Today I walked through the streets of Tirana to protest against rape a sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls in Albania. Over the last 18 months, I have attended a number of similar events to protest domestic violence, the way that the police fail to handle such cases, and the media reporting of such matter- referring to femicide as a “crime of passion”.
The protest today was organised by a group of female activists as a response to a story that shocked Albania this week. Last week, the news broke that an underage girl in Kavaje was repeatedly raped by multiple boys that she attended school with. There were also allegations of videos of the rapes being made and sold by one of the boys who was supposed to be her “boyfriend”.
When the violence inflicted upon this young woman was discovered by her teachers and family, there was a significant delay in reporting the matter to the police and when it was finally reported, the police failed to take timely action. The boys, being sons of rich and well-connected families, were not immediately arrested or interviewed and instead, the girls name was dragged through the mud.
The press finally started reporting on it sporadically, but tellingly there was no such reports of the matter in English as no-one wanted the international community to find out what was going on. Those portals that did report on it failed to adhere to basic journalistic standards on reporting such matters and instead focussed on the politics behind it, rather than the issue of young men thinking they have the right to repeatedly rape a young girl. Instead of opening a public discourse on how we can teach boys to respect women and not rape, she was blamed for what happened to her, excuses were made for her assailants, and the matter was swiftly made political, rather than social.
The young girl at the centre of this story- a girl who had been violated and abused in the most horrific way was forgotten, the crimes committed against her were forgotten, and instead it became about political point scoring, and blaming everyone except the boys themselves.
Comments such as “boys will be boys” and “it’s nothing worse than you see in movies” were bandied around by public figures as well as atrocious comments on social media that I refuse to repeat or even acknowledge.
Then, when the government were called out for not responding appropriately to the case, or protecting the victim, the Prime Minister sent his own TV Station, ERTV and an MP Elisa Spiropali to interview the family of the girl, therefore making her identity know.
As a woman living in Albania and carrying a baby Albanian girl, it terrifies me that I will bring her up in a country where the reputations of abusers, or politicians is worth more than her life. It terrifies me that she will grow up in a place where she could be blamed for crimes committed against her and where it is becoming increasingly hard to prosecute individuals for these kinds of crimes. I have written before on cases where women have told me that their assailants and abusers pay around EUR 1500 to the police to get charges of violence dropped- most don’t even see the inside of a court room and continue to harass their victim’s years later.
It scares me that she will grow up in a country where one in two women will suffer domestic violence in their lives, where femicide is referred to as a “crime of passion” and where 4000 court protection orders are filed every year.
We need to teach boys and men that women are not their property, that they are not entitled to us, our minds, or our bodies, and that no means no. Furthermore, we need to teach society as a whole that no, “boys will not be boys”, boys should be taught to respect women and to be held accountable for their actions.
I love Albania and I love the Albanian people that I know and that are in my life, but this sort of thing (the fifth case of its kind since I have been here) makes me incredibly sad, worried, and disillusioned.
Albania and Albanian people, you do not deserve this and you should stand up and seek change.
Follow The Balkanista!
