Kosovo has Highest GDP Growth in Balkans

UNICEF estimated that 31.7 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years in Albania were working in 2000. The rate of child work is higher in rural areas than cities.[106] Children, especially from the Roma community, work on the streets as beggars and vendors. Children can also be found laboring as farmers, shoe cleaners, drug runners, and textile and shoe factory workers.[107]

The trafficking of Albanian children as young as 6 years old[108] to Western Europe for prostitution and other forms of exploitive labor remains a problem.[109] The Ministry of Public Order estimated that within an 8-year period (1992-2000), some 4,000 children were trafficked from Albania, mostly for domestic work, begging and agriculture.[110] A 2003 study of trafficking victims who received services at the “Hearth” Psycho-Social Center revealed that 21 percent were minors between the ages of 14 and 18 years.[111] Boys and girls are trafficked to Italy and Greece to participate in organized begging rings and forced labor, including work in agriculture and construction.[112] In January 2003, Terre des hommes reported that the majority of children trafficked to Greece were sent with their family's knowledge to work for remuneration. In addition, the report found that 95 percent of children trafficked belong to the Roma ethnic minority or the “Egyptian” community.[113] There have been reports that children are tricked or abducted from families or orphanages and then sold to prostitution or pedophilia rings.[114] Children who are returned to the Albanian border from Greece are oftentimes at high risk of being re-trafficked.[115] According to the 2003 Terre des hommes report, trafficking of Albanian children specifically to Greece appears to be on a decline.[116] Internal trafficking, on the other hand, is reported to be rising, with increasing numbers of children in the capital of Tirana falling victim to prostitution and other forms of exploitation.[117]

http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/albania.htm#_ftnref113

CRMS has conducted preliminary research into the issue of trafficking of women and children from Albanian Roma and Egyptian communities, who are the two most socially and economically vulnerable communities in Albania. The disproportionate incidence of trafficking victims from these communities was brought to the attention of appropriate IOs, NGOs and government authorities. Individual protection cases encountered were also referred to IOM. Efforts at capacity building and leadership skills for Roma leaders throughout 2002 began to bear fruit in January 2003 when Roma leaders from across Albania met for the first time to co-ordinate their advocacy efforts.

http://www.icmc.net/e/programmes_operations/present_programmes/counter_trafficking_albania.htm

TIRANE - Aktori i njohur shqiptaro - amerikan, Xhejms Belushi mori mbrëmë shtetësinë shqiptare. Akti zyrtar iu dorëzua Belushit nga Presidenti Bamir Topi. Belushi, është bir i një emigranti shqiptar nga Korça dhe asnjëherë nuk e ka fshehur origjinën e tij.
http://www.shekulli.com.al/2009/10/10/xhejms-belushi-merr-shtetesine-shqiptare.html

Tirana - Albanian berömd skådespelare - Amerikanske James Belushi fick albanskt medborgarskap i går kväll. Officiell handling lämnades av president Bamir Topi Belushi. Belushi, är son till en albansk invandrare från Korça och har aldrig dolt sitt ursprung.