriate order. Also he claimed that he has not violated any of the dispositions of the Code of Penal Procedure or Traffic Code, which foresee such measures. Along with his complaint, he brought also photocopies of the vehicle sequestration notice.

From the sequestration notice, it resulted that the vehicle was taken away from the judicial police officer Mr. Edmond Shqau, an employee of the Police Directorate of Tirana District, with a Decision, dated 21.11.2002. The cause for the sequestration is that the vehicle is suspected as stolen.

From the interrogation of the judicial police officer, Mr. Edmond Shqau, on November 22, 2002, and the verification in place, it resulted that the sequestration of the vehicle was not based on the dispositions of the Code of Penal Procedure and concretely on article 208, as the sequestrated vehicle is not related to active penal action.

As it resulted from the investigation of this complaint that the above cited vehicle sequestration, is done contrary to the dispositions of the Code of Penal Procedure, we recommended to the Police Directorate of Tirana District to revoke the decision for the sequestration of vehicle Audi A6, with license plate M-W 1770, and release of the vehicle to the complainant. Our recommendation was accepted immediately.

This vehicle was sequestrated in the process of the implementation of police operation, coded “The Lake”, for the capturing of stolen luxurious vehicles, which circulates with regular documents in Albania. For this reason, we organized an urgent meeting with the General Director of the State Police, Mr. Bajram Ibraj and after that, he gave instantaneous directives that during the operation the police forces should carry out the laws and not go beyond their competences. On the same day, the Minister of Public Order, Mr. Luan Rama made a public apology on the public national television station to all the citizens, which were abused by the police through the capturing of their vehicles.

8. In his complaint, the citizen Y.D., inhabitant of Durres, wrote that he is in a property conflict with his neighbors, H.B. and I.B. To solve this conflict, the complainant has registered his complaints with the corresponding state instances. He claims that several times he was threatened by the police officer, Isuf Balla, a nephew and first cousin of the persons he is in conflict with. The purpose of this threat is for the complainant to withdraw from his claims. The recent cases of the threats were on June 11, 2002 in the territory of the Police Unit in Durres, when he had gone to denounce the neighbor Ilmi Balla for the wound this neighbor had caused to him, and on July 6, 2002, when the complainant was in his home garden.

To verify the allegations of the complainant, we took an investigation, by interrogating the present witnesses. In conclusion it resulted that the allegations were true and that the police officer Isuf Balla had acted contrary to article 26, paragraph 1 of Law No. 8553 “On the State Police”, the Ethics Code of the Police and the Guide of Regulations for the Discipline of State Police, under rule 6, paragraphs 1 and 2.

On this basis, we recommended to the Chief of the Police Station of Durres, to take disciplinary action against the police officer Isuf Balla, for taking actions that degrade the dignity of members of the state police. Also we recommended that the given measure should be communicated to him in front of the police unit, of which he is a member of, in order to prevent the happening of such cases in the future. Our recommendation was accepted.

9. The complaint of citizen B and L.G., inhabitant of Fier city, who complained that the police was not allowing for the official marriage of their daughter A.G. to citizen A.M., as this person was convicted with 13.5 years of imprisonment for the penal act of “kidnapping of a person”. The convict was in the pre-detention rooms of the Police Station of Fier.

The complainant, amongst other, clarified with us that: during 2001, their daughter A.G., not to the knowledge of her parents, had a relationship with the citizen A.M. from Fier, and September of the same year, they both took refuge and went and stayed with a cousin of the boy in Vlora, thus actually consuming a factual marriage. According to them, they were not allowed to perform the official marriage either when the convict was being investigated or when the court ordered the decision for his sentencing with imprisonment.

To facilitate the resolving of this problem we requested the necessary explanations from the Police Station of Fier.

In the response of this station, it was clarified that the regulations of the pre-detention rooms do not foresee such a case, thus they could not allow for such an action to take place.

However we reached to the conclusion that it was evident the desire of the daughter of the complainant to marry officially the citizen A.M., despite the conditions as an arrested and convicted person. Although the regulations for the pre-detention rooms do not foresee such a case, we found out that it also does not prevent this act to happen. We considered the marriage under such conditions as right and fair, because the right of individuals to marry and create a family is a constitutional right, foreseen in article 53 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. According to article 11 of Law No. 5840, dated 20.02.1979 “On Civil Status Offices”, the marriage should be performed by a celebrant, who is an employee of the Civil Status Office in the City Hall of Fier and all the necessary conditions, should be created for the marriage to take place, by the Police Station. Based on paragraph 3, article 63 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and article 21, paragraph c of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”, we recommended to the Police Station of Fier to take the required measures to make possible the marriage between citizen A.G. and convict A.M. Our recommendation was welcomed by the Police Station, but out of coincidence, the convict was granted freedom and was released from the pre-detention rooms, on the same day arranged for the marriage.

10. Many complaints come from Albanian citizens, residing abroad, who claim that the Albanian diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad, do not accept their requests and applications to receive passports. According to them, the non-granting of passports brought serious concerns for the renovation of resident documents and employment authorizations in the countries they are living.

From the verification of these complaints and based on the nominative acts in power, it resulted that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Public Order had issues a common Guide “On the procedures for granting passports to Albanian citizens, residing abroad”, but this Guide was not implemented.

To give a solution to this problem, we requested explanations from the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Order and we organized several meetings with them. The result of this collaboration was the issuance of a Common Guide from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, No. 7677, dated 03.12.2002, the Minister of Public Order, No. 4478, dated 02.12.2002, and the Minister of Finance, No. 8249, dated 09.12.2002, “On the Procedures for Issuing Passports to Albanian Citizens Residing Abroad”. This Guide, which came as a result of a close and transparent collaboration, particularly of the passport section in the Ministry of Public Order, with our institution, provides the possibility to all Albanian citizens residing abroad to get passports, by applying to the Albanian diplomatic missions and consular offices in the countries they reside, or to the respective offices that cover with consular services the countries they reside.

Based on this Guide, the citizens can apply also in the Police Stations all over Albania, under the jurisdiction of which are the civil status offices, where they are registered. It is important to highlight that now it is possible for citizens to apply and get their passports through powers of attorney, in case they are not present. We were also notified from the respective ministries, it has started the implementation of this Guide.

III. Complaints for dismissal from work, school, or diminution in grades in the State Police instances.

Thirty-three officers and policemen have acquainted our institution, with cases of unfair dismissals from work, diminutions in positions without any legal ground. In some cases the motivations or the legal reasons for the diminutions or dismissals have not been communication at all. As examples of the positive resolve in favor of the complainant, we are mentioning the following cases:

1. The complaint of citizen K.A., former student of the Police Academy “Arben Zylyftari”, who claimed that by Decision No. 731/9, dated 04.12.2001, she was dismissed unfairly from this Academy. According to her, she was acquainted to a boy, with whom she was married, and as she got pregnant, she requested to the Director of the Academy to interrupt her studies for one scholastic year 2001-2002, for health reasons. The Directorate of the Academy did not take into consideration this request and decided the dismissal of this student, based on article 87 of the Internal Guide of the Academy.

To facilitate the solution of this complaint, we requested for explanation from the Directorate of the Academy. In its Notice No. 84, dated 06.02.2002, it informed us that the student K.A., had approached the Director of this Academy on November 27, 2001 with the request to suspend her studies for one year as she was pregnant and could not hold all the pressure that the studying and the training had. According to the Directorate, for the very own specifics and status that the Police Academy has as a school, where the deferral of studies is prohibited under any circumstance, the Nominating Council of this Academy proposed to the Directorate, based on article 87, paragraph 8 of the Internal Guide to dismiss the student from the school.

From the information sent by the Police Academy and in review of the practice, we found out that:

1. The dismissal from school of the student K.A. was done contrary to her request, who applied for the suspension for one scholastic year of her studies and not to terminate the studies, as was factually done.

2. The dismissal was done, even contrary to the Internal Regulation, on which was based the order of dismissal, because paragraph 8 of article 87, envisioned the cases of dismissals from school by personal request, which is not the case of the complainant. From the other side, it is important to substantiate the fact that the request to not attend the school for one year should not be interpreted as a request to terminate studies, although the regulations do not foresee this case. In this respect, we should be based on the general principal of the right that “something with is not prohibited by a normative act, is this allowed”.

3. By dismissing from school, the former student K.A. is violated the constitutional right, guaranteed by article 53, paragraph 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that “Everyone has the right to get married and create a family”, article 54, paragraph 1, which states that “The children, the juveniles, pregnant women and young mothers have the right for special protection from the state”, as well as article 57 “Everyone has the right of education”.

4. Her dismissal was done contrary to article 6, paragraph 2, letter “a” of the “Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women”, proclaimed by the General Assembly of United Nations, dated 07.11.1967, which states that “Women shall have the same right as men to free choice of a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent;” and article 9: “All appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure to girls and women, married or unmarried, equal rights with men in education at all levels, and in particular: Equal conditions of access to, and study in, educational institutions of all types, including universities and vocational, technical and professional schools”.

To facilitate the rehabilitation of the denied right of the complainant K.A., we recommended to the Directorate of the Police Academy to make changes to the Internal Guide of the Academy, which should incorporate also the right of the students to request leave from school for one year when objective and major serious reasons are given. We based our recommendation on the following laws and acts:

1. To guarantee the constitutional rights, foreseen in article 53, 54 and 57, paragraph 3, article 63 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.

2. Article 2, letter “f” of the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, approved by the General Assembly in its Resolution No. 34/180, dated 18.12.1979, which states that “States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake: To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women”.

3. Letter “b”, Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On People’s Advocate”.

We also recommended that the Directorate should revoke Order No. 731/9, dated 04.12.2001, and re-accept the complainant as a student in the Police Academy.

Our recommendations were accepted.

2. The complaint of citizen M.P. former police officer in the Police Station of Fier, who complained for unjust dismissal from the job with the motivation “Grave disobedience of the service regulations, by not executing the order of the superior to realize persons from the 10 our detainment”. At the same time, the complainant pretended that the dismissal motivation was groundless. According to him, he had obeyed correctly the orders of his superiors related to two persons detained in the Police Station on June 12, 2002. The criminal police officer Sh.B. had interrogated the suspects and after he finished that, he asked the complainant to give to them their personal belonging and meanwhile signed the detention ledger for their release. To be more precise on the orders of his superiors, the complainant asked officer Sh.B. if he had communicated with his superiors for this release. The respond given to him was that the officer had communicated.

Besides these facts, the complainant also wrote that during the 25 years that he has worked as a police office, he has never received and disciplinary measure and what happened to him in this case was in violation to the Law “On the State Police” and the Discipline Guide.

To facilitate the resolving of this case, we requested for explanations from the Police Directorate of Fier District on the causes and motivations for the dismissal of the complainant.

From the response given in the official document No. 834, sent to us on August 14, 2002, it resulted that deputy service officer M.P. was ordered from his superior that the criminal police, the vice director and chief of grave crimes in person, would work with the detainees E.Rr., and associates. But he violated the procedures of escorting for these individuals, and precisely with the orders given by criminal inspector Sh.B. has released them, without the confirmation of his superiors. Faced with this legal infringement, based on Law “On the State Police” they suspended him from their jobs the criminal officer Sh.B. and police officer M.P. Later they released from the police forces, the officer M.P. and due to the fact that this person was confronted with the commission of penal act, he was escorted to the police station. Meanwhile they requested from the Fier Prosecutor’s Office his arrest. The Prosecutor decided that his case will be tried with him free and the penal procedure against him is continuing. Also they informed us that they have taken the same actions for officer Sh.B., by taking him under penal responsibility and passing his file to the Fier District Prosecutor.

From our verification in relation to this complain at the Fier District Prosecutor, it resulted that this office has started the Penal Case No. 332 of 2002, charging citizen Sh.B. for the penal act of misuse of duties, foreseen in article 248 of the Code of Penal Procedure. In the charges, he is alleged for several law infringements in various periods, between which stands the case of release from the escort rooms of the citizen E.R. and others. In conclusion of the investigation, the Prosecutor dismissed charges by Decision, dated 10.07.2002 of the Penal Case No. 332, based on paragraph 1, letter “a” of article 328 of the Code of Penal Procedure (which clarifies that the fact does not exist.)

From the investigation of this case from the Prosecutor’s Office, it also resulted that the Police Director told deputy officer M.P. that the criminal police will be working with the suspects and that if they do not represent any problem, they will be released, but without concretely specifying the name of the criminal police officer that would investigate them. Sh.B. worked with the escorted persons, who after interrogation, found out that they were not involved, thus he ordered their release, by signing the escort ledger.

Further more, the Fier Prosecutor sent to us the document No. 1689, dated 12.09.2002, in which it results that this organ had not deposited any charges against the police officer M.P. and subsequently it had not started any penal procedure against him. Thus, certifying the contrary to the answer of the Police Directorate of Fier District.

From the investigation of the case of dismissal of complainant M.P. from the State Police orders did not result that he is facing the commission of a penal act. This was the case not only with the complainant, as we explained that there were not charges pressed, but also for the police officer who in the concrete case has a bigger responsibility and still continues to be in his job.

In the findings of our investigation, we concluded that the dismissal from the police forces of the complainant M.P. was made in a hasty mode, without an objective analysis for the concrete violations. They could have taken other disciplinary measures, in a more gradual way, as foreseen in article 29 of the Law “On the State Police” and not dismissal, which is an extreme disciplinary measure. Furthermore it was not considered the 25 years of experience of this police officer and the fact that no prior disciplinary actions were taken against him.

To put to justice the violated right of the complainant M.P., we recommended to the Police Directorate of Fier District to revoke the order for dismissal from the State Police Orders and return him in his work place.

3. The complaint of the police officer K.N., in the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Budget and Finance Department of the Police Directorate of Shkodra District. She claimed that she was holding the position of the Head of Budget and Finance Office in this directorate and during her maternity leave she was transferred unjustly from this position and appointed as the Chief Financial Officer in this department. She considers this transfer as illegal and for this injustice she complained through administrative ways, but her complained was not taken under consideration from the appropirate administrative structures.

To facilitate the clarification and the solution of this complaint, we requested explanations from the Police Directorate of Shkodra District, which in return, through Document No. 640, dated 13.04.2002 informed us that the complainant K.N. was transferred from the position of the Head of Budget and Finance Office, with the motivation ”For changes in the organizational structure” and was appointed the Chief Financial Officer in the Budget and Finance Department of the Police Directorate of Shkodra District by Decision No. 1793/1, dated 12.12.2001. The transfer was made by the proposal of the Nominating Council and approval of the Police Director of Shkodra District, with the explanation that the functional office of the Head of Budget and Finance Office in Police Directorate of Districts, in the new organizational structure is one and irreplaceble. In the process of structural organization changes, and due to voluminous work floe, it was assessed that, as the complainant was on maternity leave and also had taken extended leave, to make the change in this position, because the function of the Chief Financial Officer is covered by the Head of this department, which is actually happening.

From the study of this case materials, we concluded that the transfer in the work title and position of the complainant K.N. is not legal because:

1. The motivation “For changes in the organizational structure” is not true, because the position of the Head of Budget and Finance Office in the Police Directorate of Shkodra Distrcit still exists, thus it has not been reduced in the new organizational structure.

2. To handle the voluminous work flow during the period that the complainant was on maternity leave, her position could be covered by an acting Head or another person could be hired on a short-term basis.

3. This transfer is made in contradiction to paragraph 1 of article 107 of the Labor Code which states that “It is invalid the breaching of an employment contract from the employer during the period in which a woman is benefiting her income from the Social Insurance, in the cases of birth or adoption”.

The transfer of the complainant from her previous postition is in violation also to the international acts and memberships, in which our country adheres, such as:

a) “The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women”, proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations, on November 7, 1967, and more concretely on paragraph 2, article 10, which states that: “In order to prevent discrimination against women on account of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, measures shall be taken to prevent their dismissal in the event of marriage or maternity and to provide paid maternity leave, with the guarantee of returning to former employment, and to provide the necessary social services, including child-care facilities”.

b) “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations through the resolution 34/180, December 18, 1979 and concretely article 11, paragraph 2/b, which states that: “In order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, States Parties shall take appropriate measures: To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances”.

To ensure the justice for the violated right of the citizen K.N., we recommended to the General Director of State Police to revoke Order No. 1793/1, dated 12.12.2001 and return the complainant in her previous position, as the Head of the Budget and Finance Department at the Police Directorate of Shkodra District. Our recommendation was accepted, and we have requested the swift review of this case and will insist that it is resolved in the favor of the complainant, so that she can gain her rights.

IV. Complaints for non beneficence of financial or economic status of the police forces killed or wounded in action.

The complaints coming under this subject were in the center of our attention. There are a total of eight complaints, which came from individuals or groups of individuals. Mainly they came from the family members (parents or spouses) of the police officers killed or from the wounded police officers themselves during the period 1991-1998, who had not gained financial or economic benefits.

They complain for not benefiting from the Decision of Council of Ministers No. 552, dated 27.11.1999 “On Financial and Economic Treatment of the Families of Police Officers, Who Loose their Lives or are Wounded in Active Duty”.

In their complaints, among others, they raise a touching questions: “maybe our life and blood is less worthy than that of our colleagues killed or wounded after us for the same Government and they will profit and us not”.

From the study of this decision and the verification of the complaints of various citizens in this aspect, it resulted that it is in effect since January 1, 1999, thus not granting the right of treatment to the family members of police officers killed or wounded prior to this date, from 1991 to 1998.

From the studying of the international laws on human rights, we found out that this above cited decision is not issued in accordance with them and more concretely:

1. Article 1, of “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, approved and proclaimed from the General Assembly of United Nations, in its resolution 217 A of December 10, 1948, which defines that: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

2. Meanwhile, this decision is contrary to article 7, letter “a” of “The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, approved by the General Assembly of United Nations, in its resolution 2200 A of December 16 1966, which defines that: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favorable conditions of work which ensure, in particular: Remuneration, which provides all workers, as a minimum, with: (i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work; (ii) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant”.

At the same time, this decision is contrary to article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that: “All are equal before the law”, and article 59, letter “g”, which states that: “The state, within its constitutional powers and the means at its disposal, aims to supplement private initiative and responsibility with: care and help for the aged, orphans and persons with disabilities”.

To better clarify this problem, we researched the information available at the Ministry of Public Order and found out from their documentations, that during 1991-1998 135 police officers were killed on active duty. They have left behind 475 family members that co-lived with them. For their compensation, according to the above decision, are needed 142.500.000 Lek.

Wounded on active duty, during 1991-1998 are 140 police officers, who co-live with 469 persons. According to estimates, an amount of 70.350.000 Lek is required for their compensation.

The total amount for the compensation of the families of killed or wounded police officers on active duty, during 1991-1998, who filed with appropriate documentation, is 212.85.000 Lek.

From the study that the Ministry of Public Order did for this purpose, it results that during 1991-1998 there are 32 more killed police officers and 104 wounded who did not bring their documents to benefit the compensation. For this category it is estimated a required amount of 80.000.000 Lek.

The total amount for the treatment of the category of deceased or wounded police officers during 1991-1998 is 292.850.000 Lek.

We reached to the conclusion that the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 552, dated 27.11.1999, has become an obstacle and cause for the violation of rights of individuals to be treated equally. To put in place this right, we proposed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania the change and improve of the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 552, dated 27.11.1999 “On the financial and economic treatment of the families of police officers, who loose their lives or are wounded in active duty” to expand its effect since January 1, 1991. Simultaneously we recommended to the Minister of Public Order to propose to the Council of Ministers the change and improvement of this decision, and we have informed the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission of Order and SHISH. Recently we were informed that our proposal and recommendation are under review and work is under way to solve this problem.

V. Non-execution of judicial decision without parole

This problem is nowadays well known and present in almost all the instances of the Albanian public administration. Thus the complaints under this section have been numerous against the Ministry of Public Order and the institutions or instances under its supervision. During 2002, we received 18 requests for non-execution of judicial decision for the return in the jobs, for non-compensation for the time worked, non granting of severance pay for dismissals and non-payment of contradictory obligations of the Ministry of Public Order towards third physical and legal parties. As positively solved case, we can mention:

1. The complaint of citizen L.B., former officer of the Ministry of Public Order, who claimed that this Ministry was not executing Decision No. 390, dated 01.06.200, of the District Court of Gjirokaster. In this decision, which had a final verdict, was ordered the annulment of the Decision No. 1739, dated 16.10.2000 of the Ministry of Public Order to return the complainant to his previous job as the chief of logistics sector in the Police Station of Tepelena. We demanded for the Ministry of Public Order to provide explanations for non-execution of the judicial decision. The General Directorate of the Police gave a negative response, emphasizing that: “The request of the complainant to retake the job position and appointment has been reviewed by the Central Nominating Council of the General Directorate of the Police on February 20, 2002, but is not approved”. Evidencing that this answer was not correct and legal, we recommended to the Minister of Public Order to guarantee the execution of the judicial decision in favor of the complainant. Our recommendation was accepted and the complainant returned to his job.

2. The complaint of citizen Z.P., former officer of the Ministry of Public Order claimed that this ministry did not execute Decision No. 1811, dated 17.05.2001, of the Tirana District Court, which had decided: “The annulment of the order of the Ministry of Public Order, No. 1512, dated. 30.08.2000 …” The decision remained in power also from the Tirana Appeal Court. As the decision had a final verdict, the complainant demanded its execution, but although he had made several requests, he was not being returned to his job.

Assessing as correct his complaint, which is based on article 142/3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, we asked for explanations from the Ministry of Public Order for the reasons of non-execution of the judicial decision. Simultaneously we recommended the execution in favor of the complainant, thus returning him to his job. Our recommendation was accepted and the complainant regained his position.

3. The complaint of citizen P.Q., dismissed from his position.

The complainant pressed charges at the Tirana District Court for his dismissal from duty. This court gave the Decision No. 997, dated 21.03.2001, which ordered “The annulment of administrative Order No. 985/2, dated 16.05.2000, the return of the plaintiff to his previous job as the Military Chief of Military Unit No. 752 F.N.SH. Berat, and also the compensation in payment for the time he was off duty because of this decision…”

This decision had a final verdict and was left in power also by the Tirana Appeal Court by Decision No. 569, dated 29.05.2001, but was not executed by the Ministry of Public Order. We demanded explanations from the Ministry of Public Order for the reasons of non-execution of this decision. The response was given by the Judicial and Legal Representation Department, stating that: “the decision is not executed because they have appealed in the High Court”. This response was not correct and legal because:

According to article 451/c of the Code of Penal Procedure, the decisions of the Appeal Court come with a final verdict and only the High Court makes the suspension of execution, based on article 479 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Under the circumstance when there is no decision from the High Court for the suspension of execution, then the decision of the Appeal Court should be executed. In this situation we find support reasoning in paragraph 3 of article 142 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states: “The state instances are obliged to execute judicial decisions”.

Investigating this case in all its complexity and the above-mentioned circumstances, we recommended to the General Police Directorate to execute the relevant judicial decision.

The General Police Directorate, through its Notice No. 205/5-P protocol, dated 12.09.2002, responded: “Based on the motivation for release from duty “For the denigration of the military figure”, in article 16, paragraph 3, chapter IV of Law No. 8553 “On the State Police”, and in absence of professional education (police), he can not be re-hired in the ranks of the State Police”. Along with this response, they also sent the proposal of the Director of F.S.N.Sh. for the release of the complainant from his duty, with the reasoning that: “he keeps company, rides in vehicle, gives his munitions and supplies with police documents, some individuals who are contingents of Criminal Police”.

It also resulted from our verification that the Military Prosecutor Office of Vlora had started a penal procedure against him, for the penal act of misuse of military power while in duty and rebelling, performed in collaboration, as well as the penal act of falsifying official documents. At the end of the investigation, the Prosecutor decided the termination of the penal procedure against him, by decision dated 19.02.2000.

The above allegations for misuse of duty and denigration of the military figure were raised from the representative of the Ministry of Public Order also during the judicial process. The Court analyzed and treated them, but it did not take them into consideration as there was no evidence to certify their validity.

It is important to highlight the fact that in the concrete case, it has not been correct from the General Directorate Police to base their decision on article 16 paragraph 3 of the Law “On the State Police”, because we are not dealing with a new admission in the police force, which requires police education.

As the General Directorate of the State Police did not accept our recommendation, we sent another recommendation to the Minister of Public Order to take the appropriate measures for the execution of the above judicial decision. Our recommendation was accepted and they answered that soon the complainant will be rehired. We will follow this case till the complainant returns to his job.

4. The complaint of citizen N.P., former officer of the Republic Guard, who claims that the Ministry of Public Order is not executing the Decision No. 3681, dated 21.11.2000 of the Tirana District Court. This decision ordered the annulment of Order No. 877/1, dated 25.08.2000 of the Minister of Public Order and the return of the complainant to his previous job. The decision came with a final verdict and also it has been issued the order of execution.

In relation to this complaint we demanded explanations from the Human Resources Department of the Ministry of Public Order. The General Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order responded that his request to return to the structures of the Ministry of Public Order seems contradictory. This response was based on the complainant’s request to become a reservist addressed to the Guard Command, which in return proposed to the Minister of Public Order. The Minister issued an Order for his release, No. 877/1, dated 25.08.2000, with the motivation “By his request”.

From the studying of the documentation related to this complaint, it resulted that the complainant has requested to become a reservist and would benefit the financial rights given by law, but actually he has not request to be released from duty, as decided in the release order. However the Court treated this case and made a decision with a final verdict, the execution of which becomes a constitutional obligation, sanctioned by article 142/3 of the Albanian Constitution, which states that: “State organs are obliged to execute judicial decisions”.

To put to justice the violated right of the complainant, we recommended to the Minister of Public Order the execution of the judicial decision and the return to his duty of the complainant. The Minister welcomed our recommendation and the complainant is in the process of reappointment.

VI. Recommendation for prevention of torture and other maltreatment forms and violations of law by the police forces

In the annual report of 2001, we made some recommendation, the implementation of which would prevent torture and other maltreatment forms and violations of law by the police forces. Although we sent them to the Ministry of Public Order, we still see, that even after a year, the majority of them have not been implemented. Thus we can mention:

1. There are not taken measurement to secure the right of doctor consultation for persons deprived of freedom, since the beginning of this status. This right should allow them also to be visited by a doctor of their own choice.

To achieve this, it is important that:

· All the medical examinations for the persons deprived of freedom should take place not in a hearing distance of the police, unless the doctor requests so. In special cases, also away from the view of the police forces, when these persons are visited by the doctor.

· The results of the examination, as any other declaration of a visited person, should be given by the doctor and should be in the possession of the person deprived of freedom and his defense attorney.

2. The persons deprived of freedom are not given informative materials to make them aware of their rights. These materials should be translated also in foreign languages. Above all, the interested should be invited to sign a declaration that they have been informed on their rights.

3. It is not yet issued the guide (Ethics Code) for the interrogation from the police. This code, among others, should treat the following topics: systematically acquaint the convicts with the identities of the present person while interrogation (name and/or title); the allowed duration of one interrogation session; the periods of breaks among sessions and the break during interrogations; the place or places where the interrogation is taking place; if the convict will be asked to stand during interrogation; and that it is forbidden to interrogate individuals under the influence of drugs, alcohol, medications or mental shock. This code should also foresee the inclusion of the beginning and ending of an interrogation session, the identity of all the persons present during this session and any request formulated by the convict during interrogation. The situation, particularly with unprotected persons (such as the juveniles, sick, disabled or mentally-ill) should become an object of specific guarantees.

4. The above rights are not executed also for individuals kept by police for administrative reasons. In some cases, we have evidenced that “the escort to the police station” is used as a justification also for the individuals that the police suspects of committing a penal act. Thus the escorting is used for the clarification of administrative action and aiming at interrogating and investigating for penal acts. After the escorting, the arrest or detention procedures start for these individuals. In some other cases we have evidences that the police take actions to research and collect data in an illegal way, thus violating paragraph 2 of article 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. In certain cases, these data are taken by use of physical force.

5. The police authorities have not issued the circular to clarify that the time for detention of an individual, for administrative or judicial reasons, should be calculated within the set time frame, from the moment the person appears before the magistrate, which according to article 28 of the Constitution, is not more than 48 hours. From the verification of certain cases, it is evidenced that the time of detention or arrest starts after that of escorting, which in some cases has passed the legal time limit.

6. High officials and cadres of the Police do not exercise continuous control on the registration ledgers for the individuals being kept in police stations, with the aim that they are not manipulated or are filled correctly. We have evidenced some cases that the notes in these ledgers do not coincide with the exact time of the detention in the police station of these individuals, or in certain cases they are not registered at all.

7. Still it has not changed the concept that the persons escorted to the police should be kept in escort rooms and not in detention rooms being cuffed or locked, as in some cases. Also there are no special rooms for juveniles and women. These rooms should be in good and appropriate hygienic-sanitary conditions and equipped with tables and chairs.

8. The conditions in the rooms of pre-detention in the police stations, for keeping the convicts and arrested, still have not changes, so:

· To respect strictly the foreseen criteria related to the minimal space per individual; and

· To separate the adults from the juveniles and pay more special attention to the latter in terms of health and education.

9. Still it has not become a reality to transfer the pre-detention rooms and its personnel from the supervision of the Ministry of Public Order, to that of Justice. This would enable to effectively put in practice all the defined dispositions of “The Guide for the security and treatment of the prisoners”, approved by Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 96, dated 09.03.2000.

Besides the execution of the above recommendations, the Police should work more towards the implementation of its main institutions duties, foreseen in article 3 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”, and in particular those for the protection of human rights and freedoms of the individual. For the realization of this job, it is necessary:

1. To give more priority to the education and professional formation in continuity to the police forces at all grades and categories. In these programs, an important role and place should be given to the education of respecting the rights and freedoms of the individuals. The cultural and professional level, the acquaintance and respect of human rights, the communicating ability, should be the criteria for the recruitment, maintenance, selection and promotion of the police forces at all levels.

2. The political and technical authorities’ at all high instances should approach more often with clear and reinforcing messages that they denounce strictly all the maltreatments of the police. This should be repeated regularly from the officials of the police forces. This in particular should be emphasized to the police forces, in charge for the interrogation of the individuals deprived of freedom.

3. The analysis or report issued by the Ministry of Public Order or the General State Police Directorate should highlight more the collaboration with the People’s Advocate institution, in the scope of work to protect the rights and freedoms of the individuals. Actually, we have a good collaboration, but in their annual report of 2002, it was not mentioned at all our cooperation, which takes voluminous work for both institutions.

6. Ministry of Defense (MoD)

During 2002, a total of 236 complaints came in against the MoD. 188 of them are concluded, plus 23 pending complaints from 2001, thus a total of 211 complaints were reviewed.

From the settled complaints during 2002, 116 or 55% of them were positively solved. This is a good indicator showing the efficiency of our work and the fruitful collaboration with MoD. 65 or 30% of these complaints were out of our jurisdiction and 30 or 15% were groundless. From the 236 incoming complaints, during 2002, 48 are under review.

By analyzing the above figures we can acknowledge that the work related to the MoD has been successful. But we reach to this conclusion not only from the above figures. It is our pleasure to report that the MoD is one of the institution of the Public Administration that we have found excellent partners to collaborate in an institutional manner and with the interest to resolve the problems of the military since the initiation of our work in 2000.

Thus in our collaboration with the MoD, after a careful preliminary work, in November 19, 2002 we organized and held a round table with the theme “The rights of the military and the reform in the Armed Forces”.

In this activity, together with the high officials and cadres of the MoD, we discussed and exchanged our opinions in relation to the main problems that arise on a case basis and in general for the respect of the rights of the military, whom concerns had become the object of our work.

This open and transparent discussion, also with media participation, served to stimulate the positive opinion in relation to respecting the legal rights of the military. It also had an influence in the re-dimension of the work of our institution, and the increase of responsibility in the structures of MoD to handle with care the problems of the military and respect their legal rights.

We view this form of collaboration with the MoD as a successful achievement in reaching our objective in protection of the legal rights of the individuals. We have planned to expand this experience in the future also with other institutions.

Also, it is important to highlight the fact that for the first time in our three-year experience, it was made possible directly by the Parliament, for a considerable group of former military forces to regain their rights, by making a change in the law on the compensation of early retired military.

On October 3, 2002, in the plenary session, the People’s Assembly reviewed and approved in principle and article by article with no con votes the project-law represented by a group of Parliamentarians of the Defense Parliamentary Commission, after our recommendation for “A change in Law No. 8087, dated 13.03.1996, “On the supplementary social insurance of the military of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, the military of the Ministry of Public Order and the State Informative Service”.

Article 19/1 of the mentioned law has this content:

“This law does not give benefits to the military released from duty with the motivation of abandonment of duty, and those that are convicted with jail time from the court with a final verdict for military crimes”. Based on this disposition, 70 military were releases from the Army with the motivation for “abandonment of duty”. This deprived them the right to benefit from this law, although they had spent 15-20 or even 30 years in duties as active military. Many of these individuals addressed their complaints to our institution, since 2000.

In the investigation of case per case basis and in general of this fact, we reached the conclusion that besides the contradiction within the disposition, the content itself of article 19.2 of the above-cited law, created the premises for violation of human rights, recognized in article 30 of our Constitution. This because the expression “abandonment of duty”, in its objective and subjective meaning as an action or inaction, is not foreseen in any of the dispositions of the Penal Military Code, which defines the penal act as any action or inaction of military that take steps against their duties.

On the other side, there have been pressed no charges or found guilty for many of our complainants for such actions. Their guilt is not tried or proved, when in the meantime they were named guilty and were suffering from relevant sanctions the same as those that “were convicted with decisions with final verdicts in prisons for military crimes”.

The change made in the law, based on our recommendation is as following: “This law does not provide benefits to the military that are released from duty when they have been convicted in prison from the court with a final verdict decision for military crimes”. Thus, this article does not favor those that have been tried for their actions, but it favors the military that have been punished “without undergoing a penal trial and not based on a judicial decision with a final verdict”.

On behalf of our institution we would like to thank the Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission, Mr. Dashamir Shehi and the group of the Parliamentarians, as well as the support of the Parliamentary Commissions of Economy and Laws for granting the rights to this group of military, also for the fact that the premises for rights violations for this category in the future has been eliminated altogether.

To reach this victory, two years were required and we had to face with contrary opinions, discussions and debates, but the most important is that finally it solved the complaints of around 70 individuals that were penalized from this law.

We consider the approval of this recommendation by law from the People’s Assembly, as an expression of the good will to support not only the Armed Forces, but also the People’s Advocate. Nowadays, the above amendment on Law No. 8948, dated 03.10.2002 has entered into power and the individuals have regained and continue to benefit the previous denied rights.

While reviewing these main problems, which were made aware to us through the complaints of the military, an important place is taken by the complaints of military or former military that interrupted their career or have done so long time ago in relation to the reform of the Armed Forces, since 1992 and ongoing.

It is worth mentioning that only few of military oppose their release in reserve; most of them are aware of such action in support of reforms on the Armed Forces. Their complaints deal with non-gaining of the right, guaranteed to them by Law No. 8087, dated 13.3.1996 and the respective amendments of this law. Not in all the cases, the structures of the MoD and some military commands have acted correctly, justly, and in a timely fashion, such that these military people could gain their benefits after interruption of their career.

The generalization of these cases, from which 45 people are only in the garrison of Korca, we concluded that during the implementation of the reform of 2001, when more than 100 military interrupted their careers, there were violations of rights in the way this reform was implemented. Their complaints were made present to us during 2002 and constituted an important part of our work. Concretely, after our investigation of these complaints, it resulted that the MoD, after defining the criteria for the reform such as age, professionalism and commitment to the duties, in March 2001 started the procedures to terminate the career relationships with the planned active officers that were to leave.

But these procedures were not always implemented according to the law and relevant by-laws, but in many cases there were violations of the rights of active military in three aspects:

First, some of the above-mentioned military remained “on active duty” without pay (at the disposal for several months, from March 2001 to December 2001.

After a period of two months they did not receive any kind of payment, till December 26, 2001, when an order of the Minister of Defense was issued that put them in reserve. Thus they stayed for eight months, with no payment, and later they received only the severance pay. Paragraph 5 of the Decision No. 727 of the Minister of Defense, dated 17.01.2000 “On retaining at disposal active officers and the timeframe for terminating the economic-financial relationship with the released forces”, states that “For those active officers that at the end of their disposal retaining period, there is no order issued by the Minister to release them or become reservists, automatically it is terminated the payment or an increase in payment”. For this purpose, paragraph 4 of the same decision foresees the release as reservists within the required timeframe.

As this did not happen, their status remained active officers, hence they were deprived of employment by civil sector. They could not leave the military garrisons without permission, as they would breach article 4, paragraph 3 and 4 of the Law No. 7496, dated 03.07.1991, “On the Status of Military Officials” which explicitly defines:

“The military are denied employment in their free time by legal or physical entities foreign or local, inside or outside the country. The military officer is deprived of the right of choice of the area to live and movement without permission out of the territory his military garrison is in respective jurisdiction.”

In the concrete case, for whatever reasons it is mistakenly acted, the reflected actions on the respective documentation, are contrary to the human rights guaranteed and more concretely to article 10 of Law No. 8087 dated, 13.03.1996, which, with the purpose of not creating social problems to the released officers, envisaged that “their immediate compensation when releases, should be made by two monthly salaries as bonus and after that be given severance pay” … and not leaving them for months without any income.

Secondly, it results that the majority of the orders based on which this group of military would end their financial relationship are signed by the Minister of Defense of that time on 01.03.2001 and more precisely on 4.03.2001, 08.03.01 and 09.03.01. The notification of the interested, in their working stations, was done several days later. In all these orders, for the release of the respective military, it is stated that “the financial relationship ends on March 1, 2001”, thus a couple of days earlier that the signing of the order, without mentioning here the time needed to communicate it.

Although the officers were showing at work during these days, being in services sometimes for 24 hours or practicing with the soldiers, they are not paid. This is a grave violation of their constitutional rights, foreseen directly in article 49 of the Constitution, such as the right to benefit living means by working in a legal way.

Normally, the opposite should have happened. In the case that the officer is communicated on his release, still there should have been given enough lead time at disposal, as such a thing is foreseen also in the Interim Life Regulations of Army in paragraph 64 and 71, which explicitly states: “The deadline for appointment or termination from a duty and the period of service with pay is 3-10 days. For those that are in charge of administering material or monetary values, the deadline can be postponed up to 15 days. In special cases, this deadline, by order of the commander can be extended up to two months”.

The same situation took place also with the military that needed to be re-hired after a period they had interrupted their careers.

For the time that they were at disposal for six or seven months, they did not receive any payment except for two first months, although they were classified as active officers and were under the same provisions that the above mentioned Law “On the Status of Military Officials” sanctioning them.

The payment for these officers, a group of 30 individuals, started at the moment they were rehired, as if up to that time they were able to work elsewhere and were not active officers. They were not given even retainer pay for the time period of 6 to 7 months they were at disposal.

In this case the law is clear and the consequences are a result of disrespecting this law. It is true that time is needed for the preparation of orders, replacements and other things, but even for these situation it is calculated a period of two months and within this period all the necessary procedures should be concluded, so that the military at disposal should be released or reallocated elsewhere.

The disrespect of these timeframes, not because of the military’s fault, has brought grave consequences to them, because they and their families need means to live and provide for food. The lawmaker should have kept this in mind. That is why an immediate compensation of two months salary is given before hand to the military to be released, in order to assist them while the processing of their documents takes place for the retainer fee payment.

To repair these shortcomings, we recommended the reflecting of the legal ways. We received positive responses from the MoD and they are working to provide the legal rights to this category.

This case was discussed openly in a round table, organized by the MoD, as we have mentioned it above. There were various opinions expressed particularly from the Financial Planning Department of the MoD that the solution of the concrete complaints should come through the court. According to them, the sufferers should appeal the court and through legal ways to regain the alleged rights. This is another indicator of the incorrectness of the administration. This also shows that they have not understood the mission of the People’s Advocate that in the cases when people are right they do not need to approach the court, but they can approach him, thus preventing legal expenses for the parties, by wasting the time of the representatives of the organs in courts, there would be an increased number of lost cases, thus ballooning the concept “it is court’s fault when the state is a party in the case”, and others.

The above problems, through our recommendation are now in the attention of the Minister of Defense, Mr. Pandeli Majko. He is personally involved not only to have these military regain their rights, but also by monitoring the process, with necessary technical-organizational measures, so that the actual staff reductions or those of the future for the reorganization and modernization of the army, should not bring such consequences of violation of the rights of these individuals.

60 complaints presented to our institution from military of Durres, Tirana, and Kavaja deal with the non-privatization of the objects given for sheltering of more than 200 military from the MoD. This phenomenon actually happened also in other districts in various garrisons throughout the country where the military objects given to military to be used as houses are not privatized. From the investigation of these complaints, it results that the main obstacle for the privatization of these objects have become the City Hall in the districts, which do not take the necessary decisions to turn this objects into housing funds. This is required by Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 379, dated 26.05.1995, which states “The privatization of these objects should be done by the National Housing Entity against the relevant lists and authorization sent by the MoD and MoPO to sign these contracts. These instances should send to the National Housing Entity, housing plan and other necessary documents”… “The City Halls or the District Councils should turn these objects into houses according to the lists sent by the MoD and MoPO”.

It is a fact that more than 3,500 military families have benefited from this practice, but actually more than 200 issued authorizations from the MoD for the sheltering of the military in these buildings are blocked.

As examples, this process is hindered in the City Hall of Himara for 12 military families who live in the military buildings in Qafe Llera. The same happened in Kavaja, where the House of Officers is given to 10 military families who have the authorizations from the MoD, but cannot become owners as this building is taken by civilian families.

The City Hall of these districts does not take the decision to turn these buildings into housing contingent, so that the process of privatization can proceed according to the given authorizations. The people in the City Halls give all sort of reasoning, such as “This building we need as an office”; … “we will have social problems to take out the families that already occupied them”, thus not evaluating the fact that these buildings have been taken by force from various civilian families, and the military officers that already have the ownership authorizations for them, have to be homeless.

For this case, in collaboration with MoD, we tried to solve it, by also organizing meetings with the City Halls of Himara, Tirana, Durres and others, but the problem is not yet solved.

Keeping in mind that the obstacles for the implementation of the practice of the Decision of the Council of Ministers, No. 370, dated 26.05.1995, we concluded that it is necessary for the Council of Ministers to change this decision for the facilitation of the privatization procedures of the above mentioned buildings, thus avoiding the decisions of the City Halls in the process, as the procedure stands now.

Due to the grave situation in providing housing for the families of the military forces and the created situation, we recommended to the MoD to take necessary measures for the possible change of the decision of the Council of Ministers which, because of the way it is formulated and implemented, has created and is still creating premises for the violation of the rights of military and their families. The experts of our institution are working on this issue, and it is expected that the Council of Ministers will soon improve this decision.

Another concern, which has become an object of our work, is the complaints of active military individuals in relation to the payment for the 24 hours services and overtime. We have treated this issue extensively in our last year annual report, where we laid out our findings for the study and legal regulation of this problem. We received a positive answer in principle for our recommendation, but this issue is still not resolved completely. It remains even now in focus of our work and we will continue to request the speeding of the process from the MOD to solve this problem.

Amongst the complaints coming against the MoD during 2002, we can specify the ones from various veterans against the technical staff of the veterans sector in the MoD.

Due to a good collaboration with this sector of MoD, these complaints in general were solved correctly. However, there are cases such as J. Tego from Korca who only for a technical error in his veteran files had lost the right to take the necessary compensation. He was not able to solve it for two years, until his problem reached to the attention of the Chairman of the People’s Assembly. Also after our experts were involved in this case, it was made possible of the veteran to regain his compensation.

Another remaining problem is the non-execution of the judicial decisions, when the MoD is a party in the case. The MoD has executed more than 30% of the judicial decisions that we have followed.

It is worth mentioning the increase in responsibility of the structures of MoD and the military commands for the welcoming and evaluation of the problems, raised by our institution.

Last year we mentioned the cases of A.H. and H.C, who hesitated to respond with correctness to the requests of the People’s Advocate. Now it is valid to make a case of positive example the correctness of the same person as the commander of a military unit in Fier. For all the issues we brought up with H.C., he has answered in a timely manner and has followed them attentively, by informing us periodically until the cases are concluded and resolved in favor of the complainants.

As a conclusions, all the work of our institution with these entities has served greatly and positively to achieve the main objective of our work, to protect and promote the human rights, by influencing in a better administration of the power and governance of the Armed Forces.

7. Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization (MoLGD)

During 2002 our institution has followed 21 complaints with this ministry, from which 8 are resolved, 1 is archived and 12 complaints are still under review. From 8 complaint resolved, 7 are out of our jurisdiction and 1 complaint is groundless. The scope of complaints dealt mainly with the non-gaining of state aid in the case of misfortunes that happened from major forces, such as fire, explosions or from floods, destruction of houses from slipping of land. The problems of this year are similar to those made present, also in the 2001 Annual Report, particularly for non-resolution of complaints for lack of budget funds. In the respective directorate of this ministry are evidenced many other complaints, directly from citizens with the same subject, but that are not solved for lack of funds, which must be given from reserve fund of Council of Ministers.

Even in the report of this year, we would highlight the same problems that were presented in relation to the complaints of inhabitants of board areas of Kukes, Has, Tropoje, which are damaged from Serbian bombardment in borders. For this case, we presented respective recommendations in the MoLGD and later to Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. I. Meta. In his response to these recommendations Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs decided that in the conditions of actual development, the request of our Government, to the international community and particularly EU, the same as to our neighboring country, might find favorable response and bring positive results. In these conditions is suggested that an initiative should be taken for presentation of project-decision of the Council of Ministers from the MoLGD, in collaboration with Ministry of Finance. These are the competent institutions that can review all financial and legal possibilities for solution of this issue from Albanian Government. After this response, we approached these instances again for the drafting of the project decision of the Government.

We have also the other group of complaints that deal with the regaining of the rights, thus requesting the execution of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 206, dated 26.03.1998 “On the participation of state in case of misfortunes”. For these complaints the responses are standard that with securing of funds will be able to solve the complaints of the citizens. But this has brought its carrying over from one year to the other. The reviewing of complaints has resulted that the request of the citizens are right and come from the legal acts and normative acts, but their solution in favor of complainants is not possible due to financial difficulties to cover from state budget.

As for the complaints with object of gaining assistance from state for damages, we were informed from MoLGD that since year 1998 or before, there have been presented many requests. From these, 300 families have complete documentation and for their realization is needed a fund of 200.000.000 Lek for the repayment of these damages. This amount has increased with many other cases, which happened in consequence, such as those in 2002, particularly from last flooding that happened in northern areas of the country, damages of museum houses of Gjirokastra, or amortized houses, but with historical values, which from lack of treatment with special funds risk collapsing and loss of cultural values.

If the funds for assistance are given from reserve fund of Council of Ministers, the Government and state can give full or partial financial assistance, according to paragraph 1 of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 206, dated 26.03.1998, and it is necessary to recognize the carried obligations in years for these cases, at the same time to foresee the ways to give solutions step by step so that they are reflected in the project budget approved each year.

However, we think that respective structures of this ministry, in collaboration with local governmental bodies should be passive, by only collecting complaints. For any case they should not only notify the complainants, but also follow with other possible means to solve their problems, which cannot wait for many years.

A specific complaint that is treated with the MoLGD is the one of the inhabitants in a building in Korca district, in year 1997, which was close to collapse. The Government issued two decisions that took the responsibility to fix the consequences of this situation. In these decisions, which were issued in different period of time, is evidenced an injustice in the treatment of the citizens, because to some the accorded amount was given for free, while to others was given as a credit with long-term repayment. For this issue our office presented a recommendation to the City Hall of Korca, which supported positively our request. Later we made present this issue to the MoLGD, thus requesting the re-evaluation of the problem and the finding of legal possibilities to regulate the treatment of the citizens as equal before the law.

It is observed during the review of the complaints that there are delays in the administrative procedure process and this fact is evident in all the structures. These delays result not only from negligence causes, but also lack of knowledge of the law and the timeframes required to implement administrative procedures. It is worth mentioning here the case of citizen R.M. from Korca, who in Decision of Council of Ministers No. 712, dated 27.12.2001, is not included in the nominative list of benefits, because in this decision it is written mistakenly two times the name of two families. The correction of this material mistake, according to article 120 of the Code of Administrative Procedure is possible only from the organ that issued this act and can be put in motion with the request of the ministry that has prepared the project decision. City Hall of Korca has approached the MoLGD and has requested to take the initiative to restore this situation, because there is violation of citizens’ rights from the non-execution of decision of Government. In the treatment of this issue are observed unjustified delays from the side of the ministry, which still has not solved this problem.

As for the complaints of the citizens from flooded areas from the construction of water basin of Bovilla, our institution presented its relevant recommendations to the MoLGD and the Ministry of Territory and Tourism (MoTT.) Both these institutions passed the responsibility to solve this problem to one another. Now this case has passed to the MoTT to be solved, and concrete steps are taken.

Complaints against local Government organs (Communes, City Halls and Prefectures)

During year 2002, we have received 457 complaints, the scope of which dealt with the above subjects.

a. Complaints against Communes

From 22 complaints reviewed for the Communes, they are mainly with a similar scope, as those followed for the Prefectures. But for the communes, we can highlight some issues, which are worth mentioning. As their resolving takes place in the communities, in which the infrastructure still is not in the desired standards, the appearing complaints are of various forms, such as lack of potable water, or for irrigation, construction of new roads; complaints for not gaining assistance such as families with problems, non-gaining of social assistance, non-consideration of requests of the inhabitants for the status of homeless, and many other complaints, which are related to the law for right of information. From lack of knowledge of the law, the communes not only do not take into consideration and solve problems, but do not respond to the complainants, thus making people wander around the doors of their local administration for a long time. Obligations that spring from this law either are not recognized or not implemented for unjustified reasons. The Code of Administrative Procedures is a law not well-known, thus the obligations coming from this law for these organs are not implemented during administrative proceedings. It is notable that administrative acts or the levels of administrative complaint are not known. There are cases when the heads of the communes take actions that overpass their competences. In some cases they take over also the competences of judicial power. Such is the case of Head of Mollaj Commune, who issued an administrative decision, defining the civil responsibility and material damage estimated in lek, in charge to the complainants R.Sh. and has ordered simultaneously the execution of the decision for this case. We have presented the respective recommendation for the return of the parties to the previous conditions, but still did not get a response from the Head of Commune. It is also observed from the review of complaints that the rights of the employees at the commune are not acknowledged and the professional level of the administrative actions that are taken by the leaders leave much to be desired. This happens because in the organic structures of the Commune there is no position for a lawyer, necessary for the awareness and execution of judicial opinion during exercising administrative powers from the commune. Hence, from the lack of knowledge of the legal acts that regulate these relationships of work, the leaves from job are made in an abusive way.

We can highlight the case of dismissal of R.D from the side of Head of Commune Bubq of Kruja district, who without any reasons and written documentation dismissed from the job the complainant. The case is still under review, because the Head of the Commune has expressed delay and negligence in the treatment of this complaint, thus giving no response to the People’s Advocate Institution. Knowing that the level of poverty in rural areas is evident and public jobs with guarantied salaries, still not sufficient, it happens often that there is abuse with power from the Heads of the Communes. They consider themselves protected for the fact that are politically assigned with limited timeframes from this law and often become a source of conflicts, mainly from non-execution of the law, from not being aware of or misusing of position for personal gain.

From the broad scope of complaints with Communes, it is observed that there are also problems that come with the non-execution of decisions of Commissions of Restoring and Compensating Properties, hence violating the constitutional principle for the protection and guarantee of private property.

This is evident in the case of 26 families of Libonik village of Korca who complain for non-execution of a judicial decision of 1994, which recognizes the right to these villagers for the liquidation of a monetary obligation, which must be fulfilled by the Council of Korca district. This issue, pending from year 2001, is still under review from our office. The Head of this Council, although the problem is presented in all the highest instances of the Albanian state, never gave a response to our institution, thus violating openly his legal obligation coming from the Constitution and the Law “On People’s Advocate”, and ignoring the constitutional obligation for the obligatory execution of judicial decisions from all the Albanian state organs.

b. Complaint against City Halls

During year 2002, in the Institution of the People’s Advocate have arrived 367 complaints against City halls. The scope of the issues is the same as the one presented in the last Annual Report and the majority of these complaints are carried from last year, because for the issue of housing there is still no strategy to solve this problem. Hence, it is evident that the complaint of homeless from the collapse of pyramid schemes, for which there has been a lack of transparence, they were never informed on achievements and factually when their problem can be solved. Even for this year, there are not solved the complaints of the category of homeless, who have agreement acts with local power and according to legal criteria are included in the category to be treat with priority. The requests and our suggestions for the solution of the housing problem is the development of a national strategy with clear objectives for the way this problem will be solved, for the category that must be taken care of and secure the conditions for the achievement of tangible results, such as the obtaining of funds for this reason. The problem of housing is a social and emergent objective, to be solved. But from not solving in time of this problem, the number of homeless and the possibilities to solve it grows year by year. From many of the received complaints during this year in the Institution of the People’s Advocate, it is clear that in all the City Halls, even if the people would get the status of homeless, there is a lack of transparency in decision-making for the order in which the citizens should be treated, and who have a lot to say about these delays. In this direction, the efforts for a better transparency must be increased from the organs of local Government, to let the taxpayers and electors know about their work for the solution of this major problem, as well as the respective strategies. These organs, as they exercise their activity based on the principle of autonomy and self-governance must increase the collaboration with the community to listen to their opinions, for the alternatives and the timing for the solution. The Law No. 8030 “On the contribution of state for the homeless families” and other legal acts charge the local Government and the National Housing Entity with the execution of the decision. For all this process the citizens are completely uninformed, and are delayed endlessly. This lack of awareness of the citizens has become a push point for the City Hall of Tirana in creating an information office for this purpose, an initiative, which is congratulated as an indicator of good governance.

In the complaints reviewed in relation to the issue of housing, we would like to make evident for the fact that the City Halls do not make use of legal means for administratively processing the complaints. They hesitate to issue administrative orders, as in the case of citizen Q.SH from Durres district. The City Hall shows to its citizens the judicial way, while according to the Code of Administrative Procedures and the Law No. 8652, dated 31.07.2000 “On the Organization and the Functioning of the Local Government”, the City Halls have the right to undertake such proceedings, under review and decide on the administrative complaints.

In some case the City Hall issues administrative orders for release of houses, passing for execution the order to the police, while this profession job is not to be performed by the police. By Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”, the police only participate during the execution of administrative orders, with the purpose to protect order and public peace.

c. Complaints against Prefectures

There were 44 complaints against prefectures.

From review of these, there are evidenced problems that mainly deal with dismissal from job, non-execution of judicial decisions or of decisions of Commission of Civil Service, with non-execution of the Law No. 8503, dated 30.6.1999 “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents”, as well as the problems that have come from actions or non actions of Land Commissions. It is evident that many violations of the citizens’ rights have come from non-execution of administrative procedures in various proceedings that these bodies handle for the solution of problems with community, and in relation with their employees.

During this year in our institution are addressed many complaints from employees of Lezha, Tirana and Durres Prefectures. From review of them, it resulted that there is unclear from the prefects themselves in the treatment of their employees, who in some cases regulates their working relationship through the Labor Code and in some other cases with the Law “On the Civil Servant’s Status”. In all these cases, the procedures that should be followed and that guarantee their rights are avoided. This happens for the reason that in all the Prefectures by order of the Prime Minister are defined the new organizational structure as a result of restructuring. As the order is sent attached with organizational charts, and respectively with the number of employees, further the local leaders define the criteria for the employees that will be reduced and the job descriptions, thus leaving optional space for treatment of the employees by their employers

This problem is widespread in almost all the Prefectures, and had various treatments from the side of the District Prefects, and from the side of the Commission of Civil Service. Hence, it is worth mentioning the case of employee E.T, inspector in the Financial Audit Directorate in the Prefecture of Tirana District. Her complaint was accepted by the Commission of Civil Service, was reviewed and her claim was considered as right, thus taking the decision for the return in her job. While the complaints of 2 employees in the same office in the same Directorate of the Prefecture, were not accepted for consideration from the side of Commission of Civil Service, declaring incompetence. In the first case our institution recommended to the Prefect of Tirana the execution of decision of Commission of Civil Service, based on article 3 of the Law No. 8549, dated 11.11.1999 “On the Civil Servant’s Status”. The Prefecture refused the execution, thus hesitating to fulfill its legal obligation coming from this law. After our recommendation we received the response that the complaint is solved in favor of the complainant.

For the complaints against the Prefectures, we would like to highlight the specific case of a group of inhabitant of Dushnik village of Otllak commune in the Berat district. They had a conflict in relation to the ownership of rural land with former owners, who were keeping by force for 5-6 years this land surface. With our energetic intervention the organs of local governance (when these villagers had entered in a famine strike) it was made possible to abrogate the act that took this land under property and the compensation with rural land from the Military state farm in the Aviation field, thus protecting the rights of the complainants.

The complaint of inhabitants of Mertiraj village, in Vlora district, for non-execution of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 56, dated 11.02.1993 “On the financing of the transfer of Mertiraj village in Vlora”, was solved positively in favor of the villagers, by giving to them 156 apartments in Vlora.

We would like to special case the complaint of inhabitants of section No.15 in Porto Romano, for the re-opening and putting to work of leather taming plant from an Italian citizen that did not execute the requests related to the protection of the environment in this area. It was intervened that both parties would agree to respect the conditions to be fulfilled from the Italian citizen, to enable for the later opening or not of this plant.

With the Prefecture of Korca, we have followed the complaint of some inspectors of MCR, who requested the execution of legal acts for danger pay. For the solution of this issue we presented our recommendation, and after many hesitations it was accepted and the complaint was solved in favor of complainants.

From the review of the complaints, it is clear since the organs of local Government at all levels, there are cases of bad administration of funds, no respecting of the chronological distribution of these funds, non-allocation of assistance or funds for compensation from the state, lack of transparency and above all, lack of strategy or concrete alternatives in short and long-term plans for the solution of these acute social problems for the citizens.

It is important to highlight for the local governmental bodies the scope of non-execution of judicial decisions, which is evident at all levels and brought to attention also in 2001 Annual Report. There are wrong and unlawful stands as far as the judicial decisions, because there are still officials that take over the review of the basis of these issues and try to interpret the judicial decisions. Often the non-execution is justified with lack of funds, but the existence of this cause as a hindrance for the non-execution of the judicial decisions not only does not solve the problems, but also make them increase in number, thus carrying on obligations for every year.

From what we discussed above, we concluded that it should increase the control on the administration and the activity of the local governmental bodies at all its levels, so that the people can gain trust in the manner of governance, and above all the controlling chains of the central governance and the respective directorates in the Council of Ministers are strengthened.

The biggest role must be played by the Prefectures, which should control the legal basis of the activity of the local governmental bodies. Another important factor is the increase in the level of professionalism of the employees so that they can gain better knowledge of the legal acts that deal with better administration, such as the Code of Administrative Procedures and the Law “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents”. Also the role of the lawyers in these instances should increase, opening new positions for them. It is meaningless that in these democracy time, in the new millennium, not to achieve a standard that was obligatory for the local governmental bodies prior to 1990, that any village council of executive committee had its own lawyer.

8. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA)

The number of complaints reviewed by our institution reached 290, in relation to the MoLSA and the institutions under its supervision, such as the Institute of Social State Insurance (ISSI), the General Welfare Administration (GWA), and their subsidiaries in districts. The scope of these complaints is similar to that of previous year. In the following, we are presenting specific problems according to their subject.

It is evident in the review of the complaints related to social service that the possibilities of our country to secure the health and the welfare of its population are compromised by the poor infrastructure, large demographic movement, temporary lack of internal and regional stability, low technical capacities of the respective structures. The restructuring and reformation of the basic social services should be considered as a priority element in the reduction of poverty.

a) Institute of Social State Insurance

During 2002, the complaints addressed against the ISSI were 174. From these complaints 131 are concluded and 43 are still in process of review.

It was clear that the scope was very similar to that of previous years 2000-2001. Hence, the citizens complain for the level of compensation of their retirement pension, disability pension, family pension, non-gaining of disabled status, non-gaining of increases above pension, lack of documentation and other issues.

Generally, from these complaints we have evidenced that often they have not consumed the levels of administrative complaint within the structures of ISSI.

In this case our intervention was favorable, thus giving the opportunity to the citizens to be clarified for their problems, without undergoing the prolonged administrative procedures of commissions. This action has helped them to use it on a second try, if unsatisfied and address their issues to the respective Appeal commissions.

As we have presented in the 2001 Annual Report, also for 2002 we had complaints where citizens raise the simple problem of not receiving an official response for their issues from the organs of ISSI in the districts.

On this basis, in many cases our intervention consisted in he fact that ISSI has the obligation to review the issues of the citizens and inform them on the procedures to follow, the respective official documentation and give the reasons for not granting the claimed rights, in accordance of the dispositions of the Code of Administrative Procedures and the Law “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents”.

The new thing this year is the initiative taken by this ministry to create a working task to study the possibilities to review the law on social insurance, with the purpose to increase its quality, as well as the conclusion of another study that dealt with the long-term strategy of the social insurance system up to year 2020.

In this respect, the People’s Advocate has envisioned its work, oriented towards informing the citizens for the latest development in relation to the status of any initiative taken and keeping continuous contact for the various phases of the review of the legislation.

As it is already made public, in April of this year, The People’s Assembly approved Law No. 8889, dated 25.04.2002 “On the supplements and changes in the Law No. 7703, dated 11.05.1993, “On the Social Insurance in the Republic of Albania”.

Later, came also the Decision of Council of Ministers No. 489, dated 16.10.2002, for changes in the pensions of a certain category to benefit, having an increase of 25%. These developments in the field of legislation for social insurance have not passed without the reaction of the public, which are highlighted also in the complaints addressed to out institution. These changes deal with policies that the state itself follows in this field and they are out of our jurisdiction.

Another point evidenced in the treated complaints from our side, but also evidenced continuously from the Media, is the one related to the nonpayment of obligatory contributions of social insurance.

It is understandable that in the case of employment relationship between an individual and a private entity, the problem can be discussed in principles, as such an issue is beyond of our jurisdiction.

Although these individuals work in these private entities without employment contracts, or when they have contract, these private entities do not pay for the employed the obligatory contribution of the social insurance. On the basis of this fact, and also from the existing data, we reached to the conclusion that although there is a legal foundation and the relevant bodies is in place, meaning the ISSI and the State Inspectorate of Labor, for finding and penalizing these cases, they lack to take concrete actions and collaborate among each other. The recent case of the workers of the brick plant “Fabiona” in Vora shows that such employer as the one of this plant, for more than 7 years has cheated the employees by stealing the insurance money for himself. Here we lay the question: What has done in these 7 years the Labor Inspectorate, the Insurance Branch of this district or the Taxation office that gave to this company the business license.

The problem in question is related to the nonpayment of obligatory contributions for social insurance in a number of public enterprises and state institutions.

It is worth mentioning the concrete case of the workers of the Durres Port. It has been treated from our side and it has resulted that this half state owned enterprise has kept from salaries the obligatory contribution to be deposited for the social insurance in accordance with the law. These payments for the social insurance system are not deposited from the side of the employer, thus creating problems related to the benefits from this system.

There are many other state employers that in the majority of the cases claim that the nonpayment has been a result of a lack of financial means, which constitutes a double legal violation as:

-First it is violated the right to be employed and paid social insurance from side of the employer;

-Secondly not accomplishing the fundamental legal obligation from the side of the employer towards the social insurance according to provisions of the Law No. 7703, dated 11.05.1993, “On the Social Insurance in the Republic of Albania”, which is accompanied also with a possible inactivity of the ISSI to follow and collect the obligations of these entities and for their penalization.

Hence, in article 18 of this law, it is explicitly stated that: “The payment of contributions has a priority to the payment of taxes and debts. For the unpaid contributions from the enterprises within the time limits the organs of social insurance have the right to issue an obligatory act with an executive title”.

In the following are presented some concluded cases during 2002, which have resulted as positively solved.

1. Citizen I.Q. inhabitant of Fier district, complained for non-execution of administrative decision of The Central Appeal Commission for defining his pension since 31.08.1975 calculating the difference up to 1982.

In relation to this issue our office investigated at the ISSI, it resulted that the claim of citizen was completely right. On the basis of our direct intervention and address to the official of ISSI and continuous interest shown for the solution of this issue, finally through official correspondence for this case, it is confirmed from ISSI that there is no legal or technical obstacle to make possible the gaining of the claimed payment for the complainant, by giving the orientation that he should go and receive this payment.

In conclusion, as the case was being positively solved, the complainant was oriented from our side to approach the regional directorate of Fier to receive this amount as it was confirmed that the funds for his case were allocated.

2. Citizen F.Sh. inhabitant of Pogradec district, complained against the commission at the Commission for Defining Ability for Work in Korca.

From investigation of our office it resulted that the citizen was not informed for the date of the commissioning, although she was interested several times in the competent authority.

Thus we faced the fact that the respective administrative organ has not informed the citizen in relation to official data to be given, which there are no obstacles in the law to make information accessible to the public.

The intervention of our institution consisted in the communication and the clarification of legal interpretation of this case from the DRSSH-Korca, from where it was made possible not only the setting of the commission date, but also giving necessary legal orientation for a fair treatment of her case.

In these conditions, the complainant was informed of our intervention for the delivery of information requested by her, advising her to visit personally the SSII of Pogradec, for the date and the necessity of her presence while this commission will hold the meeting.

3. Citizen B.P. inhabitant of Kavaja district, complained for no gaining of family pension which should have benefited legally since his son was killed, who was a police officer with the Kavaja Police Station.

From the investigations that our office undertook for this issue at the ISSI, his complaint was solved positively in favor of the citizen, thus making possible the payment of the pension that he was legally entitled.

4. Citizen I.K. inhabitant of Tirana, complained for no acceptance of the documentation from KMCAP for gaining of payments on the basis of definition as disabled individual in the respective category. .

From our side we request detailed explanation for the treatment of this case from KMCAP at the DRSSH in Tirana. This made possible the correction of the mistake of this administration, and enabled the acceptance of the presented documentation from the complainant.

As a conclusion, it was made possible the solution of the complaint as well as the speeding of the other legal procedures, which might have resulted with the gaining of respective payments from the side of Social Insurance.

Besides the above, a positive indicator is the fact that during the investigation of the individual complaints of the citizens, the review of the respective legislation, gave to the People’s Advocate, the possibility of presenting recommendations for the supplement and change of legislation.

Concretely, our office has approached with recommendation the MoD to take the initiative to supplement Decision of Council of Ministers No. 381, dated 20.05.1996 that was issued for execution of Law No. 7889, dated 14.12.1994 “On the Status of Disabled People”, enabled from the complaints of some citizens, as the following:

During the performance of obligatory military service, these individuals had accidents, which have caused their disability classified according to the degree of the capability of work.

The individuals, as a result of the accident while performing their obligatory military service in time and conditions different from each other, today on the basis of decisions of respective KMCAP are treated as disabled and should benefit only the payment of pension of disability. They demand also an increase of specific pension for the reason that they are injured during military service, as the other injured persons during their work in the Governmental sector.

Also, in Law No.8670, dated 26.10.2000 “On the Grades and Military Career in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania”, article 7 explicitly states that: “The seniority in the military service of the Armed Forces, as a payment and the social insurance (beside the grade) is calculated from the date of entrance in the Armed Forces as a soldier, practitioner (vice officer) and student in the military academies”.

As these two evidenced group are in the same conditions, (beside the case of disability during obligatory military service, the obligation of the state is direct), the itself content of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 381, dated 20.05.1996, constitutes a lack, or legal vacuum that serves as premise for violation of the rights of this group.

This becomes clearer from the content of paragraph 1 of article 52 of Constitution, where it is explicitly stated that:

“Everyone has the right of social insurance in retirement or when is disabled for work, according to a system defined by law”.

In accordance with the above, the Institution of the People’s Advocate has proposed to the MoD the realization of the legislative initiative for the adoption of a project-decision, in relation to a supplement in Decision of Council of Ministers No. 381, dated 20.05.1996 “On the Execution of the Law No. 7889, dated 14.12.1994 “On the Status of the Disabled People”. This will make possible the gaining of a monthly increase on pension of the disability for all the disabled during obligatory military service performance, according to the conditions of the disability as defined in this decision. Yet this issue is in the phase of review.

Such conclusion, from the review of issues and from collaboration with the structures of social insurance, in a commemorative aspect, the number of complaints continuously increases. Keeping in mind also the 2001 Annual Report we reported 118 complaints against this organ, whereas this year there is 174 complaints and requests.

The collaboration with the local and central administration of social insurance has been efficient, observing an increasing responsibility towards citizens and the Institution of the People’s Advocate.

It is important to highlight that we stand by the same opinion as in the previous reports, regarding to the administration of this institution, which is represented in satisfactory levels for abiding by the law and better administration of its work.

b) Social Welfare

State Social Welfare is a part of the activity of the public administration, its service aims at the implementation of Governmental policies for social assistance either in cash or through social service, for the category of families classified as “poor”, which actually constitute 1/5 of the general number of these families.

The complaints related to this subject and addressed to the Institution of the People’s Advocate during 2002 are 116. Out of these, 50 are settled and 66 are still in process of review.

Mainly these complaints consisted in the claims for the measure of the benefit of welfare, termination of welfare, and non-benefit from the right to childcare. Hence, from the official figures taken at this institution, it results that the number of families benefiting is reduced in 8,500 cases, because there are evidenced mistakes after audits in the documentation or some abuse of power.

The reduction of the number of beneficiaries, for the above reasons, comprised the main scope of complaints. But there are other complaints from the citizens, who disagree with the criteria in Decision of Council of Ministers No. 113, dated 31.3.2002 “On Economic Welfare”, which has brought as a result the termination of welfare for the individuals that were receiving it for years in a row.

After implementation of this decision from organs of the state administration of social welfare, there were claims from the citizens for violations of their rights, thus requesting the definition of true objective criteria that categorizes the group of individuals that should benefit.

Within this scope of conclusions, we are presenting some typical complaints in this respect:

1. Citizen A.B. inhabitant of Tirana, complained for no gaining of welfare and the justification given by the respective city hall unit.

After receiving under review this issue, the respective verifications were made in City Hall Unit, where it resulted that non-beneficence of welfare, was deprived to the complainant unfairly.

After our intervention, the City Hall Unit has taken the actions to make the payments to the complainant, thus solving his problem in a positive way.

2. Citizen S.D. inhabitant of Pogradec complained to our office for the unfair interruption of care payments as a caretaker for his brother, defined as a disabled with the status of blind from the commune X.

After taking under review of this issue, the commune started taking action based on a request from our institution, thus organizing a meeting with the complainant to verify the problem.

In the end, it was concluded after the final inspection in the Regional Office of Welfare, that the organ for which the complaint was addressed had unjustly interrupted the payment to the complainant, custodianship of his brother. Due to our intervention, this problem was solved positively, and we were able to make happy the complainant in benefiting from this custodial service.

3. From the public notification of media, in the story of the Foster Infants House in Durres, the Institution of the People’s Advocate undertook the first actions to visit this house and verify the news on this case.

This case dealt with the issue of maltreatment of children from the side of custodians, which was expressed in concrete violent actions of them.

To review this issue we contacted with the director of this institution and the Prosecutor’s Office of Durres district. We were informed that a doctor had visited the children and had performed the medical and legal examination, thus we did not request for such action.

This issue was in its initial phase of review also from the Prosecutor’s Office. We judged that teachers of this institution had a unified responsibility for not speaking and not finding out in time the signs in the children’s bodies, as they are in constant and direct contact and care. The represented reasons for this negligence were not convincing.

As the health and interest of the children is the highest concern and priority for all the administrative and legislative authorities and the judiciary, (article 3 of the Convention “On Child’s Rights”), we recommended to the director of this institution to take temporary administrative measures from the job of the teachers of this Custodian House for an unlimited time the justice organs would pronounce their decision. We did this with the purpose that these children can live psychologically at peace and out of the teachers’ reach, which were influencing in continuity during daily care.

This recommendation was accepted and the requested administrative measures are taken against the above-mentioned personnel.

During the review of respective legislation for the welfare, it has become clear that there are some legal deficiencies, which create the premises for violations of the rights of the individual.

In this respect, we prepared recommendations that are expressed as the following:

1. Citizen B.I. complained in relation to a decision of respective section in the Welfare Protection Body, which does not recognize the right of benefit of payments for the custodianship of the members of his family, although the latter had necessarily taken care of his son, who was in a first grade disability.

This decision was based on Decision of Council of Ministers No. 605, dated 30.10.1995, “On the Criteria of Evaluation of Welfare” and Decision of Council of Ministers No. 457, dated 21.08.1995, “On the Benefits of Disability”, as well as in Order No. 2132, dated 23.09.1998 of the Directorate of the General Administration of the Social Welfare. In Order No. 2132, dated 23.09.1998, paragraph 9, it is stated that:

“The custody is assigned only to the families that are in the scheme of welfare. By “families in need”, we must understand the families that are in the scheme of welfare”.

Referring to the legislation, we reached to the conclusion that benefiting of welfare must not be connected to the scheme of welfare. Hence, we have recommended to the General Directorate for Welfare and Social Assistance to abrogate paragraph 9, of Order No. 2132, dated 23. 09.1998 of this Directorate, because it is contrary to the law for the implementation of which it was issued.

After expressing continuous interest, this project decision, after the review from the side of respective ministry, is waiting to be approved by the Government.

2. From the complaint of citizen B.I. but also from other complaints, it is evidenced a deficiency in Law No. 7710, dated 18.05.1993 “On the Assistance and Social Care”, in relation to not defining the exact way and degrees of administrative complaint from the side of individuals.

Hence, according to formulation of article 16, paragraph 4, letter “b” and article 29 of Law No. 7710, dated 18.05.1993, the way in which the individuals can complain is not clear, thus creating the premises for not resolving the problems through the corresponding administrative ways, but ending them directly to court.

Requests for this supplement are directly related to the right of complaint of the individual in case of no approval of welfare, with the purpose to create an appeal system at the Commune Council and City Halls and at the State Social Service.

Our recommendation is accepted from the side of Ministry of Labor and Affairs, but the response states that this supplement will be represent in the scope of other changes that are to be made in the Law No. 7710, dated 18.05.1993 “On the Assistance and Social Care”.

9. Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism (MoTRT)

a- Various Complaints against this Ministry

For this ministry, the institution the People’s Advocate during 2002, has envisaged 26 complaints, out of these 6 are solved in favor of complainants, 9 were groundless, whereas 11 are under review.

The scope of the complaints has mainly focused on the expropriations for public interests and problems that have come during this process, non benefit of compensations or complaints against the amount of compensations and non execution of judicial decisions. This scope is similar to the one presented in the last year annual report.

There are complaints related to the procedures of the privatization of the houses from the side of National Housing Entity and its district branches. Also we would mention the complaint related to the non execution of the Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information over the Official Documents”, which in all the cases after our institutional intervention are solved in favor of complainants.

Complaints of citizens that are related to non-execution of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 85, dated 2.03.1994 “On putting at disposal free areas for the sheltering of the families that will be removed from Bovilla Basin and those that were built without permission in the surrounding of Tirana”, as well as the article 142/3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, were presented also during the last year report. During the review of this problem, after our recommendations, we think that the case is on the way of being solved, with the drafting of the project decision from the side of the MoTRT. This ministry has proposed that for the expropriations for public interest and compensations of Bovilla crown, away from the lake area, should be included also the families, which did not benefit from this of right with the issue of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 85, dated 2.03.1994, but by judicial decisions. Believing in this commitment of this ministry, we think that the solution of this problem will be right and legal.

A very specific worth mentioning during this year and that is followed from year 2001, is the proposal presented in relation to the official of this ministry. This has to do with the proposal for changes in Law No. 7665, dated 21.01.1993 “On the development of areas that have tourism as a priority”.

This law and respectively articles 7/c and 13 are the object of complaints and it results that these articles are in discordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. The content of article 13 of this law states that: “For issues that are treated under this its dispositions will be implemented, despite what other legal dispositions foresee”. This law with this formulation neglects the fundamental of state, the Constitution, which recognizes and guarantees the right of private property and envisions limitations in exercising this right, only for public interests, allowing these limitations or expropriations against a fair compensation. This has brought non-enjoyment of property from owners that have land in tourist zones, and also its misuse, because it continues to be state property. In the conditions as stated above, the Institution of the People’s Advocate recommended to take legal initiative for their expropriation. During 2002, there was made a change to Law No. 7665, dated 21.01.1993 “On the Development of Zones that Have Tourist Priority”, but this changed only the authority body, from the Ministry of Public Work to the MoTRT. Whereas solving the main problem of this issue, the changes of articles that influenced the legal interests of the owners, was not taken in consideration. For this reason, the case is still open and the complaints of citizens have remained without a solution, making this case as pending for 2003.

Another issue that we are highlighting and becomes present in this report, is the case of 640 families, inhabitants of Durres district, who are housed in the extensions made to building of former owners, who regained the right of ownership with decisions of the Commissions of Restoring and Compensating Properties to Former Owners. Thus, our institution is presented with the complaint from the Association of Homeless of this category in Durres district, but this problem is nation wide. This for the reason that article 13 of Law No. 7698, dated 15.04.1993 “On Restoring and Compensating Properties to Former Owners” violates the constitutional principle of equality before the law. This article ignores openly ownership and co-ownership of houses as part of extension of properties of former owners, which are built with voluntary contribution with funds of state before year 1990. Article 13 of the above law states that: “When in a private ex-property the state or the owner has made changes in the structure, such as adding one floor or side buildings, the building will be returned to the ex-owner with no compensation when the value of the expenses consists up to 20 % of value of the building and when this value is up to 50 %, it passes to the ownership of the ex-owner, after he has paid the above mentioned amount. When the value of the expenses is above 50 % of the value of the building, this building is in co-ownership”. According to this article the ex-owners have become owners also for more than 640 other apartments, only in Durres that state has build on their property, compensated by a symbolic payment. These families that are considered as homeless live for more than 30 years in this extension of buildings and are denied the efforts in the construction through voluntary work. At the same time, the treatment in this way of their buildings burdens the state, by increasing the number of homeless, because 10 years have passed and these people are receiving no houses built through the public funds. This issue is being followed. We also received information on this issue from the MoTRT.

During the review of complaints against this ministry for 2002, are evidenced other issues, which spring mainly with the relationship of works and the scope during implementation or non-implementation of dispositions of the Code of Works. Hence, it is worth of mentioning the complaint of a group of workers of the Institute for the Study and Projection of Potable tank waters. They have expressed their concern for not depositing the social obligation at the Institute of Social Insurance, since November 1997, non liquidation of the payment for work performed since February 2002, as well as other issues that are related to the organizational work in this institute. This important and legal issue, for the rights of workers that are based in this law, is under review from our office. After the request that we have sent to this ministry, still we have no response.

Also during this year in this ministry, are evidenced violations of article 142/3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, for non-execution of judicial decisions. The main obstacle in almost every case is the lack of funds, but it is not explained which department handles it so that a solution is given to the problem.

b. Complaints against illegal constructions

The urban planning, along with the people’s free movement, after an experience of more than 10 years, was issued as one of the priorities of the country development, to face the challenges of progressive development in many directions.

In difference to the scope of last year, in relation to illegal construction, we evidenced that nowadays is passed the phase of prevention of new illegal constructions, and are in the phase of full identification and the destruction form the Construction Police.

During 2002, for this problem, we reviewed 126 complaints, from which 117 dealt with activity of the Construction Police. There is an increase with 47 complaints, in comparison to 2001.

From these complaints, until the end of 2002, 71 complaints result as settled and 56 complaints are still under review.

For the reviewed cases, it has resulted that: 8 cases are solved in favor, 6 cases are groundless, whereas 57 are out of our jurisdiction.

There was abundance of cases when action has been partial and not in abidance with respective administrative decisions, or has been unlawful from the side of the Construction Police. Actually, as seen in the presented complaints, the majority of the problems with the illegal constructions comes from previous years and is related to the inactivity of the decision-making organs and executive according to the cases.

An indicator, evidenced also in the previous report, is the obvious reduction of illegal construction particularly from individuals, a phenomenon which was widely spread in the beginning of the 90s in all the main districts of the country. The problem this year has more to do with not respecting the approved construction limit permissions.

The number of issues unsettled from our side is around 47 %. The main reason for this is the lack of readiness from the organ of the Construction Police, and the KRRT of the city halls, to provide response and clarifications for issues presented.

The most difficult and problematic in respecting the legal obligations are the City Hall of Tirane, Durres, Vlore (KRRT), whereas for the Construction Police are the branches of Tirane, Durres, Vlore, and the General Directorate of Construction Police.

We have contacted in a continuous manner and officially with the representatives of the above-mentioned city halls, and officials of the branches of the Construction Police and the central office. One meeting was organized on 22.06.2002 between the People’s Advocate and the Director of the General Directorate of the Construction Police, and all the district chiefs. Immediately after this meeting, where we laid before them all the problems in a specified way, there was an improvement of the work, but actually we still face almost the same conditions of no respect for the obligations of this organ.

At the same time, we are aware of the difficulties that the Construction Police face for the execution of various decisions, coming from lack of personnel, means, and the changes in the managing structures. But this does not justify the continuous inactivity for the problems and issues, for which our institution has, for more than two years, been involved to review and investigate them and for those that result with a negligence for many complaints against this body. It is observed a “game” of official documents between the KRRT and the city halls with the branch offices of the Construction Police in relation to respective decision-making for various constructions evidenced as unlawful.

In some cases we intervened with recommendations for the explanation of defining the process of decision-making, recommendations, which aim at final solution of the cases and the regain of the violated rights of the individuals.

In another well-known case, as that of “Hawaii” buildings, which although under review from our side, results with overpass of competencies in taking respective decisions from the side of KRRT at Tirana City Hall (article 78), and preliminary inactivity with competencies that are given by this law to the Tirana branch of the Construction Police.

Inaction of the Construction Police is a problem, which is evidently clear in complaints presented, as the execution defined in the law should be made in cases of the decisions of KRRT that stand for the destruction of illegal buildings or the decisions itself that this organ takes for destruction on the basis of its competencies.

For this point, we should highlight that this case is the most complained in all the requests presented, because there is a good number of decisions which not only are not executed, but also are delayed for years, or are not implemented completely, bringing other caused that contribute to the violation of the rights of complainants, or sometimes with financial consequences for the state itself.

Another group of complaints deal with the activity of the Construction Police in violation of the law, thus destroying legal objects. A number of complaints are presented for the destruction of temporary buildings, which with the passing of the time were changed into object with solid construction from their owners, who had made possible to register these buildings through decisions from judicial processes with subject, “certification of the judicial fact of ownership on these buildings”, registration form, which is unlawful. These cases are considered from our side as groundless, or in special cases of complainants we oriented them to the possible ways to follow.

The review of some complaints has evidenced the problems related to legislation and the activity of the organs of local Government, in relevance to competencies and legal obligations. It is a fact that in many complaints for illegal constructions, the Construction Police in implementation of competencies annuls the work in the object until clarification of the case. But it often happens that although there is taken a decision for stopping the work, the construction firms continues the construction until the final decision is taken, and by the meantime the building is finished. Hence, we can say that this decision for the annulment as a measurement for prevention, in the way that it is issued, does not have the full legal power to make it obligatory the order taken for the construction firm. We highlight this, because often even the employees of the Construction Police can go every day in the suspended object and demand for non continuing construction, still when they leave the construction continues and sometimes in high gears. Maybe other legal forms should be used which obligate these decisions for suspension, as in the case of invoices of EPC for the electricity payment.

From the other side, often the complaints are made because of partial or full urban studies in many of the city halls do not exist or belong to periods that had not foreseen the actual development. This inactivity from the side of respective structures in these organs of local Government has brought confusion in constructions, for the legal and illegal ones, and above all making it for many time questionable the authority of KRRT for decision making for illegal constructions, in execution of article 77 of the Law “On Urban Development”. Thus it is the time to work with priority and fastness in this direction.

Another problem, which is followed from our side, deals with the violations of the provisions and definitions in the respective decisions of KRRTRSH, which are given by KRRT of city halls for construction permissions in the beach area of Durres. This is considered as an important issue, because it touches the illegal actions in making decisions for construction permissions, when they appear as formally regular and correct.

Another evidenced during this time, particularly during execution of decisions for destruction from the side of the Construction Police for illegal constructions, is that of non-implementation of article 84, of the Law “On Urban Development”, which states that:

“Fines, bonuses and the expenses of destruction, as defined in this law, should be paid from those that have constructed, within 5 days from the date of notification of the decision of the Construction Police, or from the day when the court decision reached a final verdict. After this limit there will be an extra charge of 2 % per day up to one month. After the one month limit has passed the Construction Police demand execution of it in judicial ways, according to the laws in power. Fines, bonuses and the expenses of destruction should be paid in the finance office of the local Government”.

We highlight this fact as the destruction of the illegal constructions is in favor of a certain community of people, as the expenses for such actins, if not covered by the violators, will be heavy on the pockets of this community. And from what we know the expenses for the destruction of these illegal constructions are not charged on the owners of these buildings.

Below we are giving some reviewed cases, from our office:

1. Complaint of citizen V.T (Tirana)

Citizen V.T, complained in relation to inactivity of the Construction Police of Durres, for destruction of illegal constructions, build in her land, near Kavaja beach, from the citizens G.N and D.Sh. that have constructed a hotel.

KRRT of Durres City Hall, in its Decision No. 1885, dated 16.09.2001, has decided destruction of illegal constructions built from the above-mentioned citizens in the property of the complainant, but the branch of the Construction Police has not reacted for such an action, but has given various claims.

After acceptance of this complaint for consideration from the side of our office, we have made continuous contacts with this organ, for the ways it has treated this case and the possibilities for action based on the above-mentioned decision of KRRT of Durres and the competencies it has, in accordance with Law No. 8408, dated 25.09.1998 “On the Construction Police”.

On the basis of this communication the above organ through its Notice No. 64, dated 26.02.2002, responded that in the process of the legal procedures for this case, it would intervene for the destruction of illegal objects in the property of V.T, until 1.03.2002.

Although this time frame was respected, always in the scope of the understanding of the organs of public administration and strictness of communication, it was agreed that finally they should take action until 13.03.2002. Yet no action was taken from the side of Police of Construction, branch Durres.

The police informed us that it had sent the preliminary notice for the destruction, yet there is no reason to justify that they are still inactive in this respect. Meanwhile, there are two years since the issuance of the above decision from the KRRT of Durres. Their inaction continues to leave from for the violation not only of the rights on property of the complainant, but also for not fulfilling the functional duties as envisioned by the Constitution.

In conclusion of this review, we recommended the execution of the decision of KRRT for the destruction of illegal constructions in the property of V.T., and let’s hope that through the actions taken by the Construction Police all over the country, particularly in the beach areas, will give a solution to the complaint of V.T.

2. Complaint presented by D.R (Durres)

The complaint presented by this citizen has to do with a construction (extension) with a big surface and without permission, built on top of the apartment of citizen A.Z. As she states, next to a shop which is in ownership of A.Z., and that is next to the complainant’s apartment, he has built an extension that has blocked the light and airflow in her apartment. In relation to this construction, on the basis of the request of the above complainant, KRRT of Durres City Hall has decided the destruction of the illegal construction.

In this case the branch of Durres Construction Police although legally obliged to do so, and implement decision KRRT, still has taken no action. For these reasons this case continues to remain under review from our side.

These are two typical cases of non-response of the Construction Police Branch of Durres, which have shown the obvious negligence not only in the their treatment, according to respective legal competencies, but also in fulfillment of obligations that it has legally to the requests addressed to from our institution, requests which are repeated even nowadays, and there is still no response.

3. Complaint of citizen Y.M (Korce)

The complainant in his letter, expressed the concern, in relation to inaction of Construction Police, branch Korce, for the destruction of a construction without permission built in his property from citizen E.H.

As he states, he is a lawful owner of a shop, an inherited property from his father, but the above-cited citizen, out of any legal and civil norm, has destroyed it and has started to build an illegal construction. For this problem, the complainant approached the General Directorate of the Construction Police of Tirana, and the branch of Korca and as a result this organ has taken the decision for destruction of this illegal construction.

However, until the time the complaint has arrived in our institution, this decision was still in paper, and was not executed from the side of Construction Police, Korca branch.

Based on this complaint, through a direct intervention with the officials of the Construction Police of Korca branch, we agreed on the execution of this decision within a short period, and also set the respective date.

At the same time, we communicated simultaneously with the complainant and the above-cited branch of Construction Police. We were informed that the decision for the destruction of illegal construction was executed, thus putting to justice the violated rights of complainants.

4. Complaint of citizen E. P (Tirana)

This complaint has not as a direct object the illegal constructions, but for some unlawful actions from the side of Construction Police, Tirana branch.

The building for which a decision for destruction was issued was actually lawful, but also after the administrative following from the complainant, there are not respected the set timeframes, the necessary verifications are not made from the General Directorate Construction Police, based on the documentation of ownership presented by the complainant and as a conclusion, a legal building is destroyed and it should actually be a burden of the organ that took this action.

After the complaints of the citizens E.P, it resulted that the building was constructed on the basis of the permission given by KRRT of Tirana City Hall for this object. The construction was built in the property of complainants. The Construction Police of Tirana, without taking into consideration the documentation of ownership and the construction permission, destructed in violent way the object, creating a great economic damage for the complainants.

Realistically, in the treated conditions of this case, we have to do with an outsource contract, and caused by the Construction Police, as a result of its action, which is unlawful. (Law No. 8510, dated 15.07.1999 “On outsource contract responsibility of organs of state administration.) As for the above, it is recommended from the General Directorate of Construction Police the initiation of the administrative proceeding by this organ for the compensation of the material damage caused by citizen E.P.

5. Complaint from citizen S.Sh. (Tirana)

The case has to do with the claim of the complainant stating that the Police City Hall of Tirana, without any previous decision of KRRT of this city hall, on 19.08.2002 has sent to the citizen the notification for the destruction of the building, which is a modification of her house turned into a bar.

From the investigation of this case from our side, it resulted among other things that this construction was done in 1993. Beside this, it is claimed that construction was done with the permission of relevant authorities.

In the concrete case, the Police of the city hall took preliminary actions and did not prevent this construction from being built without permission since 1998.

It was Law No. 8405, dated 17.09.1998 “On Urban Development”, which in article 75 paragraph 2 states that: ”Giving a fine, destroying an object and returning the property in its previous existance, is done based on the order given by the chief of the district branch Construction Police. The execution of this decision is made by the Construction Police (our note) with the help of specialized organs”

The dispositions of Law No. 8224, dated 15.05.1997 “On the Organization and Functioning of City Hall Police” do not give competences for decision-making for these cases.

Not only this, but in the cases of constructions built before, Law No. 8405 dated, 17.09.1998, in article 77 envisages the competence for taking decisions for the destruction or legalization of the building from the respective KRRT.

In the concrete case we investigated and concluded, despite the object being legal or not, that for its destruction, the case must be sent to KRRT for decision and not take these attributes “as granted”, by the Tirana Police City Hall.

By studying the legal support, which justified the actions of the Tirana Police City Hall, it resulted that the City Hall issued Order No. 290, dated 14.08.2002. This for the fact that in the concrete case, we deal with a miss orientation from City Hall Police, thus passing the competences that this order gives to them.

In conclusion of the review of this issue, we recommended to the Tirana City Hall to take necessary measures to respect legal procedures in relation to the commitment of the City Hall Police for the destruction of this object, as well as from the analysis and generalization of this case to reach the respective conclusions, with the purpose to prevent arbitrary action in over passing competencies and in violation with the law, because it brings violation of the rights of individual.

Our recommendation was accepted and the City Hall Police have suspended its order, until a decision from the side of KRRT of Tirana City Hall in relation to this construction will be made.

c. Complaints against Water Pipeline and Drainage

Complaints for this service are in the same section as those for the Ministry of Territory Adjustment and Tourism, as there is a department for this service within this ministry. We had 5 complaints that deal with water pipeline and drainage during 2002.

It is a fact that for this service there was a small number of complaints, but problems to be fixed are not few. The quality of any service has as an indicator the price paid, thus living much to be desired about the quality. It is known that this basic service is offered with a much lower price than the market prices, thus we can say that this price holds as hostage the lack of important investments in the expansion or improvement of the depreciated network. Some water pipelines and drainage entities such as that of Korca, Kruja, Fushe Kruja, have made possible that along with the consumers to work together to better manage the system and increase the quality of services. This also due to the German assistance in these projects, but also the consumers is more aware of their responsibilities.

A fruitful collaboration of our institution with the Tirana Water Pipeline and Drainage Entity was expressed not only in putting at our disposal the practices, but also seek advice from the People’s Advocate on the legal bases, where this service can be supported. It resulted that this Entity had a weak legal basis. Up to now this service was based only on a Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 236, dated 10.09.1993 “On the administration of water supply for family and non-family use”, which does not coincide with the reality, because this service is into a limited company. This normative act is evasive in the definition of supervision of this Entity from state structures. This was evidenced also in the case of flooding of Tirana in September 2002, or in case of Lac district, for non-definition of responsibility for chlorinating of water. For this reason the People’s Advocate sent to the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr. Fatos Nano a recommendation where it states that: “The Institution of the People’s Advocate, from continuous complaints of various consumers, while collaborating in continuity with the water pipeline and drainage entities in all districts of the country, has concluded that this public service has many legal deficiencies. Concretely:

This service, different from the electricity supply and telephone system is based only in a Decision of Council of Ministers No. 236, dated 10.09.1993 “On the administration of water supply for family and non-family use”. While studying it carefully, it results that in the present conditions this decision does not cover any more this system, given the reality of nowadays. Actually, this system is changed and has become a limited company. In decision of Council of Ministers there is not a clear definition of the object of the activity of the water pipeline and drainage entities, of the rights and obligations of consumers, the penal sanctions as envisioned in the Presidential Decree No. 894, dated 21.07.1994 are not valid, the dependability of this service from many structures is not clear and efficient. These deficiencies are evidenced also in the analysis made for the flooding of Tirana and the problems in Lac.

The maintenance of this basic service, for which we are quite aware, requires an emergent drafting of a coherent legal basis, which will help increase its quality and the continuous privatization in conformity with the market value procedures.

In these conditions, while the legal deficiencies of this service influence in violation of the rights and interests of all consumers, we recommended that necessary measures are taken for the realization of legal infrastructure for public services fort this entity.

In this case we express our readiness in solving these issues and put at the disposal of the entity our expertise.

We believe that the Government will pay proper attention to the above-mentioned issues.

10. Ministry of Economy (MoE)

There are only 9 complaints against the MoE, from which 4 have resulted outside our jurisdiction, 2 are solved in favor and 3 others are under review. Mainly the complainants have been employees of limited companies, which had a capital part owned by the state, and the main object of these complaints has been related to the employment relationship in these companies.

1. Citizen Ll.C. has presented a complaint, requesting the registration of the share capital in the company “Construction Material Production” in Elbasan in the Tirana Court as owner of land, and 51% of this company was bought by firm 2K. The latter has not allowed the transfer of the shares, because they are all registered under the name of the firm. The complainant presented the problem to the MoE, and as he received no response, he addressed his complaint to us.

From verification of this complaint, the MoE clarified with us that in the beginning this from was reviewed by Agency of Privatization, where the complainant should have presented his documents to participate in the auction, as the owner of the land. For solution of this complaint, our office intervened at the Directorate of Privatization for SME in the MoE to solve this problem.

2. Complaint of I.B., ex employee of “Fu-Farma”, hired as the chief of flammable liquids section, a position she kept from 1978 until 23.07.1998, and it was time she retired. Her complaints dealt with the benefits coming from the collective contract, where all the employees of this enterprise, have received 4 salary increases, when they retired, whereas the complainant has benefited only one. Also as an employee of this enterprise, she claims that she should take also an extra salary bonus from the Trade Union, for this violated right.

As the solution of this problem is not made possible, the complainant has requested from the People’s Advocate to intervene to regain these rights. It resulted that the obligations have come as a result of violations from the administration of company “Fu-Farma”, such as from the failure to fulfill the obligation of this company to liquidate 30% increase of monthly salary of the complainant, from February – July 1998, as dangerous pay. This is because the complainant has worked in the poison sanction, where the degree of difficulty is decided by the Sanitary Center in Tirana.

After our intervention, the management of this enterprise fulfilled its above-mentioned obligations, thus the complaint was solved in favor.

The institutional collaboration of the People’s Advocate with the Ministry of Economics, during 2002, is expressed in the preparation of Project-Law “On the Consumer Protection”. The purpose of this law is the protection of the health, environment, life security and economic interests of the consumers. The Albanian legislation needs a contemporary law to really protect the consumer from the third parties in their relationship. After discussions with representatives of this ministry are concluded that article 73 of this Project-Law says:

“Consumers or their associations, that have claims that their rights were violated from irregular or illegal actions or the inactivity of the organs of public administration, have the right to present their complaints to the People’s Advocate”. Naturally, the People’s Assembly should decide in relation to this project-law.

11. Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MoAF)

During 2002 for the MoAF and the institutions that focus on agricultural issues and food, we received 79 complaints or requests, compared to 59 from 2001.

a) Complaint for issue of the Law “On the Land”

The complaints, that focus on the activity of the commissions for rural land distribution, in execution of Law No. 7501, dated 19.7.1991 “On the Land”, at the village, city hall or district level, are the most acute and concerning complaints, and that for solution of which with all our efforts, for the sake of truth have not been little, however they have not been at the desired level. This is not because of our fault, but for the manner and practice itself that the rural land was distributed. The concerns for land distribution still continue and they should be kept in the focus of attention.

There have been 64 complaints of this nature during 2002; 34 cases are settled and 29 are in process of review, only for the reason of not responding in time form the Land Village Commissions and of districts. Only one complaint is solved positively.

The majority of these complaints are right, and very little resulted as groundless. For each of the complaint that has been evaluated as right, we have sent recommendations to the Land Commissions at all levels, for distributing the rural land and putting to justice the damaged rights. Unfortunately, the recommendations are not implemented, although the complainants from the Land Commissions of some communes of Tirana, Durres, Kurbin and Lezhe, is standard: “there is no land left, it has been distributed”. Families that have remained without land are mainly those that are not autochthonous in the villages and are former founders of state farms. These problems exist in all the districts, except for the North - East part of the country where land is divided according to old ownership and borders. In many administrative units of local Government the land commissions do not function, thus becoming an obstacle for finding a legal partner and collaboration in verifying the concrete solution of complaint. As an example, for more than a year and a half the Land Commission in the Kavaja City Hall does not function. Beside our intervention and recommendations and the commitment of the Mayer and the prefecture of Tirana, it was made possible to recompose it.

Many of the acts of land distribution are fictitious and do not fulfill the conditions of administrative acts, lacking elements, such as the stamp and the signature. These documents are not acknowledged from the Registration Offices of Tangible Assets. The other acts are not accepted to be issued by the respective commissions. We should emphasize that the normative acts on land ownership in many cases are issued for land that was given previously to others, thus creating an unclear and dim situation.

No one knows or gives exact figures on the total number of families that have not been given rural land in ownership. From the complaints presented to the People’s Advocate, we can say e.g. with precision, that only in village Marqinet of Vora there are more than 30 families that have not taken in ownership any square meter of rural land.

The land commissions in the districts aim to solve the disagreements that have come between the individuals and these commissions in the village, commune or city hall, for the obligation that is clearly defined in Decision of Council of Ministers No. 230, dated 22.7.1991 “On the Creation of Land Commissions”. In all of these cases when we have suggested or recommended to the district commissions for the solution of concrete complaints, the response was that the problem was delegated to the village or commune commission. It is absurd to delegate the solution of a conflict to an organ that refuses to solve problems in continuity and above all the legislator was aware of this no-sense, thus should authorize the highest hierarchic organ to review and solve the conflicts in the process of land distribution. Our findings state that the Governmental Land Commission should play a better leading role to increase the efficiency and responsibility in the hierarchy of these commissions, through better organization, coordination and control in practice over the execution of the Law “On the Land” and in cases of delays in land division and repeated violations in execution of the criteria that have caused the disagreements, and when the assigned competencies are not implemented, it should have proposed to the Council of Ministers to take measures in dismissing the head of the local Government and the land commissions.

Another phenomenon stretching in time is when various citizens take free rural land and build houses with the claims that, the land has been property of their ancestors, or that they have already bought it. This has brought many social conflicts, descent and the shrinking of the land fund for administration and division from these commissions. As far as the families that are not given the land according to the number of family members, there is no hope that they will be compensated. No one is dealing with this problem at the moment and these responsible instructions have not made the necessary assignment for the management of the process of the distribution of rural land, and no one takes the responsibility for the solution of the confusion for the chaos created. It is also left to spontaneity or pretending not to understand, forget and with the thought that this wound will heal with the passing of the time. They lack the willingness for solution of this problem, which has created a vicious circle. The land, in the cases for which we have received complaints is divided by with no criteria. The occupation of the land has taken a normal status.

The same can be said also for the execution of Decision of Council of Ministers, No. 452, dated 17.10.1992 “On the Reconstruction of State Farms”. The lack of documentation of former state farms, the extinguishment or burn, has created difficulties in clear definition of the former owners that should benefit land. The abuse in this direction has made it obligatory the recreation of new commissions, such as in Korce, Vlore, etc, and should review the decisions taken by the previous commissions, for some, which are still in power, some to be annulled, because they continue to distribute land not properly and creating conflicts.

Nowadays it is a fact that almost all the owners have objected the Law “On the Land”, as it has denied them the right of property compensation. Some of these associations such as those in Himare, Korce and Pogradec have presented their complaints and petitions to the People’s Advocate. A review should be made of the legal acts and other normative acts, as well as investigation of the possibilities for total compensation of property where objectively is possible to achieve and eliminate the compensation through vouchers. Our institution, in respect to improvement of legislation that considers rural land, has given its support through the recommendation in order to make possible that the former owners regain their rights and for an acceptable compensation given the existing reality.

b) Complaint against former agricultural cooperatives

There are a total of 3 requests, which deal with the status of the process of taking the contributions in cash for the activity of former agricultural cooperatives from their members. Because the timeframe for the realization of this of right has expired on September 1, 1996, their complaints are now considered by the administration of the city hall councils and the communes. For the solution of this problem, the timeframe should not be considered as a factor, because it was not the fault of the complainants but the respective councils did not taken their actions on time and did not sent their decisions for execution to the Bailiff’s Offices, associated with non-payment of the 7% tax, and the negligence of the MoAF and MoF towards the recommendation for taking the legal initiative to improve this law, by extending the timeframes of the mentioned process, in Law No. 7745, dated 26.7.1993 “On the Evaluation and Distribution in Value of the Former Agricultural Cooperatives” and Decision of Council of Ministers No. 450, dated 16.9.1993 issued for its execution, we suggested to the complainants to legally solve this problem, thus requesting the reformulation of the complaint deadlines.

c) Problems relating to forestry

There were 5 complaints against the Forestry Service Directorate. Two were considered groundless and three are under review. Although they are a few, it is unlawful the manner in which the administration of the forestry service conceptualized and treated these problems. This has to do with the hesitation that the branch directorates have expressed to return the acknowledged forestry surfaces to former owners by the decision of KKK of Properties, an obligation which results from paragraph 11 of Decision of Council of Ministers No. 560, dated 16.10.1995, “On the measures for execution of Law No. 7699, dated 21.4.1993 “On the Compensation in Value of Former Owners of Agricultural Cooperatives”. We consider completely in contradiction to the law and a violation of the rights of property, the attitude of these directorates that take the responsibility to evaluate the validity or not of the decisions of KKK of Properties thus not executing them, when this is the solely right of the judicial organs. Concretely, we addressed recommendations to these directorates of Forestry Service of the districts of Lusha of Devoll for the complaint of citizens B.Xh. and H.B. and we are waiting for their response. We have made it very clear to these organs that if they have objections to the concrete decisions of KKK of Properties, they should use judicial ways to change them. We have mentioned this problem to the General Directorate of Forests, but we observe a total confusion and lack of energetic interference to put to justice the damaged rights of the citizens, who received their property. It is not logical that there are such arbitrary behavior by the organs that manage the fund on pasture and forests. It is not clear yet to them that in such a way there are illegal owners of this land, since they were informed for the decision of KKK of Properties, and as a result, above all carry civil responsibility.

d) Problems relating to food quality

An interesting complaint, which is the only one concerning the quality of food and the protection of consumers, is that of citizen B.P. inhabitant in Tirana, who has complained for the production and sales of packaged natural mineral water, which did not meet the hygienic-sanitary conditions and quality standards.

The production and sales of packaged potable water has increased substantially in the recent years, conditioned by the bad smell and taste of the water coming from the Bovilla water pipeline, which gave the opportunity to many private companies to start production and trading of packaged water, thus expanding to mass market this activity.

The increase of this commercial activity as a need from the demand of Tirana citizens, made possible that industrial potable water be packaged in plastic bottles (1.5 liters and 5 liters) and be traded massively in son or dusty environment, not respecting necessary conditions and temperatures required to preserve the physical and chemical qualities.

After evaluation of this serious problem, with the initiative of the People’s Advocate, a working group was created with the participation of experts in the respective field. After verification of analysis, it resulted that the citizens’ concern was completely right and valid, and grave violations were certified with big consequences for the human health, starting from the production, packaging and trading of mineral potable water.

The Institution of the People’s Advocate made the necessary verifications with four companies for the production and packaging of mineral water from the spring of Selita and St. Mary in Dajt Mountain of Tirana, and there were found violations of Law No. 7941, dated 31.05.1995 “On the Food” and Decision of Council of Ministers No. 609, dated 17.11.2000, such as:

The commercial production entities had not taken into consideration the technological and technical standards to meet the criteria set for food production. This was not made clear to them also by the controlling entities.

It was not taken into consideration also the Regulation No.1, dated 9.03.1998, of the MoAF, which states that:

“Each enterprise should have the necessary and required space for the realization of the technology of production in the production facilities and the warehouses”.

From the four tested enterprises, two of them did not meet these criteria.

None of the companies had provided the conditions as specified in response to the requests as stated in paragraph 16, letter “b” of the above mentioned regulation which defines: “The facilities where food products are prepared, processed and kept should have flat walls, painted and covered with ceramic tiles.” Whereas in the facility of one production company the processing was made under an open ceiling, and beside the dust present in the air the ceiling could collapse at any moment. Contrary to the regulation, except for the workers of one enterprise, the others did not wear protection uniforms. A crucial problem was the filling and closing of bottles in a primitive way, by hand, thus creating the premise for water pollution, which was to be sold to customers.

Not meeting the technical and technological standards in industrialization and trading of natural mineral water and the hygienic-sanitary conditions, which are clearly defined in the Law “On the Food”, “On the State Sanitary Inspection”, “On the Protection of Consumers”, Decision of Council of Ministers No. 609, dated 17.1.2000, Order of MoAF No. 1, dated 9.03.1998, and directives issued for their implementation, have created an unacceptable situation.

Based on the laws and other normative acts, the quality of production and distribution of food product is responsibility of the producer, whereas the protection of the consumers is not only the responsibility of the production entity, but also of the state.

The up normal situation evidenced in the inspected enterprises for production and trading of mineral water, and not only in these businesses that we checked, but also in almost all the other business that are built for this purpose, should be evaluated with a great concern and taken seriously and the competent organs should take the necessary measures to prevent this situation. From the obtained information, we think that the intervention of the control organs should not be merely for investigation, but also broader and more periodically for all the entities whose activity involves the production, processing, and preservation of food products. There should be control groups set up in collaboration with the consumers’ association in the hot season, with the purpose to protect the health and the interest of consumers.

It was appropriate to suggest the licensing and control of entities that produce food products, and only one institution should not make the inspection or three as the law provides for it, as it lowers the responsiveness thus leaving room for abuse.

It is observed with concern in the obtained information by the experts of our institution, that the officials and specialists of the inspection state control bodies, there is the mentality and concepts that “all must eat a little”. This mentality justifies the observed deficiencies and the lack of an automatic system for the filling and sealing of the bottles, instead doing that manually, and when it is common knowledge that it can contaminate the water.

The MoAF and MoH received a videotape of the inspected entities from the working group of our institution, and also the production from one company in south for comparative reasons. The People’s Advocate requested from the respective ministers that through the supervisory bodies in their institutions to make serious verifications for the above investigated cases and we recommended taking prevention measures for this alarming situation. Even drastic measures, as the termination of activity, could be taken in case the products do not meet the necessary standards.

At the same time, we suggest that a thorough study should be made of the situation and based on the standards set by the World Health Organization and the laws and other legal acts at disposal, to define the criteria and the standards clearly specified for the licensing and renewal of licenses of the production and trading companies of mineral water and of food in general.

In relation to these concerns and in support of the recommendation addressed to the MoH, MoAF and MoE, the Prime Minister issued an administrative act by which he ordered the foundation of an inter-ministerial group with representatives from all the Ministries and involved institutions in this process for the review and execution of the legislation which defenses the legal standards of the natural mineral potable water.

e) Complaints against the district Directorate of Agriculture and Food

There were 7 complaints, out of which two were for the interruption of employment relationship with the MoAF and the others for the district directorates of agriculture and food that have resulted beyond our jurisdiction. Two complaints are solved in favor, that of citizen N.G. inhabitant in Tirana who returned to his work place with the voluntary execution of a final judicial decision, and the other from the complainant F.H. inhabitant of Tirana, who was able to obtain the information for the official documentation from Tirana Agricultural Directorate.

12. Ministry of Finance (MoF)

During 2002 there were 35 complaints, requests and notifications addressed to the People’s Advocate with claims from citizens and commercial entities for violation of their rights, freedoms and legal interests from illegal and irregular actions and/or inactivity of the financial organs, including the MoF itself, as well as the customs and taxation offices, whereas in 2001 there were 40 complaints.

These complaint continue to deal with the no-execution of article 142/3 of the Constitution; of Law No. 8435, dated 28.12.1998 “On the Taxation System” with respective changes; of Law No. 8449, dated 27.01.1999 “On the Customs Code”; of Law No. 8379, dated 29.07.1998 “On the Drafting and Execution of State Budget”; of Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 205, dated 13.04.1999 “On the Execution Dispositions of the Customs Code”; of Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 02.06.1998 “On the Execution of Judicial Decisions”; of Order No. 2, dated 02.02.2001 “On the Execution of State Budget”; from the above organs. Following, we will mention some of the recommendations that we have made in the financial aspects, the approval of which has brought a better management of the activities in this field:

1) Recommendation addressed to the MoF for the publication in the Official Legal Bulletin of Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 205, dated 13.04.1999 “On the Execution Dispositions of the Customs Code”, that was not published before.

The realization of the publication of this decision in 2002 was our obligation to the Parliament, as we have brought this issue before in the 2000 and 2001 Annual Reports.

Our insisting requests for the publication of this Governmental decision in the Official Legal Bulletin is very important and it is related also to the consequences deriving from its implementation as a practice without having the legal power because it constitutes a flagrant violation and unimaginable financial consequences for the state itself, if the interested judicial subjects would sent to the court the decisions of the customs organs supporting this action in the dispositions of this decision of the Government.

Besides this, the publication of this decision serves to the much-needed transparency for the Government and the business, to avoid corruption and to inform the interested people with the regulations and procedures incorporated in it.

It is our pleasure to inform that we convinced the Government on the necessity of achieving this constitutional obligation. We received a positive response and big willingness for the realization of this request, from the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers, after our recommendation was sent to this office. We had sent this recommendation several times to the Former Finance Minister.

2) We have continued to request the execution of the recommendation addressed to the MoJ and MoF to issue decisions as defined in paragraphs 1 and 4 of Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 02.06.1998 “On the Procedures for Execution of Judicial Decisions for the Obligations that Affect the State Budget”. From the intolerable inactivity of these two institutions, and for the execution of the Constitution and legal acts, as well as Governmental decisions, we evaluate that without these decisions, the decisions with a final verdict continue to remain in paper and cannot be executed. The non-fulfillment of requests of the above-cited decision puts the organs of the local Government before great responsibility. There are not created real possibilities for the fulfillment of this constitutional obligation as envisioned in article 142, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, to execute the judicial decisions with a final verdict.

The decision of the Government obligated first of all the MoF, MoJ and the Institution for the Integration of the Former Political Persecuted from the issuance of guidance within 1998, a duty not yet fulfilled even nowadays.

It is intolerable and can not be justified by any reason, the fact that Decision of Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 2.06.1998, from 4 paragraphs it has in its content, and 3 are inapplicable because new regulations are issued from the above-mentioned institutions. As a result, no only this decision of the Government becomes inapplicable and discrediting from the practical point of view, but also it does not allow the implementation of the requests of article 142/3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.

In relation to the financial institution we can mention that for the execution of judicial decisions, because of lack of legal argumentation to object our recommendations, they do not provide responses. There are not a few cases when they do not recognize and know thoroughly the Constitution, the laws and decisions of the Government and as a result there were given responses that were not based on the law. In these cases, we have approached them again in a written form and have explained that we requested only the execution of the laws and the Constitution, thus sustaining in details our stand, and subsequently making the necessary interpretations. As a result, we were able to solve some of the complaints, or at least put them in the path of being solved. However, we have made recommendations that we have not received a response yet.

The funds for execution of judicial decisions, assigned by the State Budget have increased. Hence, as for 2001 there were 100 million Lek available, in 2002 185 million Lek were given for this purpose, whereas for 2003 there are allocated 150 million Lek.

In 2001 there was spent only 60% of the allocated fund, during 2002 this fond is totally spent.

In the official response of the MoF for this problem it is stated that: “For execution of judicial decisions with a final verdict, for obligations that touch the state budget, we inform you that the fund planned for 2002 is 185 million Lek, from which 184 million Lek is spent for the execution of 185 judicial decisions.

From the continuous complaints against the taxation branch offices for the collection of profit tax, it appeared that the physical and legal entities collect the profit tax in the beginning of the year based on estimated figures. Even when the entities represent their books showing that they have made a different profit from those pre-stated it is not possible to be reimbursed the amounts deposited in the beginning, after various ways are found to exercise pressure from these offices. This is illustrated through the complaint of the company “Infosoft Systems”, that it had prepaid the estimated profit tax to the Tirana taxation branch, based on the financial reporting of 2000, which was verified and approved by authorized independent audits based on article 39/c of Law No. 8560, dated 22.12.1999. It resulted that this company had deposited more and the taxation office should return a set amount. Although this company had made a request for the verification of this situation by the taxation office, still they did not receive any response either positive or negative, even after one year had passed. After our intervention in 2002, the complaint was solved in favor of this company.

We also believe that the customs office lack totally transparency. This lack of transparency it often happens in the cases when the entities pay for the tax obligations with the reference prices, when the Law “On the Customs Code”, envisages that the reference price should be used only in those cases that other criteria are not met. We think that these reference prices should be defined only by the Council of Ministers and should be published a head of time so that the interested are informed on time.

Among the reasons for this bad situation in the public administration of the finance sector, we believe is the lack of knowledge on the Constitution, the Law “On the Information”, the Code of the Administrative Procedures, and the Law “On People’s Advocate” which set the boundaries for the obligation of the administration in responding to the complainants. The lack of control of the managers on the simple employees of this administrate to fulfill the duties obligated by this law, to exercise programmed controlling and not find the easiest ways through arrogant attitudes, thus considering the business community as a partner, and not as a subordinate. These actions, together with the lack of transparency, lead inevitably to the abusive, corruptive and discrediting attitudes from the state administration.

In conclusion, we can say that the MoF, along with its dependant institution has behind reasons that operate with old method of work, with the sole purpose to collect the planned money. Thus, collecting the forecasted revenues by any means, without respecting the Constitution and the law, has brought grave violation of the rights of the citizens, thus damaging the business and creating no perspective for them, for which the country’s development is so much in need.

13- Ministry of Education and Science (MoES)

During 2002 there are 78 complaints or requests against the MoES and the institutions under its supervision. 20 complaints are in the phase of review from our office, 10 complaints or requests are solved in favor, and 33 complaints are beyond our jurisdiction, whereas 15 complaints were groundless. In 2001 there have been 26 complaints, from which 2 are solved in favor.

1. After the competition for admission in universities for the academic year 2002-2003, are presented many complaints, with the scope of: lack of transparency and information in relation to the right of self-evaluation and confronting with the competition test; lack of information for the competitors in relation to the rights and obligations after competition; limited timeframes defined for registration of winners. The legal basis which we based our intervention for all the universities that did not allow the re-evaluation of the tests, was the Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information”, as also our Constitution which guarantees the right to information in article 23.

For the unification of this practice in all the universities, our office found the support of the Minister. For the realization of right of re-opening and reviewing the tests, on 8.10.2002 the Minister, Mr. Luan Memushi, issued a Guide No. 4083 “On the Regulation of the Competition”, which solved the complaints of the students, for reviewing the results of the test for admission.

During the time that our office reviewed intensively to find a swift solution to of these complaints, we it also became clear to us that all the regulations, procedures and ways that are envisioned in the process of competitions should be sensitized in legal acts and other normative acts, and it will show a qualitative effort in the betterment of work from one year to the other. This is valid not only for the design and evaluation of the test, but also for the correction. This process went through many filters, thus minimizing in maximum the material mistakes or subjective evaluations of the competition tests. Also, the fact that in extra quotas, there was followed a order of winners with the highest points, which was another positive achievement of this ministry and which avoided abusive attitudes in damage of the principle of equality of citizens. In relation to this issue, we highlight with pleasure that during academic year 2002-2003, for the first time was implemented the principle of equality for admissions in universities. This was because the Prime Minister and Ministry of Education abrogated the decisions, which were applied before 2002 ordering the admission without competition of a number of students. For this issue, in June 2002, we approached with recommendations Former Prime Minister Mr. Majko and Minister Memushi, who welcomed them. In fact, the practical realization of this practice ended in an institutional way the accusations for bias admissions, injustices or corruption, that have been claimed every year after the conclusion of the process of admission of student in October of every year.

As for the regulation for the acceptance in middle schools by a competition, which is designed some years ago, we judge that it has room for improvement, particularly in paragraph 20, in the way that it foresees for this category of students, to gain the right of education through the extra quotas, not to apply the order of highest points.

2. From review of some complaints it was clear the problem that has to do with competencies of the faculty branches in the University of Tirana, for the employment contracts of the academic personnel. The procedure of admission and signing of contracts is explained in article 11 of the Regulations of the University of Tirana. In this procedure should be regulated the role of the department in this process. In the concrete case the Dean of the Faculty has the authority to sign or terminate employment contracts with the scientific and educational personnel. But it is not evidenced in legal acts, which would be the structures that would evaluate the academic level of a teacher. From the review, it resulted that the employment relations with the academic personnel in universities is regulated partially from the Labor Code and partially from Law No. 8461, dated 25.02.1999 “On the High Education”. On the basis of article 26 “the responsibilities and the rights of the personnel of universities that come from the legislation in power are defined in the statute of the universities and internal regulations constituent units of the school in accordance with the legal acts and other normative acts in power”. Concretely, the Statute and the Regulation of the University of Tirana foresee a specific procedure that must be respected from the organs of the faculty for employment of internal academic personnel that positions the latter in a specific position in comparison to other categories of employees, whose employment relations are regulated by the Labor Code. Thus, the process of their dismissal cannot be limited to only an evaluation of the Dean in relation to work performed by them. Another reason, which brought the conclusion that another procedure must be formulated before the Dean takes the decision for termination of employment contract, which should have the purpose to first, respect the principle of equality and non-discrimination during the process of decision-making from the side of the Dean and secondly, the increase of steadiness of staff, because of the specifics that the academic personnel has and that influences directly in the academic process and increase the level of academic staff to the desired levels. Another evidenced moment deals with the fact that the department proposed to the Dean the measures of violations for discipline at work for the professors. In relation to this fact it results that the law and the statute or guidance does not foresee the measures to be taken in these cases. On the basis of article 37 of the Labor Code the disciplinary measures are foreseen only in a collective contract. In this moment we highlight the necessity to envisage disciplinary measures, with the purpose that the final decision for termination of employment relationships should be a result of the degree of the violations and previous measure taken. This fact becomes more important when there does not exist a collective contract between the MoE and this category of employees. With this purpose, we approached the Senate of the Tirana University, with a proposal for “Improvements in the Statue and Regulations of the University of Tirana through envisioning a procedure for job evaluation of the internal academic personnel before taking the final decision for the termination of employment relationship from the Dean of the Faculty”. Yet we have received no official response, because the university has been involved with elections of its leaders.

3. In the complaint of citizen M.M., former teaching assistant in the Department of Philosophy and Sociology, at the Faculty of Social Sciences, she objected the Administrative Act No. 6, dated 12.03.2001 of the Dean that has decided not to renew her contract as teaching assistant because the terms and conditions for the criteria of admission had changed. After judicial review of the problem it is decided finally that this administrative act was invalid, and this faculty was obliged to execute this decision, thus keeping the complainant in her previous position as teaching assistant. Our office has recommended the Rector of the Tirana University to exercise his legal competencies for the execution of the above judicial decision. The Rector and the Dean did not accept the recommendation. In fact, the Dean, who with his arrogance does not execute article 142/3 of the Constitution for restore of complainant to her job, with groundless claims for violations of autonomy and academic freedom, for incompetence of the courts and others, at a time when the court has taken a positive decision for the former teaching assistant, while the Dean has violated all the legal procedures, which the legislation guarantees to her. The case was sent to the Minister of Education and the new Rector of the University.

4. Also, two medical doctors have complained that they competed and did not win a post-university specialization in the Faculty of Medicine. The complainants claim that the accorded extensions in the specialty of Dermatology and Obstetric-Genealogy are not distributed according to evaluation of the competitors.

The case is still under review, as the Dean of this Faculty has not provided the required information, besides all the requests made from our side.

5. A considerable number of complaints had as an object the dismissal from work of teachers or transfers from one job to the other, by the Education Directorate in the districts. The majority of these complaints resulted as groundless.

14. Ministry of Health (MoH)

During 2002 for this ministry and the institutions under its supervision there was a total of 25 complaints. From 19 reviewed complaints, 1 was solved in favor, 8 have resulted as groundless, 10 outside our jurisdiction and competence and 6 complaints continue to be under review.

The scope of issues dealt mainly with dismissals from job, non-execution of judicial decisions, maltreatment from the side of medical personnel, as well as the payment for overtime work.

From the complaints settled we can mention one:

1-Complaint of citizens L.V. in relation to the maltreatment in the dialysis section in Hospital No. 1 of the Hospital Center “Mother Teresa” from a nurse.

In relation to this issue, we have requested explanation from the director of the hospital, who informed us that as a result of this situation, they had a meeting and gave a scold to the nurse.

Beside this case, we have not seen other cases where it is evidenced maltreatment of the patients from the medical personnel.

2-The complainant A.T. has presented a complaint on behalf of the pharmacists that work since 1994 in the pharmacy “Prima Farma”, near “Libri Universitar” in Tirana.

They presented to us the problem of the conclusion of the process of privatization of this pharmacy according to Decision of Council of Ministers No. 192, dated 20.03.1998 “On the Criteria of Evaluation of State Property to be Privatized and the Sales Procedures”.

The case is still under review as we have not yet received explanation from the MoH and MoE in relation to the fact the way the capital means have passed from the MoE to the MoH, to open later the road to privatization.

But it is evidenced that the process of privatization from the pharmacists has been the cause of conflicts with various individuals, who claim ownership as former owners or for conflicts with the ministry itself, for the fact that the latter has evaluated these objects as not to be privatized.

Whereas for the dismissals from the job, the complaints mainly dealt with the fact that the individuals are not informed in relation to content of decision for dismissal from job from respective authorities, thus violating the dispositions of Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information over Official Documents”.

The majority of these issues that belong to this ministry are judged as beyond our jurisdiction and competences for the fact that the complainants’ issues are under court trials.

15- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)

During 2002 for the MoFA, embassies and consulates outside the country we received 21 complaints, out of which 4 are yet under review. In relation to the scope of these complaints we must say that they mainly dealt with actions or inactivity of consulates or consular sections in our embassies in those countries where there are a lot of Albanian citizens. From the complaints, 13 resulted out of the jurisdiction and competence of the People’s Advocate. The majority of the complaints were addressed against the representative missions in Albania. When the complaints have been out of our jurisdiction, the citizens were shown the ways to follow in such cases.

One of the priorities of the MoFA during its activity was the protection not only of the interests of the state but also the interest of the Albanian citizens that work outside the country. The Institution of the People’s Advocate with its interventions, after review of complaints, has aimed to have influence on better administration not only on Albanian administration inside the country, but also on that part, that functions outside Albania. Our institution has pushed the increase of attention of MoFA for the strengthening of consulates or consular sections in embassies, particularly in Greece, Italy, Germany, UK etc, where lives a considerable number of Albanian citizens, in function of increasing the quality of consular services. For this, we suggested in the 2001 Annual Report, that the number of consular personnel must increase, as it is not possible that 20-30 consular officers, can respond in a timely manner to more than half a million Albanian citizens that live and work outside the country. We highlight that during the term of Mr. Ilir Meta as Vice Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the collaboration among our institutions has increased, and that has given positive effects for the treatment of complaints and other issues that are related to this important institution.

In function of this collaboration in the working meetings with Mr. Meta we have treated the possibility of creation of a system named “one stop service” for reducing the consular procedures, which can be performed even with one person outside the consulate.

“One stop service”, creates the possibility of offering public services from one office for several difference services. This can be implemented in case of the procedures that the citizens need to follow at the MoFA for various problems that are related to them. The creation of this service outside the state would increase the possibility and quality of providing services to citizens that work or live outside the country, with purpose that they could pay and did not need to come physically in Albania to receive a certificate, authorization, the same as fixing the problem of receiving passports at the embassies and consulates.

To increase the services to the citizens, more attention is being paid to the problem of legalizing of documents needed outside the country, for those documents to be notarized and must be legalized in the MoFA. We had complaints from the citizens that are obliged to stay in long queues and face unnecessary obstacles. This ministry has taken measures to reduce these difficulties. Also, there are other solutions such as adherence to a given Convention that recognizes the notary stamps, without needed a second legalization from the MoFA.

During 2002, in collaboration with the MoFA and MoJ we printed in Albanian a summary of information on international law, in relation to the rights of the individual and their protection in institutions penitentiary system outside the country, where more than 5,000 Albanian citizens suffer their sentences. This publication was made with purpose to help the Albanian prisoners outside country, who are a specific unprotected group that do not have the possibilities for network and connections, as the other prisoners do. This becomes more evident when the prisoner cannot read and write the language of the country where jailed. The literature in Albanian language in prisons outside the country for many reasons does not exist. Recommendation No. 89 of the Council of Europe about education in prisons in paragraph 10 defines the rights of prisoners for the service of library at least once a week.

The Institution of the People’s Advocate, viewing that the rights of Albanian prisoners outside the country are almost denied, and based on the above acts and requesting the collaboration of MoJ and MoFA initiated the project for the publication of the brochure, and now it is in the phase of close collaboration with these Ministries to start distribution in the prisons where Albanian prisoners suffer their sentences.

We addressed to the MoJ and MoFA another recommendation, which is accepted. Recommendation dealt with:

· Execution of procedure of preparation and publication of official texts in Albanian language of ratified international acts by our country from the MoJ, which officially keeps the international acts prepared for approval from the competent organs.

· The realization of publication of convents’ texts in Albanian language and ratified agreements by our country, the text of which is not published in the Official Gazette, with purpose that all the organs that are obliged to implement them should first become familiar with them.

We have approached the MoFA with concrete proposals in relation to Project-Protocol for the supplement of the “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” in this direction:

· The creation and necessary sensitization of respective organizations to take into consideration and support this project protocol.

· The influence for its ratification in the Assembly, using the arguments related to the objectives of our activity.

The nowadays international reality is faced with a number of new phenomena, where violence, cruel treatment of human beings, physical and psychological tortures have taken a new form, and which damage and deny in essence the guarantees of the individual, was issued as a primary duty of member states of the “Convention against Torture” (approved by the General Assembly of United Nations) to find new forms and ways to fight fiercely these actions.

In this respect, recently in the 57^th sessions of (September-December 2002), from a previous proposal of the Government of Costa Rica (member state of this Convention), the commission of the human rights has proposed a project-protocol to supplement the “Convention against Torture”, where has presented some new forms of control against this phenomenon, which can influence the effective prevention of them.

In response to our proposal, the MoFA informed us, that based on article 5 of Law No. 8371 dated, 09.07.1998 “On Signing International Agreements and Treaties”, the text of protocol was sent to the MoJ, as the central competent institution for following the procedures necessary for the signing and its ratification. We will continue to follow this problem because it deals with the increase of guarantee of our citizens against grave violations of their rights and freedoms with actions such as torture and others.

From the reviewed issues during 2002, it is worth of mentioning, two; one which has not been settled because of unjustified delays in receiving responses from the Consular Directorate of this ministry.

1- Citizen A.N. has complained about his son who is a student and has the status of permanent resident in the USA. On 27.07.2001 the Police of Immigration in Istanbul “Ataturk” Airport stooped his son, with the claim that the Albanian passport and the Green Card were false. After, he was put in the isolation rooms in Istanbul, was denied the right of a defense lawyer or to call his family and the Albanian and American Embassies, thus treating him as a criminal. He was released after 96 hours, but his documents were sequestrated.

The biggest concern the complainant has is for the negligence of the Albanian Consul in Istanbul, who although notified by the MoFA did not take any action to help the Albanian student according to his functional duty. According to the complainant, his response was that nobody could recognize him in the Turkish Police Station.

Also, he claims that he has addressed another complaint to the Consular Directorate for this problem, thus requesting its intervention so that the Turkish police return the documents of his son but until now he has not received any positive response.

To provide a possible solution to this complaint, we have requested explanations about this complaint to the Consular Directorate in the MoFA. Although the legal time limit to receive a response has passed, yet there has been no response, with all the interest that our office has expressed.

2- In the last year annual report we presented the case of 5 former employees, diplomats and assistance personnel of the Albanian Embassy in Beograd, who on April 5, 1999, when the NATO bombardments started on Yugoslavia for the crimes of Serbs in Kosovo, left the embassy without even collecting their personal belongings. These belongings were burnt and destroyed and they have the right to demand respective compensation. For this purpose, they presented their complaint to the MoFA, which did not take it into consideration. Later, they approached our institution, which reviewed this issue and reached to the conclusion that the requests of complainants for compensation were fair and right. For this, we recommended to the MoFA not to wait for the normalization of its relationship with the Yugoslavia and after the Yugoslavian party compensate the Albanian Government to reimburse the damages of its employees, but referring to Law No. 8510, dated 15.07.1999, “On the Responsibility of Outsource Contracting of Organs of State Administration”, this directorate should have paid the material damages from the evacuation of our Embassy in Beograd. Even the Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Parliamentarian Paskal Milo in his discussion in the Assembly on our Annual Report of 2001 that it was a mistake that the complaints have not been considered when he was a minister. Thus, it was confirmed that our recommendation was right and the ministry is working for the solution of technical issues that deal with the problem.

Whereas the following case shows the manner in which we helped to improve some administrative issues in this ministry.

3- Citizen A.B. complained to our institution in relation to the decision for his transfer from his job as a driver from one embassy to another outside the country.

After our investigations in relation to this issue, it has resulted that we do not have to do with a partial interruption of the work relationships, as the complainant was appointed in the same day on another job.

But in this case it is worth of mentioning that it was evidenced that, works relationship of the technical staff of our embassies demands a legal regulation in conformity with the Code of Labor and legislation in general. This category of staff was not hired by employment contracts, but only on the basis of the administrative act of assignment.

Our recommendation on this topic is considered right and we were informed that this issue is being solved. We have offered our collaboration in judicial-professional level and we are continuously following this issue.

16. The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MoTT)

During 2002, our institution received 50 complaints against the MoTT and their depending bodies.

a. Complaints for the Ministry itself

We have received 10 complaints against the MoTT, from which, 3 are still pending cases and 7 have been completed. Out of 7 completed complaints, 2 have been solved in favor of, 3 were off jurisdiction and 2 were dismissed for lack of legal grounds.

We would like to mention the case of 4 families, residing in Tirana, who submitted a complaint against the MoTT and their depending bodies for not complementing the process of expropriation of their land in the neighborhoods of Tirana Circle. After the verification of the provided documentation, we addressed the MoTT and the case is under examination. The problem with this case can be related to several cases against the Ministry of Transport: the expropriation of owners for public interest. As mentioned in the 2001 rapport, the delay in procedures and taking the cases to court are common and reflect somehow the lack of a thorough regulation by laws to the related problem. There is a lot of inaccuracy in the lists of the Office for Registration of Estate regarding the expropriation of owners for a public interest. The obligation emerges from article 41 of the Constitution applies to all subject, comprised the public administration. Referring to the complaints submitted to our institution, we have found out that the above article has not been applied properly from the public authorities and as a result, interested parties have taken the cases to the courts of law. The People’s Advocate should continue to put pressure on the public authorities for resolving administratively those kinds of conflicts and saving people from running to courts. We are listing two more cases below:

1. The citizen N.C., a Durres resident, submitted a complaint for being unfairly fired from the Directory of Railways in Durres. After the verification of the complaint, we found it grounded and recommended that the appropriate authority to take the proper measures; as a result he returned to his job.

2. Citizen Sh.M., a Tirana resident, submitted a complaint against the Turkish company “Behasse”, a contracting party together with the MoTT for not paying the due fees for the construction of a road fragment. We contacted the MoTT and the General Directory of the Roads to verify the complaint. The result was that the Turkish company not only didn’t pay him for the rendered services but had broken the contract and were gone. In that situation, we recommended to the Public Prosecutor of Elbasan to start investigations against the above Turkish Company. The case is currently under investigation.

b- Complaints against Telecom

During 2002 we have received 40 complaints against the General Directory of Telecom and its offices in different cities. We need to point out that this sector has grown tremendously in few years. Nevertheless, a lot of problems have appeared, especially the increasing of the standards of services in conformity with the contemporaneous techniques.

Verifying the complaints showed that were many inaccuracies in the bills, such as missing due dates and the repair and restoration of the services were not completed on time.

It has been verified that this institution, in a lot of complaints, has not done verifications of the complaints submitted, but rather sent out a copy of a form, changing only the name and the phone number of the complainant. After our intervention, there are some improvements, but still, a lot has to be done, especially on being transparent during drafting of the bills, where the majority of complaints seem to be. It doesn’t require too much action as in the case of the Albanian Electric Corporation and Water Pipe, because the equipments are located within the institution structure. It demands also the reaction from different organizations, such as ERT, Consummators Association, Directory of Consummators at the MoE and the MoTT.

We also observed abusive behavior from Telecom, consisting of the forced selling of the Telephone Book for 2003. The Telecom could breach the contract in case the contractor does not buy the book. We addressed the Minister of the Transport and Telecommunications, Mr. Spartak Poci as below:

“The People’s Advocate has received a considerable amount of complaints from people around the country regarding some actions of Albtelecom as follows: The Deputy Director of Economic Matters, Mr. Et’hem Shahu has issued three administrative Orders, No. 5562, dated 20.08.2002, No. 5562/1, dated 05.09.2002 and No. 5562/3, dated 19.09.2002, asking the contractor to pay the fees he owes for the Telephone Books, in the amount of 567 Lek, otherwise they will breach the contract. These orders are in violation of the contract between the citizen and the Providing Agency.

An investigation carried out by the People’s Advocate’s experts resulted in the value of this book being paid off from Albtelecom until 2006. We were informed that Tirana and Durres offices of Telecom haven’t implemented the above order, finding it off jurisdiction and in violation of the contractor’s rights set up in the contract.

Considering the importance and amplification of this phenomenon, we kindly inform you and recommend taking the appropriate measures to annul the above orders in order to avoid the dissatisfaction of people. The competent authority took into consideration our recommendation and repealed the orders.

Currently, the People’s Advocate is working with experts from Telecom and Regulation Agency of Telecom in drafting a contemporary contract between Albtelecom and contractors, avoiding the drafting from the Economic Directorate instead of Directorate of Legal Issues. The other interested parties, such as the Directorate of Consummators and the Association of Consummators are part of this cooperation as well.

We hope that within the year 2003, the contractors of static telephone services will be offered a similar contract, providing the rights and obligations of the contractual parties according to the Constitution and the other laws and regulations.

We have received complaints against the private cellular companies, such as AMC and VODAFON for the service fees and the phone cards. We have addressed to the Regulation Agency of Telecommunications to resolve the complaints but we haven’t received any answer from them yet. We are still following with these cases.

17. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MoCYS)

During 2002 we received 12 complaints against the MoCYS. Out of 6 cases completed, 1 was in favor, 3 beyond jurisdiction and 2 without any legal grounds; 6 requests are under investigation.

The thematic of complaints against to the ministry above is related to the non-execution of the court orders, violation of the right to information, unfairly firing and disciplinary actions.

As for the completed cases, we would like to mention a case resolved in favor by our institution, regarding the execution of a decision issued by the ministry in question for the payment due for funding the publication of the requester‘s book.

At the end, after our intervention, the ministry verified the case and reimbursed the requester.

In addition, during 2002 we resolved favorably complaints submitted in 2001 of some employees of the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana, who demanded that their salaries be equal to those of employees of other parallel institutions for the reason of being an institution of the national importance.

18. Ministry of Environment (MoE)

During 2002 we received 15 complaints relating to the pollution of the environment. It is a step forward compared to the previous years where we didn’t consider such cases. The complaints against illegal construction are not included here. Even though the number of complaints is not higher, their presence shows that the Albanian public is becoming sensitive about such issues as environmental ones.

Out of 15 complaints, 12 referred to the pollution caused by radiation of cellular antennas on top of their buildings.

Initiated by an article on the “Republika” journal on August 2, 2002 titled: “The cellular antennas caused the deafness of three children of a policeman 10 meters away from their home”, considering the publicity of the case, we took the initiative to investigate the case. Later on, the complaints on the same subject came in against the cellular companies such as AMC and Vodafone.

Our office did the investigations, such as questioned several persons, included the doctors, inquired the place in Librazhd and administered different legal acts, and official documents.

In order to have a specialized estimation of the case, we appointed an Italian citizen with expertise on the issue. He utilized some equipment to measure the level of radiation. According to his results, the usage of cellular phone antennas causes the pollution of the ambiance through the release of gas and other toxic radioactive substances beyond the allowed limits, which constitute a risk for the health of the people. As a result, the National Agency for the Protection of the Environment and its regional branches, have violated the requirements of Law No. 7664, dated 21.01.1993, “On the Protection of Environment”. Thus, according to article 9 of the above law and the subsequent amendments to article 3, the National Agency for the Protection of Environment is bound by law to “Evaluate the influence on the environment of the implementation of programs, projects and the activities of the different subjects on the related area.” In addition, according to article 10, as well as the interpretation of the changes made by the supplement law, article 4, “The above agency is obliged by law to reevaluate the projects and activities that effect the environment periodically, initiated by the Head of the National Agency for the Protection of the Environment, not later than 5 years.”

Taking into consideration the conclusions reached by the expert, we concluded that we are before a violation of the above laws; the passivity showed by Vodafone and AMC caused the above consequences.

As a conclusion, based on the article 21/c of the Law “On People’s Advocate”, we recommended to the Public Prosecutor’s office of Tirana to initiate criminal charges on the abuse of their powers, toward the responsible officials at the National Agency for the Protection of the Environment (actually, the Ministry of Environment) and to charge the responsible officials of “Albania Vodafone” and “AMC” with criminal charges for the pollution of the environment.

The case is under investigation by the public prosecutor’s office of Tirana. We have included with the dossier several other complaints of ordinary people on the issues of pollution of the environment because of the above radiation problem. We have to point out that during our investigation, the officials in charge explained that they have established controls with the apparatus of the companies in question and the radiation level was within allowed limits. There are doubts about the efficacy of these controls.

Moreover, we addressed the issue to the MoE, MoH and MoTT, as well as notifying the Prime Minister on the necessity of the adoption of a specific law for the protection of the health of people from this kind of radiation. As we are informed the above ministries are working on drafting the relevant laws considering our proposals. We are processing the case.

19. Ministry of Industry and Energy (MoIE)

During 2002 we received 80 complaints, out of which 16 are related directly to the MoIE and 64 concerned the Albanian Electric Power Corporation.

a. Complaints against the Ministry itself

Out of 16 complaints, 7 are beyond the jurisdiction, 1 in favor of, while 8 are still pending cases. 6 of the complaints are related to the non-fulfillment by the Government of the obligations emerged by the agreement with the Italian company “Darfo” for the payment of social securities of the employees of Albckrome and Albabaker before taking over the above enterprises by the Italian company. Article 4 of Law No. 8590, dated 23.02.2000, stipulates: “Upon the signing of the concession agreement, the Government is in charge of the obligations toward the state budget and the third parties, object of the concession.” Verifying the complaints received, it resulted in the Government owing a considerable amount of money to the subjects above.

To this point, it is important to define the necessary steps taken by the Government to liquidate the debts. In 2001, the Ministry of Public Economy and Privatization (actually Ministry of Industry and Energy), has sent an official letter to the Ministry of Finance, regarding the treatment of the obligations emerged from the concession of certain objects. According to the content of this letter, the 2003 budget should envisage the liquidation of the obligations for those objects. The Ministry of Finance required from the MoIE to draft a project decision, envisaging the ways of treating these obligations instead of sending the list to the ministry. The value of these objects passes the financial possibilities of the budget. It requires a thorough study on the modalities and the terms of payment. In that case, it is clear that the Government has to issue a decision but until now nothing has been done, except exchanging correspondence between different ministries to define which one should be in charge. The interested people are paying off the consequences from the passivity of the above authorities.

b. Complaints against the Electric Power Corporation (EPC)

During 2002 we received 64 complaints and requests against Tirana EPC and some other braches in different cities. Most of the complaints belonged to Tirana and Elbasan. Below you will find some of the complaints and the problems that appeared:

1. We have received a lot of complaints from citizens, claiming that the competent authorities haven’t provided them with power in conformity with the signed contract. They said that they have paid their dues accordingly. The verification resulted that the requests were based on legal grounds. According to the explanations provided by the Tirana EPC branch, Order No. 32, dated 02.04.2001 of the General Director of EPC, has broken the electricity contract. Paragraph 1 of this order says: “All cabins and entities with a payment of 30% or less of their total bill should have their electricity interrupted”, while paragraph 6 says: “The power will be restored after not less than 70% of the bill has been paid”. We addressed to the General Director of EPC with the recommendation below:

“Verifying the above order, it is clear that has been acted in violation of the Constitution, as well as with the requirements of the contract linked between EPC and the client according to the dispositions of Civil Code.

Thus, it is infringed paragraph 1 of article 4 of the Constitution which stipulates: “The law constitutes the basis and the boundaries of the activity of the state”, paragraph 3 of article 11 “Limitations on the freedom of economic activity may be established only by law and for important public reasons” and paragraph 1of article 42 “The freedom, property, and rights recognized in the Constitution and by law may not be infringed without due process.”

Taking into consideration the fact that issuance of this order was conditioned by reasons, such as the lack of electricity and the non payment of the dues by many citizens), it doesn’t justify violating the Constitution with an order of the General Director of EPC. In our opinion, a new law should regulate the above issues, considering the content of article 44 of the Constitution which says: “Everyone has the right to be …and/or indemnified in compliance with law if he is damaged because of an unlawful act, action or failure to act of the state organs.”

In the given case, paragraph 1 and 6 of the above order, envisage the “collective punishment”, and as a result they are anti-constitutional. Nobody should be punished for the actions of the others: e.g. because the neighbors haven’t paid the due fees. In that case, the competent authority could breach the contract with the individuals who don’t meet the requirement of the electricity contract. Enforcement of laws is assured not by acting arbitrarily but by respecting and complying in conformity of laws.”

For the reasons submitted above, we recommended the change of paragraph 1 and 6 of Order No. 32, dated 02.02.2001. The General Director of EPC responded positively to us, informing that the two paragraphs in question have been abrogated.

2. We have received a lot of complaints regarding the bills issued by EPC for people that don’t have an electricity apparatus. EPC hasn’t found an appropriate way to collect money for the services rendered and has charged the consumers with erroneous amounts. A lot of people complained that they have been to EPC several times asking to have the apparatus installed but EPC has not done anything. They continue to pay erroneous bills in order to get electricity. These actions on the part of EPC constitute a violation of the consumers’ rights.

As a result of our intervention, EPC will equip with apparatus, first the citizens than pretend to consume less that they are charged, and will repair the old apparatus owned by a lot of consumers as well.

3. According to several complaints, EPC hasn’t submitted correctly the bills to the citizens. It seems that the problem has been resolved so far, after we posed it to the competent authorities.

4. We have had complaints from some employees of EPC for not filling the electricity bills accordingly. It has resulted in paying a higher amount than what is due, because we all are aware that after consuming over 300 KW, there is a higher tariff to be paid. We informed the competent officials and the disciplinary actions have been put into place.

5. In the 2001 report, we emphasized the need for adopting a master contract on the modalities of providing citizens with electric power. We are pleased to inform that as a result of close collaboration with EPC, the Regulation Agency of Energy adopted a new master contract, which will come into effect in April 2003. There are 750.000 contracts to be signed. However, we are conscious that this contract could not satisfy completely the citizens’ needs, for the “simple” reason that EPC is a public entity and the status of relations between state and the citizens is still far from being equal.

The People’s Advocate institution has made an immense contribution in raising the awareness and conscience of the public on the violation and infringement of the citizen’s rights from EPC. At the same time we have asked the citizens to fulfill their obligations, such as the dues for the services provided. The implementation of the master contract is the main concern for the next year.

20. Complaints against Secret Services

During the year 2002, citizens, who demanded the intervention of the People’s Advocate Institution to resolve their problems in connection with the State Informative Services, have submitted 11 complaints.

On account of the work nature, the complaints in relation to the Secret Services have been handled as a priority. Following the examination and verifications effected for these 11 complaints, 3 of them have been justified, 5 no justified, 2 beyond the jurisdiction and 1 pending case. Classifying the complaints according to the problems that the complainants raise has resulted in:

1. Out of 5 complaints for being unfairly removed from job, none was justified.

2. The citizen G.P. complained for non-execution of a court order, obliging the State Informative Services to pay him the rent in the amount of 2 million Lek for using his property. Following our intervention, the citizen collected his money from the above authority.

3. The Independent Syndicate of the Small Economies and Artisans of Kosovo complained that in 1995 the Head of their organization had been abducted by Secret Services. The office of public prosecutor suspended the investigation in1997. Following the verification of the complaints through interviewing different people that knew about the case, we recommended to the General Prosecutor to reopen the case. We have been informed that the investigation has been reopened.

4. The citizen Z.K. complained that in 1995 he was abducted and tortured by the former SHIK of Tirana. After verifying the case and convinced that there is a legal ground for criminal charges, we recommended to the General Prosecutor to open the investigation. We have been informed that the case is under investigation.

5. The complaint of the citizen A.H. from Fier, regarding the illegal detention of his son by Secret Services in 2001, is in the process of investigation.

We emphasize that the institutional relations between our institution and the Secret Services are based on legal grounds and we appreciate their willingness to provide us with the required documentation, including the secret ones, according to the requirements of law. The Secret Services sent us the Project-Law on “The Surveillance of Communication and Telecommunication”, as well as the draft law on the services. This reflects a good understanding by Secret Services and evaluation of the role of our institution as a warrantee for the protection and promotion of human rights. We have received complaints against secret services on the regulation of disciplinary measures. In some cases they have applied disciplinary actions that don’t fall in the definition foreseen by the regulation. We have received verbal complaints that some rights envisaged by the law on these services haven’t been applied: low salaries, need for housing and no raise for the promotions they earned for years. A lot of employees have complained that they haven’t benefited the status of the military officer, which constitutes a violation of the rights vested by a specific law.

21. Generalizations on Employment Relations

Following the identification of complaints relevant to employment relations, it showed that complaints have been submitted against each branch of public administration. In 2002, the total number of complaints was 172, of which 30 complaints have been resolved favourably for the complainants, compared to a total of 150 received in 2001.

The major part of the complaints submitted, associated with employment relations, has to do with the irregularities and incorrectness of the collective and individual contracts, the employers' failure to deposit the social insurance contributions, etc. It should be pointed out that numerous complaints have bee addressed against the private employers. The problems were present in the 2001 report as well. There is no development vis a vis legislation on this matter, except for a project-law being drafted.

Scrutinising the complaints, requests, or notifications related to the employment relations, we have concluded that it is necessary to amend the legislation applicable, which regulates these relations. Therefore, the Labor Code adopted in 1996, should be amended or complemented, since there have been observed several deficiencies in the course of carrying it into effect, mostly in issues such as collective and individual contracts: for instance, appropriate attention has not been paid to the initial moment of commencing the employment relations, drafting the employment contract, which should be detailed, the hiring procedure to be uniformly applied to all the employees, the suspensions or dismissals and the rights the employees should enjoy after the contract enters into effect.

The Labor Code seems to be an amalgam of different legislations of European countries. There is not a harmony of these dispositions with our tradition. In addition, the code hasn’t considered the actual stage of the economical and social development of our country, the specific conditions of the Albanian job market and the assistance offered from state to unemployed people. There is a big gap between Albania, and the western countries, whose legislations were used as a model during the drafting of the labor code countries.

During the implementation of the labor code, it has come out that the terminology used has been hard to understand for a lot of issues. As a result, there have been different attitudes and practices from the judiciary and the parties involved in the contract of employment. At the same time, in the course of the examination of related cases, we have noticed that in some cases, the employers have consciously abused the rights of their employees.

In all branches of local and central administration, in a lot of cases, there haven’t been concluded individual job contracts. As for collective contracts, in many cases they are superficial; the same contract has been used for different labor sectors. This results in a lot of administrative and judicial conflicts.

In most of the cases we have treated, both private and state employers did not comply with the dispositions relating to the breach of contract. Furthermore, tribunals haven’t followed the requirements of article 144 of the Labor Code.

In this report, we would like to distinguish the cases relating to the non execution of the court decisions which have decided in favor of employees: the reimbursement from their ex employers of 1 year salary. They haven’t been reimbursed for years and the employers tried to justify this with the fact of a lack of funds. In our opinion, this obligation should fall into the employer himself/herself, because his/her actions caused the illegal termination of the contract. It seems to us logical; the state has no financial responsibility for the abusive behaviors of high-ranking officials.

Another alternative, supported by the syndicates too, is that in cases of an illegal breach of contract by the employer, it should be annulled and the employee should be returned to his/her job. This solution was foreseen by the previous labor code and it is actually regulated by the decisions of the Civil Services Commission. Another issue that seeks further regulation is the case of filling the position after breaching the contract. After an employee has won a case to return to his previous job, in a lot of cases the decision hasn’t been put into effect, because the employer has filled the position with another employee and the latter should be removed from the post. Also, we have observed that the transfer of employees within the state institutions in the same or different job categories hasn’t been done correctly; a lot of irregularities have appeared, such as the state authorities lack the regulation on the job description.

The same applies to the Law “On the Status of Civil Servants”. Regulating the employment relations with the Labor Code and the Law “On the Status of Civil Servants”, which applies to the civil servants, are still issues to be discussed, since both of these laws need revising. The above law foresees that in case an issue is not regulated by its dispositions, the labor code should apply. The other relevant laws don’t include such a regulation in their dispositions. As a result, laws cannot protect the employees, if they face a similar situation as above. For the reasons mentioned above, either relevant laws should be amended or the labor code should include articles on the above issues during its revision.

The coexistence of the two laws that cover the labor relations has caused misinterpretation and misunderstanding of the applicable scope of one another. For example, in article 2 of the Law “On the Status of Civil Servants” it stipulated that this law covers the officials of municipalities and communes as well. In practice there have been different attitudes. Some of the prefectures have decided competent in dealing with such cases, others incompetent for the same categories of officials.

Another controversy practical issue we want to point out is that different attitudes have been employed during the recruitment process: in some cases the employers have recruited employees based on a contract and later on, they have formally announced the opening. Actually, there is a formal legal cover for those actions, but in reality, it hides the real motives, such as taking benefits or doing a favor to a friend or a relative.

As a conclusion, we would like to underline that through envisaging the complaints we have received, there is an immediate need for the revision of the Labor Code and the Law “On the Status of the Civil Servants”. Our institution will support any legal initiative and we will transmit our suggestion to the relevant authorities.

22. Conclusions concerning the cases related to Public Administration

Considering the number of the complaints examined in 2002 by the People's Advocate, in relation to the Administration, we conclude that there are numerous instances of human rights violations in the area of public administration. In addition to the failure to observe the deadlines fixed with respect to the administrative solution in certain areas, following the examination of the complaints submitted, it has resulted in, that there has been mainly a refusal to respond to the citizens' letters, a refusal to accept the application forms, a denial of the right to take part in an administrative procedure, as well as deprivation of the right to become familiar with the official documents. Our report is full of descriptions of the human rights violations and several other irregularities, but it could be admitted that in our contacts with the administration bodies, at all levels, we have often noticed a correct attitutde and acceptable level of self-correction of the respective violations by these bodies. We regretfully have observed that even though most of the public services are payable, the tarifs are too high. People wait in long lines at the offices for the registration of real estates, EPC and Telecom. Puting an end to these phenomena, will save time for the citizens and make them feel equal and more importantly, will reduce the risk of so- called “small corruption”, which is present in a lot of cases. We have observed that there is a good understaing and consideration of our recommendations by the central authorities such as minstries, directories or prefectures, but it is not always the case with municipalities, communes and low-level central bodies.

In addition to improving the efficiency and completing the new administrative system within the process of integration to the European Union, the main tasks for our administration are:

1. The implementation of the provisions stated in the Law “On the Code of Administrative Procedures” and the Law “On the Right to Information” by all levels of the public administration.

2. Enhanced subject-area control in the area of concrete activity for all the links of the public administration. It implies that, the administration activity should not be controlled only in financial terms, but in terms of the entire activity and descriptive function of each civil servant's work performance. Therefore, not only the internal, but also the external control over the administration should be strengthened. There should be set up new inspection units, whereas in case they already exist, they should be further strengthened. Naturally, the role of the Supreme State Control is irreplaceable, but its recommendations should be carried into effect without hesitation.

3. Full implementation of the Law “On the Status of Civil Servants” All levels of the public administration should define job descriptions for all positions.

4. Better coordination of work performance within the ministries, especially on an inter-ministerial level and coordianting and supervising the role of the ministries in the new relationships of decentralization and autonomy of local Government.

5. Strengthening the performance activity of the judical directorates in the respective ministries, and respecting their suggestions by the senior mangement staff and the ministers, as well as filling the vacancies with legal advisors in the lower level bodies, especially at the local Government level. With reference to our observations, it has been noticed that in several small municipalities and communes, there have been employed no legal advisors. That has influenced the level of decision taken by these bodies, including the instances of making counter-legitimate decisions.

6. The public administration of all levels should be aware of the performance level of its governing, through studies and periodically organizing public surveys.

At the moment, we are unable to admit that this is a comprehensive list of recommendations, which will further improve the the performance and activity of the albanian administration, or radically improve its quality. Our target is modest: Briefly providing our observations and finding conclusions, based on handling the cases and issues submitted to us in connection with the activity and performance of the Albanian Administration.

We have also stated in the previous reports that our concrete activity in relation to the administration bodies has as its main objective, handling of those cases and issues associated with the violation of human rights, or other irregularities leading to the violation of these rights, and to assist the citizens. On this basis, it is impossible to provide an uncontestable judgment on the activity and work performance of the public administration in Albania.

CHAPTER FOUR

I. Follow-up on cases presented in the Annual Report for year 2000 and 2001

Some of the cases (complaints, requests, or recommendations) presented in the 200 and 2001 reports have been accomplished, therefore they have been reflected in the respective sections dealing with their problem-range. Consequently, in this chapter we shall briefly introduce only those follow-up cases even for year 2003.

1. Amendments in the Code of Penal Procedure; in connection to the right for the family members of the victims of the penal offences to attend the trial sessions, to defend their own interests. This recommendation will be repeated by even other changes the Code of Penal Procedure will be subjected to, the reduction of the preliminary investigations being a case in point.

2. Amendments in the Code of Civil Procedure, in connection with the participation of the defense attorneys for both inter-judicial parties, in cases when the High Court examines the request of either parties, as regards suspending the verdict execution. In addition, even in cases of trial sessions involving a single citizen, etc.

3. Amendments in the Labor Code. Our recommendation has been accepted. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has submitted the draft law on amending this law. The case will be followed up until the Albanian Parliament has approved these changes.

4. Endorsing the new Code of Family. The draft for the new code prepared by the Government has been introduced to the Parliament, awaiting approval.

5. Completing the Law "On the Convicts' Rights" with the respective normative acts on remunerating the convicts for the work done, changes in the regulations for the penitentiary police, and completing the specific regulations for each prison.

6. Amending the Law "On Social Insurance in the Republic of Albania" concerning the benefits for the military servicemen inflicted accidents while performing office duties.

7. Adopting the Law on the Indemnities, according to article 44 of the Constitution.

8. On invalidating article 289 of the Customs Code; the request has been submitted to the Constitutional Court, the trial session has taken place, but the verdicts has not yet been pronounced.

9. The recommendation addressed to the Prime Minister concerning refusal by the administration bodies to carry into effect the judicial verdicts, thereby violating article 142 of the Albanian Constitution. Concurrently, related to failure of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice to meet the requirements envisaged in the Council of Ministers Decision No.355, dated 02.06.1998, to this effect. The recommendation has been repeated and the problem is being followed up.

10. Recommendations on the measures taken so as to carry into effect the right of information over the official documents. We will follow up with the recommendations of the National Conference on the right to information.

11. Transferring the isolation cells at the Police Stations to the subordination of the General Prisons Directorate. Work to carry into effect has started and is being followed up by our Office until accomplished.

12. Establishing the medical examination service for the detainees pre-detained at the Police Stations. We have repeated this recommendation, since the measures to take into effect have not been taken. This problem is being followed up.

13. The complaints of the residents living in the border with Kosovo, whose houses had been damaged during bombing of NATO in 1999. This problem is being followed up.

14. The complaints of the residents of Boville, their properties had been flooding during construction of the Boville water pipeline, which haven’t been compensated yet. The institutional competence has been determined and the problem is being followed up.

II. Cases started at the initiative of the People's Advocate

According to article 13, Law No.8454, dated 4.02.1999 “On People's Advocate”: “The People's Advocate initiates the procedure related to examining the respective cases, provided he notices or suspects that the violation of the right has occurred, based on the complaint or request submitted by the person interested or damaged, as well as at his own initiative, in special cases which have bee made public, at the consent of the person interested or damaged.”

The complaints submitted by the OSCE office have not been considered as initiative cases. Nevertheless, with reference to the complaints submitted by the Tirana-based OSCE office, our office has initiated the examination of the cases, likewise we have paid on-site visit to meet the complainants in person, or they have been asked to approach us, so as to give the respective consent and explanations. The OSCE office has been notified in writing with respect to the completion of each case.

- A total of cases started at the initiative during year 2002 15

- Complaints resolved favorably 11

- Beyond competency or jurisdiction 2

- The complaints refused on account of the fact that 1

individual complaints have not been submitted in compliance

with the law, the complaints have been withdrawn, or

finally the complaint was unjust or untrue

- Examination underway 1

More detailed information is provided in the respective tables.

1.	Evaluations of the International Institutions and Authorities on the People's Advocate performance and activity	274
2.	Acknowledgement letters addressed to the People's Advocate	276
3.	Graphs	281

No.	Media	Complainant	Complaint Content	Place/District	Manner of Solution
					In favor	Incompetence	Rejected or unjust	Under-process
1	Koha Jone		Bad living conditions.	Detention cells Vlora	+
2	Republika	R. Dega	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
3	Republika	R. Limani	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
4	Republika	I. Gjoni	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
5	Republika	H. Lumani	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
6	Republika	E. Molla	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
7	Republika	F. Skerma	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home	Prison Hospital	+
8	Republika	B. Karakushi	Prisoners sick with cancer asking to die at their home.	Prison Hospital	+			+
9	Initiated by the People's Advocate		Non-functioning of the Supervisor Commission on Prisons	Tirana	+

No.	Media	Complainant	Complaint Content	Place/District	Manner of Solution
					In favor	Incompetence	Rejected or unjust	Under process
10	Initiated by the People's Advocate		Law no .8092, dated 03.02.1996 “On Mental Health” is incomplete	Tirana	+
11	Gazeta Shiptare 11.05.2002	Reshit Uku	Release of his daughter kidnapper from Kavaja Police	Kavaja	+		+
12	Gazeta Reportazh 17.09.2002	Spartako Satiri	Maltreatment by the Shkodra Police	Shkodra		+
13	Koha Jone		Citizen Hajdar Mustafa from Kamenica, Korce, commits suicide after the Greek Customs Police stamped his passport, imposing a 5 year prohibition on going to Greece	Korca		+
14	Republika	A. Braja	Citizen A. Braja from Librazhd complains about the risk of radiation from the AMC cell antenna near his house	Librazhd	+
15	Republika		“Cosmote” sells empty cards	Tirana				+

No.	DATE		NEWSPAPER	HEADLINE	COLUMN
1		10.01.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA, 2665 complaints against the state institutions for 2001	Notification
2		10.01.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, $20,000 reimbursement from KFOR (complaint)	Pronouncement
3		11.01.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	PA, Example of the functioning of the new institutions	Interview
4		13.01.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA, 35 military officials “being kneeled” by law, after the decision. Military gained the case and wants to return back to work. They have hope for the adoption of a project-law this year	Article
5		15.01.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, Investigation for the police who mistreated the residents of a given area	Pronouncement
6		25.01.2002	REPUBLIKA	The trade-off of the local Government has been reclaimed to the PA. 11 military officials are being held by the municipality	Pronouncement
7		26.01.2002	REPUBLIKA	The state offices don’t obey to PA. Lawyers follow the road of the complaint instead of enforcing the law	Article
8		28.01.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, The reimbursement of the stolen money in the courts’ hands	Article
9		01.02.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	The Prefect is being denounced to the PA	Pronouncement
10		05.02.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	PA, Judicial holes in the services contract	Pronouncement
11		O6.02.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	PA, “A new law is coming into power soon”	Pronouncement
12		07.02.2002	SHEKULLI	PA requests from his Greek homologue the verification of the news on “Antenna 1” for Braho Llapin. The SHIK warehouseman is accused of cooperation with Bin Laden from Antenna 1	Notification
13		14.02.2002	DITA	Violation of the law on the public information. Dobjani asks for help from the authorities	Pronouncement
14		14.02.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	At the People's Advocate’s Office where the citizens go for assistance	Article
15		15.02.2002	BALLKAN	PA, “We will initiate the investigation for Ilir Hajrullahin”	Pronouncement
16		16.02.2002	BALLKAN	PA, complains for the people’s representative	Article
17		16.02.2002	SHEKULLI	The arrest of Hajrullajt to the People’s Advocate	Pronouncement
18		16.02.2002	DITA	Two years with the People’s Advocate. Most of the complaints are against the judiciary and public information.	Interview

19	16.02.2002	KOHA JONE	Two years of the People’s Advocate	Article
20	17.02.2002	KLAN	The last challenge of Ermir Dobjani: "In the name of the People." Defeating EPC and Water Pipeline	Article
21	17.02.2002	DITA	Shatri, Dobjanit: The Court of Appeal in Vlora steeled my property	Article
22	20.02.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	The incompetent people ask for the help of the People’s Advocate	Article
23	21.02.2002	KOHA JONE	Dobjani: Meeting with NATO’ representatives	Notification
24	23.02.2002	KOHA JONE	Dobjani: "Don’t’ violate the rights of immigrants".	Pronouncement
25	23.02.2002	KOHA JONE	The suicide of Mustafes, investigated by the People’s Advocate	Pronouncement
26	26.02.2002	INTERVISTA	Dobjani: Here is the situation of the abusive actions from the police. AP tells of human rights’ violations.	Interview
27	27.02.2002	REPUBLIKA	Naumov couple. Dobjani received the written proofs from the police	Article
28	03.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	"The officials violate laws". 190 complaints against Hajdaraga at the Ministry of Defense. PA responded	Article
29	03.03.2002	DITA	Dobjani at the Parliament for the Army	Notification
30	08.03.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Malaj:PS will not allow firing	Article
31	08.02.2002	USHTRIA	Dobjani to the Ministry: " Study the legal regulation of the case"	Notification
32	12.03.2002	KOHA JONE	A child 9 hours in detention. His father denounced to the PA. In attendance of the penalization of the Blue Uniforms.	Pronouncement
33	13.03.2002	KOHA JONE	Amnesty International: Investigation to policemen that violated the child	Article
34	16.03.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Policemen of Cakes letter to the People’s Advocate	Notification
35	16.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	"Albanian books in the prisons" , People’s Advocate sent the request	Notification
36	16.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	The owners ask for the help of the People’s Advocate	Article
37	16.03.2002	SHEKULLI	The peace missioners’ project for the limitation of blood vengeance. 1,380 families from Malesi e Madhe, referendum for the project	Article
38	17.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	People’s Advocate asks for investigation of the officials that have distributed the properties in Vlora	Notification
39	20.03.2002	DITA	After a lot of complaints to the People’s Advocate, it comes out the cooperation; Dobjani and EPC work on a contract for the consumers	Article

1.	The right of good administration of the European Union, the legal ground for the recommendations of the People’s Advocate	12
2.	The Constitution and the Albanian Law "On People's Advocate" reflect the international experience, as well as the recommendations and advice of the International Community concerning this Institution.	15
3.	The structure, organigram, and qualities of the People's Advocate staff	21
4.	Establishing and commissioning the Institution of People's Advocate in Albania	29
5.	International support	31
6.	The Institution's budget allocated for year 2002	32
7.	Institution's difficulties and their causes	34
8.	The foundations for the institution's current achievements	36
9.	Challenges, the institution's targets for year 2003 onwards	36
10.	Future institution strategy	38

1.	Summarizing statistics for year 2002	40
2.	People's Advocate and Albanian Parliament	44
3.	Opinions on corruption and anti-corruption	47
4.	People's Advocate and Constitutional Court	52
5.	General opinions on the situation of human rights in Albania	65
6.	The activity of People's Advocate and public relations	70
7.	Open Days, a new experience of People’s Advocate	77
8.	International Relations	80
9.	People’s Advocate and Amnesty International	95
10.	National Conference on: “The right to information, a fundamental human’s right	96
11.	Other Activities of the People's Advocate Institution during 2002	100

Concrete activity of the People's Advocate targeting the complaints, requests, and notifications (cases), classified according to the governmental institutions
1.	Council of Ministers (Government)	104
2.	Ministry of Justice	118
3.	Complaints against Judiciary System	129
4.	Complaints against Public Prosecutor Office	138
5.	Ministry of Public Order	145
6.	Ministry of Defense	182
7.	Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization	189
8.	Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs	197
9.	Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism		205
10.	Ministry of Economy		217
11.	Ministry of Agriculture and Food		218
12.	Ministry of Finance		225
13.	Ministry of Education and Science		228
14.	Ministry of Health		231
15.	Ministry of Foreign Affairs		232
16.	Ministry of Transports and Telecommunications		237
17.	Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports		239
18.	Ministry of Environment		240
19.	Ministry of Industry and Energy		241
20.	Secret Services		244
21.	Generalisations on Employment Relations		245
22.	Conclusions concerning the cases related to Public Administration		248

40	20.03.2002	SHEKULLI	PA: A new contract with EPC- a sign of civilization	Pronouncement
41	23.03.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	PA at the seminar: How the judiciary respect human rights	Pronouncement
42	23.03.2002	Gazeta "55"	The People’s Advocate requires the exclusion of the corrupt structures of the Government from drafting the privatization modalities	Article
43	24.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	Properties registered under the names of the people without any connection. PA requires investigation proceedings.	Article
44	27.03.2002	RILINDJA DEMOKRATIKE	The Minority Parties: Dobjani’s Rapport - a demagogy	Article
45	27.03.2002	REPUBLIKA	Parliament “judges” the People’s Advocate	Article
46	28.03.2002	Gazeta RD	Dobjani, late in the reaction against the violation of the human rights	Article
47	28.03.2002	Gazeta RD	People’s Advocate, a deaf institution	Pronouncement
48	02.04.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	The law hadn’t been applied in the property’ cases	Pronouncement
49	04.04.2002	REPUBLIKA	Dobjani: "4 years passing, people have lost their faith in collecting money from pyramid schemes"	Interview
50	05.04.2002	KOHA JONE	The People’s Advocate of Sweden Claes Eklundh speaks: “The People’s Advocate, a serious institution"	Pronouncement
51	05.04.2002	REPUBLIKA	Seminar in Tirana on the relations of the Judiciary with the People’s Advocate institution. “Court and judges should be supervised"	Article
52	05.04.2002	SHEKULLI	Dobjani speaks about the relations with the judiciary	Article
53	05.04.2002	ALBANIA	Don’t complain to the People’s Advocate about courts’ decisions	Article
54	16.04.2002	REPUBLIKA	People’s Advocate: "Urgent investigations"	Article
55	21.04.2002	KOHA JONE	People’s Advocate on the rights of the Albanian immigrants in Greece	Article
56	23.04.2002	Gazeta RD	Letter addressed to the People’s Advocate (Arbnori, Police massacred innocent citizens)	Article
57	24.04.2002	Gazeta "55"	People’s Advocate, investigation for torturing Gaxhai and his group	Article
58	26.04.2002	KOHA JONE	People’s Advocate: The mental sick person, from the cell to the hospital	Article
59	03.05.2002	EPOKA E RE Kosovo	Dobjani: "The Kosovo people should be complying with Kosovo’s laws".	Article

60	03.05.2002	24 Ore Kosovë	Marek Novicki:"The Ombudsmen are state controllers". The Ombudsman, a guarantee for the democracy.	Article
61	03.05.2002	KOSOVA SOT	The Deputy Head of the Kosovo Parliament met with Ermir Dobjani	Notification
62	03.05.2002	"ZERI" Kosovë	Dobjani:" Kosovo people should be complying with Kosovo’s laws ".	Pronouncement
63	04.05.2002	KOSOVA SOT	Projects on the human rights and their advancement. Press conference of the Kosovo Ombudsman and Albanian Ombudsman	Press Conference
64	04.05.2002	EPOKA E RE	Novicki- Dobjani, cooperation in different matters.	Article
65	04.05.2002	SHEKULLI	"People’s Advocate" or "Government’s Advocate?"	Article
66	04.05.2002	KOHA JONE	Investigation against the bodyguard of Gjinushi for beating paraplegics. PA requests the Prosecutor office to initiate the investigation	Pronounce
67	04.05.2002	BOTA SOT	Good cooperation between Albanian and Kosovo Ombudsmen	Article
68	05.05.2002	REPUBLIKA	Under accusation Water Pipeline, Telecom and EPC. The new contracts for consummators t are missing. Complaints to Dobjani	Pronouncement
69	05.05.2002	GAZETA "55"	"The People’s Advocate" under investigation. Marketin Topallaj files charges against Ermir Dobjani to the General Prosecutor Office	Article
70	07.05.2002	ATSH,GAZETA SHQIP.	PA receives complaints in Kukes	Notification
71	07.05.2002	ATSH	PA visited Kosovo	Notification
72	09.05.2002	SHEKULLI	People’s Advocate. Kukes citizens deposited their complaints. 25 complaints in three days	Notification
73	09.05.2002	ATSH	Korca habitants address more to the People’s Advocate	Notification
74	10.05.2002	ALBANIA	Korca presents their problems to the People’s Advocate	Article
75	10.05.2002	SHEKULLI	Korca residents deposited 60 complaints in one day	Article
76	11.05.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	PA, Dobjani: In 5 days I met the Kosovo personalities. PA visits Kosovo	Notification
77	12.05.2002	KOHA JONE	State, $6 million debts. 104 requests are being envisaged by the People’s Advocate	Article
78	12.05.2002	GAZETA DITA	Dobjani: FNSH police to be investigated for criminal charges	Pronouncement
79	14.05.2002	ATSH	Prime Minister Majko discusses with the People’s Advocate “ The relationship between individuals and the administration”	Notification
80	14.05.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Ban on the massive cut of electricity. PA won over EPC	Article
81	15.05.2002	REPUBLIKA	Majko: Dobjani should provide us with the denunciations of FRESH	Pronouncement
82	15.05.2002	Gazeta RD	High-ranking officials construct illegally	Notification

83	15.05.2002	ALBANIA	Majko met with the People’s Advocate	Notification
83	15.02.2002	ALBANIA	Majko meets with the People’s Advocate	Notification
84	15.05.2002	GAZETA "55"	Majko and Dobjani at the same front against the political cleansing at the state administration	Notification
85	15.05.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	Majko: The State Administration needs new people full of energy	Pronouncement
86	16.05.2002	REPUBLIKA	The great risk of radiation has come out of the surface. The end of a battle	Article
87	16.05.2002	REPUBLIKA	Measurement is completed, People’s Advocate sent the dossier for investigation	Notification
88	18.05.2002	REPUBLIKA	First "Orders" were given by the Head of Executive after the suggestion of the “People’s Advocate”	Notification
89	21.05.2002	SHEKULLI	The police are maltreating minors. PA: no complaints, only two minor of 13 years have denunciated	Pronouncement
90	06.06.2002	REPUBLIKA	Water Pipeline under accusation. Petition from PA. Hope for solution	Notification
91	06.06.2002	GAZETA DITA	The Minister of Economy consulted with PA. From now on, a law for the consumers	Notification
92	10.06.2002	ATSH	Toll free number for the prisoners to complain to the PA	Article
93	11.06.2002	GAZETA "55"	PA against the land band	Article
94	11.06.2002	ALBANIA	People’s Advocate, "alo" free for the prisoners	Notification
95	14.06.2002	GAZETA RD	Under investigation the police that maltreated the minor. PA return the minor case	Notification
96	14.06.2002	SHEKULLI	The minor case. The minor case from Saranda underestimated from the Public Prosecutor office. Deputy commissioner Hasani: PA has provided evidence but no accusation	Pronouncement
97	14.06.2002	GAZETA DITA	The truth of the minor maltreatment from the police. Publication of the investigation results in Saranda	Article
98	14.06.2002	KORRIERI	Reopening of the investigations for the maltreatment of the minor from Saranda	Notification
99	16.06.2002	ALBANIA	The Ministry of Economy consults with the People’s Advocate for the law on "Consumers". New contracts with Water Pipeline, Telecom and EPC	Pronouncement
100	19.06.2002	KOHA JONE	The travesty, self called Nikoleta, complains to the People’s Advocate. Police harasses me	Notification
101	21.06.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Colonel Karaj: Public Order no more problems. Preoccupation blood feud and car’s traffic	Article
102	21.06.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	8 complaints to the PA	Article
103	21.06.2002	KOHA JONE	Shkoder, a river of complaints to the People’s Advocate	Article
104	21.06.2002	REPUBLIKA	Replenished on the road, packaged and sold as a natural juice	Notification
105	22.06.2002	GAZETA "55"	"People’s Advocate" soon in Shkodra	Notification
106	22.06.2002	GAZETA RD	People’s Advocate denunciated the privatization procedures	Article
107	23.06.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	The electricity has been cut because their neighbors haven’t paid	Article
108	23.06.2002	GAZETA RD	People’s Advocate or Government Advocate?!	Article
109	25.06.2002	ATSH	The People’s Advocate Commissioners assembling the complaints in some districts	Notification
110	26.06.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	Commissioners assembling complaints	Article
111	27.06.2002	ATSH	Pellumbi-Meeting-Hansen. The Chairman of the Parliament, Pellumbi met with the Ombudsman of Denmark, Hansen.	Notification
112	27.06.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	Abusiveness of water, and stealing to be sols into the market	Article
113	27.06.2002	ATSH	People’s Advocate-Shkoder. An office of the People’s Advocate will be opened soon	Notification
114	28.06.2002	SHEKULLI	Dobjani: No complaints on the discrimination of the minorities	Pronouncement
115	28.06.2002	ATSH	8 citizens from Tropoja complain to the People’s Advocate about their problems	Notification
116	29.06.2002	ALBANIA	8 citizens from Tropoja complaint to the People’s Advocate	Notification
117	30.06.2002	SHEKULLI	Advocate of Denmark meets with Dobjani	Notification
118	30.06.2002	SHEKULLI	Dobjani: toll free phone number for the detainees at the police	Pronunciation
119	01.07.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Ombudsman of Denmark speaks: I’ll help for the association of the Albania to EU	Press Conference
120	05.07.2002	R.D.	PA "Journalists are welcomed to the PA"	Pronunciation
121	07.07.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Denunciation to the PA: What happened with additional scholarships? A girl suffering from depression: They stole my university studies	Pronunciation
122	08.07.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	PA for the acceptance lists at the Universities	Pronunciation
123	09.07.2002	SHEKULLI	People’s Advocate faces the complaints for violation from the police	Notification

124	09.07.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Elbasan/ Ermir Dobjani accepts complaints	Notification
125	09.07.2002	GAZETA RD	A mountain of complaints to the People’s advocate. 400 victims of the corrupt administration	Article
126	11.07.2002	GAZETA RD	PA, negative answer for the Dushnik strikers	Article
127	11.07.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	PA drafted the contract of EPC with the consumers. The corporation has obligations toward the consumers	Article
128	11.07.2002	REPUBLIKA	The assembling of the death-causing equipment continues. PA has requested scientific information about the case	Pronunciation
129	11.07.2002	SHEKULLI	PA, 30 complaints from Gjirokastra	Notification
130	12.07.2002	SHEKULLI	The new contract on electricity will come into effect within a year	Article
131	12.07.2002	SHEKULLI	Librazhd, 30 complaints to the PA	Notification
132	13.07.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	Government approved the anti-corruption plan for 2002-2003.	Notification
133	14.07.2002	"DITA JUG "	People’s Advocate-a door to be knocked	Article
134	20.07.2002	TAGBLATT DER SUDTIROLER	Albanian Ombudsman a friend of Balzano’s Ombudsman	Notification
135	26.07.2002	REPUBLIKA	“Low-ranking” officials’ complain against the “High-ranking” officials. Firing is not motivated	Article
136	26.07.2002	Tribuna Juridike	Non-grounded complaint against a decision	Article – Y. Hasani
137	08.08.2002	REPUBLIKA	To Dobjani: 250 complaints on the land’s conflicts	Article
138	10.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA "All should be armed and requirements should be met!"	Article
139	13.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA files charges against the municipality for not providing houses for 70 Tirana military people	Article
140	15.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA warns Edi Rama:"Be careful. You are over passing your competences!”	Article
141	16.09.2002	A. T. S H .	PA recommended to the Prime Minister changes in the law on the registration of the civil acts	Notification
142	17.09.2002	GAZETA DITA	PA wrote to the President, Prime Minister and the Head of the KQZ, for removing of the dead from the civil registry	Notification
143	17.09.2002	ALBANIA	PA: Thousands of dead, still alive. Civil State office doesn’t do the removal of the dead from their lists	Article
144	18.09.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	AP discovers the scandal: the law need to be changed	Article
145	18.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA: NATO will reimburse the Camema family	Pronunciation
146	19.09.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Denunciate to PA "Police massacred my husband”	Article
147	20.09.2002	BALLKAN	PA law on the military should be changed	Article
148	20.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	Advocate sensitize the Parliament for the military	Article
149	21.09.2002	ALBANIA	PA 3141 complaints from citizens	Article
150	21.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA asks for a meeting with Government within 10 days	Article
151	21.09.2002	SHEKULLI	Competition for Universities to the People’s Advocate. Dobjani to the presidents of the universities:” Publish the registration dates for the winners".	Article
152	23.09.2002	A. T. S H .	PA 3141 complaints since September	Notification
153	23.09.2002	A. T. SH.	PA will meet with the Danish Ombudsman	Notification
154	24.09.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	Meta-Dobjani: Easy procedures for the free movement of the Albanian abroad	Pronunciation
155	24.09.2002	ALBANIA	Denmark, help for the People’s Advocate	Article
156	24.09.2002	ALBANIA	Ilir Meta and Dobjani: Consulate services, help for immigrants	Article
157	24.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA recommendation to the Berat Public Prosecutor office: "Initiate the investigation!"	Article
158	24.09.2002	REPUBLIKA	Dobjani-Meta, meeting for resolving the immigration problems	Article
159	28.09.2002	Denmark Holbek Amts Venstreblad	Albanian Ombudsman paid a visit to the prison of Juderrup	Article
160	01.10.2002	A.T.SH.	Advocate Dobjani ended his official visit to Copenhagen	Notification
161	02.10.2002	KOHA JONE	The right to study to the People’s Advocate	Article
162	03.10.2002	SHEKULLI	Competitions, Dobjani :"Reopen the exams’ dossiers"	Article
163	03.10.2002	KOHA JONE	PA found out the culpable on the entry exams lists	Article
164	03.10.2002	A.T.SH.	PA met with a group of Serbian experts of the Kosovo People’s Advocate Office	Notification
165	04.10.2002	Gazeta DITA	Parliament approved the Dobjani’s project	Article
166	04.10.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, "The culpable will be discovered through facts"	Article
167	04.10.2002	PANORAMA	Competitions, The People’s Advocate initiated investigations	Article
168	04.10.2002	BALLKAN	New law, the People’s Advocate restores the dignity of the military	Article
169	04.10.2002	USHTRIA	PA: A group of retired militaries won the supplementary pension from the social security	Article

170	05.10.2002	KOHA JONE	Dobjani: "The texts need revision"	Pronunciation
171	06.10.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA calls for control on the mineral water in the market	Article
172	06.10.2002	PANORAMA	PA, List without seal and signature is invalid	Pronunciation
173	08.10.2002	A.T.SH.	PA met with the Ambassador of OSCE office in Tirana	Notification
174	09.10.2002	SHEKULLI	Dobjani, penal charges against the Faculty of Economics	Article
175	09.10.2002	ALBANIA	Tens of students complain to the People’s Advocate	Article
176	09.10.2002	REPUBLIKA	Dobjani:"We have no power to reverse the court’s decisions!"	Pronunciation
177	13.10.2002	BALLKAN	Constitutional Court and the People’s Advocate opposed Nano on the property cases	Article
178	12.10.2002	ALBANIA	PA intervenes in the contractors-Albtelecom conflict on the bills	Notification
179	13.10.2002	GAZETA RD	The Albanian Forum of Intellectuals addresses to Romano Prodi and Doris Pack for the properties	Article
180	16.10.2002	KOHA JONE	PA returned to school the student of the Academy of Order. Women’s rights have been violated	Article
181	17.10.2002	REPUBLIKA	The victims’ families complain to the People’s Advocate: "We want to be party in the process!”	Article
182	18.10.2002	A.T.SH.	PA is envisaging the legal framework of the Water pipeline enterprise	Notification
183	19.10.2002	A.T.SH.	The High Commissioner of the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Gil Robles in Tirana	Notification
184	20.10.2002	GAZETA "55"	People’s Advocate met with The High Commissioner of the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Gil Robles	Notification
185	20.10.2002	A.T.SH.	People’s Advocate met with The High Commissioner of the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Gil Robles	Notification
186	21.10.2002	A.T.SH.	Minster of Justice, Spiro met with The High Commissioner of the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Gil Robles	Notification
187	21.10.2002	A.T.SH.	Meta : met with the High Commissioner, Alvaro Gil Robles	Notification
188	21.10.2002	A.T.SH.	Minister Rama met with The High Commissioner of the Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Gil Robles	Notification
189	22.10.2002	A.T.SH.	President of Republic, Moisiu met with the High Commissioner of CE Gil Robles	Notification
190	22.10.2002	A.T.SH.	Prime Minister Nano met with the High Commissioner of CE Gil Robles	Notification
191	22.10.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Meta met with Gil Robles	Article
192	23.10.2002	"ZERI POPULLIT"	Moisiu: Albania determined to accomplish the institutional reform	Article
193	23.10.2002	GAZETA "55"	The High Commissioner of CE, Gil Robles, expresses his concern about the situation of Albanian prisons. There are women’s rights violations	Press Conference
194	23.10.2002	Gazeta "55"	President Moisiu met with the High Commissioner of CE, Gil Robles. “Free movement of persons avoid traffics"	Article
195	24.10.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA promises to do his best	Pronouncement
196	27.10.2002	BALLKAN	PA, Investigation for the judge Rena Maneku	Article
197	30.10.2002	SHEKULLI	Al Sajed towers to the People’s Advocate	Article
198	05.11.2002	Gazeta Daneze J. Posten	Albanian Ombudsman has solved 25% of the complaints	Article
199	05.11.2002	PANORAMA	PA inquired the penal investigation	Article
200	06.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	Dobjani and Xhefri met to get acquainted	Notification
201	06.11.2002	BALLKAN	Dobjani: How the court’ secretaries hide the dossiers	Pronouncement
202	07.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	Executed the spouse and asked for the help of the People’s Advocate to find children. Two years the mother killer was looking for her children. No address for them.	Article
203	07.11.2002	GAZETA SOT	PA seeks the equality of parties in the Cocaine process	Pronouncement
204	07.11.2002	KORRIERI	PA found appropriate the participation of the parties during the inquiring of Cestari	Pronouncement
205	07.11.2002	ATSH	The ambassador of the USA in Albania, Jeffrey evaluates the work done by the People’s Advocate	Notification
206	08.11.2002	Gazeta RD	Xhefri-Dobjanit: Definitive solution for the properties	Article
207	08.11.2002	GAZETA SHQIPTARE	Xhefri congratulates the People’s Advocate	Article
208	12.11.2002	KOHA JONE	The Constitutional Court decision, a precedent with heavy consequences	Article
209	12.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA, State officials mock the rights of citizens and seek bribes	Pronouncement
210	13.11.2002	ALBANIA	PA found out the forgery of the director to the employees	Article
211	14.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA, Inert could not be fought with state administration’s illegal decisions	Article
212	14.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	The Government decision is perplexing	Article

213	15.11.2002	KORRIERI	PA, No closing to the inert’ s companies	Article
214	15.11.2002	KORRIERI	Recommendation of the People’s Advocate	Notification
215	19.11.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, Seminar for the rights of the military officials	Notification
216	19.11.2002	A.T.SH.	PA, Seminar with the Ministry of Defense	Notification
217	19.11.2002	KOHA JONE	Seminar for the protection of the military officials	Article
218	20.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	Institutional debate to Dajti Hotel. Dobjani and Majko deploy "arms of law".	Article
219	20.11.2002	ZERI I POPULLIT	PA, 500 complaints form the Armed Forces	Pronouncement
220	26.11.2002	Tribuna Juridike	Reform and the rights of the military officials	Article Y.H.
221	27.11.2002	REPUBLIKA	PA seek for a round table for the "Hawaiialb" towers’ case	Pronouncement
222	27.11.2002	A.T.SH.	Towers Hawaii-Dobjani. The residents of the Hawaii Towers should address to a legal solution	Notification
223	28.11.2002	GAZETA "55"	Ermir Dobjani: "The residents of the Hawaii Towers should address to a legal solution"	Article
224	28.11.2002	BALLKAN	"Hawaii" case, the residents file charges against KRRT	Article
225	28.11.2002	ALBANIA	The residents of the Hawaii Towers should find a legal solution	Article
226	28.11.2002	GAZETA RD	PA protects the Hawaii residents: According to law, the permission is taken. Dobjani: Rama and KRRT violate the law	Article
227	05.12.2002	NDERTUESI	Letter of the People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani addressed to the Prime Minister, Mr. Fatos Nano	Article
228	11.12.2002	A.T.SH.	"Right to information, a fundamental right". National Conference of PA	Notification
229	11.12.2002	A.T.SH.	PA: The right to information, a human right	Notification
230	12.12.2002	A.T.SH.	President of the Republic, Moisiu participates in the National Conference on the right to information, organized by the People’s Advocate	Notification
231	12.12.2002	A.T.SH.	State Administration should focus on the implementation and the conserving of the good governance standards	Notification
232	13.12.2002	REPUBLIKA	Dobjani: We are not informed. Law-enforcement, a big concern of the international organizations	Pronunciation
233	13.12.2002	Gazeta SHQIPTARE	Moisiu seeks more transparence	Article
234	13.12.2002	ALBANIA	National Conference on “The right to information, a fundamental right.” State officials should be transparent toward the citizens	Article
235	13.12.2002	Gazeta "55"	Moisiu: The right to information is related to the level of confidence of the public toward the institutions	Article
236	13.12.2002	Gazeta RD	Administration transparence, part of the negotiations with the EU	Article
237	13.12.2002	Gazeta DITA	PA requires that the institutions inform the public on everything	Article
238	16.12.2002	Gazeta DITA	PA reestablish the rights of a group of military officers	Notification
239	17.12.2002	KOHA JONE	Tirana District Court is about to examine the three killers’ cases. Condemned to a deadly sickness. “We want to die at home”	Article
240	22.12.2002	Gazeta Daneze "Jyllands-Posten"	"Albania needs more jobs and capitals".	Article
241	22.12.2002	KOHA JONE	PA, Ermir Dobjani at the National Conference on: "The right to information, a fundamental right” has explained the rapport of Media with State. State, media and state officials	Article
242	22.12.2002	Gazeta Shqiptare	PA, Court should resolve within 30 days the “Hawaii” dossier	Interview
243	22.12.2002	BALLKAN	Demolition of a building at “4 Shkurti” road, People’s Advocate’s intervenes	Pronunciation

No.	INSTITUTION	DATE	BROADCAST	PRESENTATION
1	Neser TV	20.01.2002	Documentary On the People’s Advocate	Ermir Dobjani - Program
2	Top Channel	06.02.2002	PA, “State should establish fair contracts with citizens	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
3	Top Channel	06.02.2002	“PA investigates on the Bovilla water”	Ermir Dobjani - Pronouncement
4	TV Gjeli	12.02.2002	PA “On the right to information”	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
5	TVSH	15.02.2002	Strasburg conference evaluates PA	Ermir Dobjani - Notification
6	TVSH	15.02.2002	“PA, an open door for you”	Ermir Dobjani - Program
7	Vizion Plus	06.02.2002	“PA in his second anniversary"	Ermir Dobjani - Program
8	Tv 2000	19.02.2002	PA: Comment on the illegal construction	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
9	Top Channel	26.02.2002	PA on the Public Services	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
10	TVSH; Radio Tirana; TV Koha; Top Channel	26.02.2002	PA met with representatives from the State Department	Ermir Dobjani - Pronouncement
11	Vizion Plus	26.02.2002	PA on the Public Services	Chief of Cabinet Artur Lazebeu - Pronouncement
12	Vizion plus	2.03.2002	The Armed Forces’ problems	Ymer Hasani - Interview
13	Radio Tirana	2.03.2002	The case of abusive actions on the roma people is not true	Cabinet - Notification
14	Shijak TV	4.03.2002	State should establish fair contracts with citizens (public services)	Cabinet - Pronouncement
15	Zeri i Amerikes	5.03.2002	PA on the rapport of the State Department	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
16	Dojce Vele	07.03.2002	PA on the state of human rights in Albania	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
17	Tv Klan	20.03.2002	PA committed to ameliorate the public administration performance	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
18	Radio Tirana	20.03.2002	People’s Advocate met with the Mediator of the French Republic	Ermir Dobjani - Notification
19	ATSH; Top Channel; TV Klan; TVA; TNSH	21.03.2002	Dobjani talks to the Mediator of France	Ermir Dobjani - Notification

20	TVSH; TNSH; Klan TVA; Top Channel	21.03.2002	PA welcomes the Mediator of France	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
21	TVSH; TNSH; Klan;, TVA; Top Channel	21.03.2002	Prime Minister Majko welcomes the Mediator of France	Cabinet -Notification
22	TVSH; TVA; TNSH	22.03.2002	President of Republic Mejdani welcomes the Mediator of France	Cabinet -Notification
23	TVSH	22.03.2002	Deputy Chairwoman of the Parliament talks to the colleagues of the People’s Advocate	Notification
24	Top Channel	22.03.2002	Seminar on a fair trial	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
25	Antena Jug Gjirokaster	23.03.2002	PA and his French homologue visit Gjirokastra	Ermir Dobjani -Interview
26	Klan	24.03.2002	The privatization should be regulated by the Parliament	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
27	Top Channel	25.03.2002	PA should address the Government about EPC	Ermir Dobjani - Pronouncement
28	TVS; TNSH; TVA; Klan; Shijak TV	25.03.2002	PA presents his annual report	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
29	TVSH; TNSH; TVA; Klan; TV Shijak	26.03.2002	Deputies evaluate the rapport of the People’s Advocate	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
30	Albanian Daily News	26.03.2002	French Mediator meets with the People’s Advocate	Ermir Dobjani -Notification
31	TVSH	03.04.2002	The Chairman of the Parliament welcomes the Head of Sweden Ombudsman	Notification
32	Shijak TV	02.04.2002	PA on the property’ s issues	Agron Caushi - Pronouncement
33	TVSH; TNSH; Radio Tirana	04.04.2002	PA and the judicial system	Notification
34	Shijak TV	22.04.2002	Spectre "On the Human Rights in Albania"	Ermir Dobjani, Vasil Melo and Pjeter Arbnori- Program

35	ATN	28.04.2002	PA at the paraplegics’strike	Ermir Dobjani - Pronouncement
36	RT Kosova	04.05.2002	Nowicki meets with Dobjanin	Press Conference
37	RTV 21 Kosove	04.05.2002	Dobjani shares his experience	Interview
38	RTK; "Blu Sky" Radio Kosova	05.05.2002	People’s advocate of Albania met with the Prime Minister of Kosovo and the Deputy Chairman of the Parliament	Notification
39	TV Kosova	06.05.2002	PA and citizens	Program
40	08.05.2002	08.05.2002	AP in Korca	Agron Caushi - Interview
41	TNSH	09.05.2002	AP on the violence issues	Ermir Dobjani - Program
42	Kristal+ (Korce)	10.05.2002	AP met with Korca citizens	Notification
43	Vizion+	10.05.2002	PA on the Justice Day	Ermir Dobjani - Program
44	ARV	10.05.2002	PA in Pogradec	Agron Caushi - Interview
45	TV Amantia Vlore	12.05.2002	PA collects the complaints in Vlora	Notification
46	Top Channel	13.05.2002	State should reimburse the citizens	Ermir Dobjani - Program
47	Top Channel	13.05.2002	State should complete fair contracts with citizens	Ermir Dobjani
48	Top Channel	13.05.2002	AMC radiation over the allowed parameters	Ermir Dobjani
49	Vizion+; Klan, TVSH; Koha; TVA; TNSH	14.05.2002	Prime Minister Majko encourages cooperation with the People’s Advocate	Notification
50	Top Albania; BBC	15.05.2002	PA on the radiation of cellular antennas	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
51	TNSH	15.05.2002	PA on the meeting with Prime Minister	Interview
52	TV MAT	17.06.2002	PA, an Open Door	Program
53	TV MAT	18.06.2002	PA in Mat	Gezim Leshi - Interview
54	Puka TV	20.06.2002	PA in Puka	Agron Caushi - Interview

55	Lezha TV	20.06.2002	PA meets with Lezha residents	Agron Caushi - Interview
56	Zeri i Amerikes	23.05.2002	PA is welcomed at the Sate Department	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
57	Zeri i Amerikes	23.05.2002	PA met with Tropoja residents	Jorgo Dhrami - Interview
58	TV Kurbin	26.06.2002	PA in Kurbin	Interview
59	Top Channel, TV Koha	26.06.2002	PA at the Bailiff’s Office	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
60	TVSH; TNSH; TV Arberia; TV Klan	01.07.2002	Danish Ombudsman congratulates the functioning of the People’s Advocate	Press Conference
61	Radio Tirana; TV Koha;Top Chanel; Vizion Plus	23.09.2002	Deputy Prime Minister Meta: The People’s Advocate should protect interests of the state and citizens as well	Notification
62	RTK; BLU SKY; Radio Kosova	1.10.2002	"Serbian experts from Kosovo", study visit at the PA	Pronouncement
63	TNSH	03.10.2002	Kosovo People’s Advocate experts in training at the Albanian People’s Advocate	Pronouncement
64	RTK; BLU SKY; Radio Kosova	03.10.2002	Serbian experts of the Kosovo Ombudsman in Tirana	Notification
65	Top Chanel	04.10.2002	PA recommends the abrogation of the administrative acts issued by ALBTELEKOM sh.a.	Brizida Gjikondi - Interview
66	TVA	04.10.2002	PA, Open student’s tests	Agron Caushi, Brizida Gjikondi - Interview
67	KLAN	07.10.2002	PA seeks for transparence of the Competition’s tests	Artur Lazabeu - Interview
68	KLAN	08.10.2002	Head of OSCE meets with PA	Notification
69	KLAN	08.10.2002	PA, Telephone book should not be forcefully sold	Brizida Gjikondi - Interview
70	TV Shijak	09.10.2002	Deans of the Faculties shall be transparent	Artur Lazabeu - Interview
71	TV Klaudiana	09.10.2002	What you should expect from the PA	Artur Lazabeu - Interview
72	TV Klaudiana	10.10.2002	PA Open day in Peqin	Brizida Gjikondi - Interview
73	Vizion Plus	11.10.2002	PA discovers the scandal. The deceased still appear on the living’s lists	Pronouncement –Ymer Hasani
74	TVAsparag Rrogozhine	16.10.2002	Open day in Rrogozhina	Artur Lazabeu - Interview
75	TVSH; TNSH; Top Channel; TVA	20.10.2002	The Commissioner of the Council of Europe meets with the People’s Advocate	Notification

76	TVSH; TNSH; TVA; Top Channel	21.10.2002	Gil Robles and Dobjani meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Public Order, Justice and Labor and Social Affairs	Notification
77	TVSH; TNSH; TVA; Zeri i Amerikes; Top Channel	22.10.2002	Moisiu and Nano meet with Gil Robles and Dobjani: Albania has a long road to go	Press Conference
78	Radio Tirana	25.10.2002	PA and the Albanians abroad	Ervin Karamuca - Interview
79	TVSH	30.10.2002	PA and blood feud phenomenon	Jorgo Dhrami - Program
80	TVA; TVSH; TNSH; Vizion+	30.10.2002	PA, Report at the Parliamentary Commission on Human Rights	Notification
81	Radio Tirana	01.11.2002	PA and the public administration	Ervin Karamuca - Interview
82	TNSH; Top Channel	07.11.2002	American Ambassador visits PA	Notification
83	Radio Tirana	08.11.2002	PA and military officers	Ymer Hasani - Interview
84	Radio+2	08.11.2002	PA Judges-not for tourism in Italy	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
85	TNSH	11.12.2002	PA organizes the Conference on Transparence	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
86	TVSH; TVA; TNSH; Real TV; Top Channel etj.	12.12.2002	PA at the National Conference on “The right to information, a fundamental human right”	Notification
87	BBC	18.12.2002	PA-well functioning institution	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
88	TVSH; TVA, TNSH; Top Channel; Vizion; Real TV	19.12.2002	PA and the Reform of the Army	Notification
89	TV Shijak	19.12.2002	PA on the immigrants	Program
90	Top Channel	21.12.2002	PA and the mortgage companies	Interview
91	Top Channel	22.12.2002	PA meets with the Director of Police about the complaints of the illegal cars	Ermir Dobjani - Interview
92	Vizion Plus	13.12.2002	On the activity of the People’s Advocate on the protection by the police	Ermir Dobjani
93	News 24	25.12.2002	PA-Character	Ermir Dobjani

Articles	Pronouncements	Notifications	Interviews	Press Conferences	Total
120	47	68	5	3	243

PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE

ANNUAL REPORT

2002

March 2003

Speech of the People’s Advocate

Honorable Chairman of the Parliament

Honorable Members of the Parliament

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER TWO

Other Activities of the People's Advocate Institution during 2002

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

APPENDIXES

CHAPTER I

1. The right of good administration of the European Union, the legal ground for the recommendations of the People’s Advocate

PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

SECRETARY GENERAL

Public Relations Section

MSI Section

Translation and Library Section

FINANCE SECTION

PUBLIC RELATIONS SECTION

MSI SECTION

SECRETARY AND ARCHIVES SECTION

Head of Section

Archivist + Secretary to General Secretary

5. International support

6. The Institution's Budget allocated for year 2002

7. Institution's Difficulties and their Causes

8. The foundations for the Institution's current achievements

9. Challenges, the Institution's targets for Year 2003 onwards

10. Future Institution Strategy

1. Summarizing Statistics for Year 2002

REQUEST

Table on “Open Days”, organized by the Institution of the

8. International Relations

I. Activities organised by Council of Europe

CHAPTER THREE

b. Complaints against the Bailiff's Offices

Typical is also the delay of judicial decision execution in favor of complainants N.M. from Fier, for release of house. The obstacle in this case was an order of the former Prefect advising the District Police Station not to assist the Bailiff’s Office to execute the obligatory judicial decision.

II. Complaints against other unlawful actions of the police forces

The police officer Njazi Xite does not accept that he went to the house of the complainant for the above cited case, that he has taken money to close this problem, or that he has given money to the Chief of Order to return to the complainant.

8. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA)

a) Institute of Social State Insurance

9. Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism (MoTRT)

10. Ministry of Economy (MoE)

b) Complaint against former agricultural cooperatives

15- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)

We have approached the MoFA with concrete proposals in relation to Project-Protocol for the supplement of the “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” in this direction:

I. Follow-up on cases presented in the Annual Report for year 2000 and 2001

Follow-up on complaints or problems handled at the initiative of the Institution, during 2002

Under-process

Manner of Solution

Under process

HEADLINE

Summarized statistics of media coverage 2002

WRITTEN MEDIA

Articles

ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Note:

1. Evaluations of the International Institutions and Authorities on the People's Advocate Performance and Activity

Mr. Ermir Dobjani

Mr. Ermir Dobjani