Erinda Bllaca - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Erinda Bllaca

Assessing 41 Bis regime in Albania, 2020

This review report is developed in the context of the implementation of the Unified Budget projec... more This review report is developed in the context of the implementation of the Unified Budget project “Promoting and enhancing human rights protection in Albania – Phase III” which is funded by the OSCE Presence in Albania.

The overreaching goal of the project is to support national authorities, institutions and citizens to better understand, protect and respect human rights in Albania, by continuing to observe and support the rights of people in detention, consolidating the progress made over the past years to improve the conditions in prisons in line with international standards and good practice. Based upon continuous support of reforms in the penitentiary system in Albania, the Presence has identified the need to make a comprehensive human rights assessment in light of the recent commencement of the implementation of a Special Regime in high security prisons for serious crimes, by contextualizing standards and principles related to special regimes in high security prisons, i.e., right to security and safety, access to health care and personal wellbeing, interpersonal relations, material conditions, etc; conducted in compliance with the Nelson Mandela and European Prison Rules, CPT standards, OSCE commitments, UNODC assessment toolkits, and others, accordingly.

The Special Regime puts several restrictions on the offenders, which might lead to violations of human rights, which, according to European Court of Human Rights, may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; or even torture. Therefore, this assessment and its resulting recommendations intend to an analysis of the existing framework and mapping of stakeholders to be used for the preparation of the Needs Assessment report on the Special Regime in high security prisons with a focus on the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

DEALING WITH RETURNED WOMEN IN THE WESTERN BALKANS, 2022

This paper analyses the existing approaches towards returned women in the Western Balkans (WB), f... more This paper analyses the existing approaches towards returned women in the Western Balkans (WB), from a practitioner’s perspective, covering:

approaches for reintegration and rehabilitation in working with women returnees from Syria and Iraq in the WB, with a focus on social and functional integration, trauma care, education and other relevant measures;
roles and responsibilities in the engagement and coordination amongst state and non-state actors as part of rehabilitation and reintegration (R&R) approaches;
identified challenges, capacity gaps and needs to address in order to strengthen future interventions.

The paper focuses on the four case studies of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia and Kosovo* due to their relevance in the region when it comes to working with a significant number of cases of returned women, availability of different types of programmes for returnees in general, and relevant lessons learned in the R&R of returned women.

The paper has three key objectives:

to provide a systematic overview of existing R&R approaches towards returned women in the WB;
to identify remaining gaps and needs;
and thereby to identify opportunities for further improvement of existing approaches in working with returned women.

The paper builds on the analysis of different sources on the issue of returnees in the WB, including collected articles and existing national protocols/guidelines and frameworks with regard to rehabilitation programmes in the WB region. Furthermore, interviews with government officials as well as frontline practitioners at the central and local level were held to identify lessons learned and best practices.

The voluntary and government-led return to the WB of over 500 individuals who travelled to conflict zones brought numerous challenges that impacted on processes of R&R, particularly when working with returned women and children. Today, various practices are known through reports and case studies, identifying the need for a holistic approach that includes psychosocial, medical, legal, educational and mental health support. Although each case has similar elements in terms of expected psychological and emotional concerns, each one remains unique in terms of interventions.

The cases of returned women in Kosovo* on 20 April 2019, Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2019, and recent repatriation cases of five women in Albania have shown that the process of rehabilitation, resocialisation and reintegration takes a lot of time and requires human resources and capacity as well as continuous and harmonised multi-agency support.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Romanian Economic and Business Review, 2012

Changes in the economic system have led to a number of sectoral reforms in Albania, including tho... more Changes in the economic system have led to a number of sectoral reforms in Albania, including those in the market and regulatory environments. Given that foreign investors are mainly attracted by an open market, competition reform, in must include not only the adoption of competition legislation, but also the elaboration of a well defined competition policy, the creation and maintenance of a competitive environment and, in parallel with such reform, the establishment of a modern legal and institutional framework capable of supporting these developments. This article seeks to analyse the new Albanian competition framework and its approximation with EU law.

Our goal was to examines the right to quality mental health services in Albania from a comparativ... more Our goal was to examines the right to quality mental health services in Albania from a comparative approach integrating the analysis of inherited clinical concept of psychiatric treatment with the “innovative” model of community based services, introduced after law amendments in 2012. The Albanian health care system of the ’90s showed many challenges in splitting the clinical psychiatry into mental health and psychiatry (seen separately as a medical specialty). This was reflected in the difficulties of amending the 1996 law on mental health, and the urgency of the integration of concepts of human rights and fundamental freedoms for the treatment of people with mental illnesses. The adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD, 2006) provided momentum to highlight the importance of the nexus between disabilities, mental health and deinstitutionalization. Furthermore, the new context of the 2012 legislation, followed by secondary acts, action plans and s...

Torture Journal

Introduction: Independent monitoring of places of detention is considered an effective way of pre... more Introduction: Independent monitoring of places of detention is considered an effective way of preventing torture, but some reports have shown that detainees may face reprisals after engaging with monitors.This pilot study aims to further investigate the nature and the extent of such reprisals. Methods: A cross-sectional survey among male prisoners in 4 prisons in Albania and 4 in Honduras was carried out using an interviewer-administered, structured questionnaire and collecting additional narrative comments. Strict ethical guidelines were followed, and follow-up visits took place to detect any sanctions following participation in the study. Results: 170 detainees were invited to par- ticipate of whom 164 accepted. Most were aware of monitoring visits and found them helpful. More than one-third reported that au- thorities had made special arrangements like cleaning and painting prior to the monitoring visits, and 34% of participants in Albania and 12% in Honduras had felt pressured t...

This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understa... more This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understanding violent extremism and preventing violent extremism are mutually constitutive. Unraveling the root causes of violent extremism, in an effort to prevent this process or stop it as early as possible, requires interventions that are embedded in consideration of greater social, economic, political and cultural settings that constitute a breeding ground for violent extremism. The preventive approach attempts at going beyond the security aspect of violent extremism and unfold the development-related causes of this global threat. Key Outcomes 1. Instead of narrow focus on 'violent' extremism, it needs to be acknowledged that any extremist ideology spreading into the mainstream provides the space for violence to take root and become normalized. 2. There is a need for a new framing that addresses the social and identity based aspects of the extremism phenomenon, alongside the economic, security and governance issues. 3. Targeting of and impact on women of current violent extremist movements is not accidental or 'collateral damage.' It is deliberate, tactical and strategic. However, there is still a tendency to ignore the gendered aspects of men's vulnerabilities and motivations for joining extremist movements. 4. International rhetoric in support of women's rights and organizations is not matched by action. Individuals taking a stand to counter extremism, provide alternative visions and defend human rights and women in particular are targeted, across geographies and cultural contexts, curtailing their ability to inform the public about basic human rights and equality, or religious tenets that preach respect and coexistence. 5. The PVE agenda risks doing more harm than good if governments use it to limit space for civic activism and debate.

This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understa... more This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understanding violent extremism and preventing violent extremism are mutually constitutive. Unraveling the root causes of violent extremism, in an effort to prevent this process or stop it as early as possible, requires interventions that are embedded in consideration of greater social, economic, political and cultural settings that otherwise can enable the conditions conducive for violent extremism to thrive. The preventive approach attempts at going beyond the security aspect of violent extremism and unfold the development-related causes of this global threat. Key outcomes 1. Three types of causes and drivers of radicalization are particular relevant for youth: identity crisis, political disenfranchisement, and socioeconomic exclusion. 2. Youth are especially vulnerable to radicalization through the following means: media and communication technologies, mosques and religious schools, social networks (both on-line and of-line). 3. Many regular youth-focused development projects already contribute to addressing structural causes of youth radicalization 4. To increase PVE-effectiveness of youth-focused development work much more efforts should be spend on identifying specific vulnerable groups and geographic targeting of interventions.

This background paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes ... more This background paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understanding violent extremism and preventing violent extremism are mutually constitutive. Unraveling the root causes of violent extremism, in an effort to prevent this process or stop it as early as possible, requires interventions that are embedded in consideration of greater social, economic, political and cultural settings that otherwise can enable the conditions conducive for violent extremism to thrive. The preventive approach attempts at going beyond the security aspect of violent extremism and unfold the development-related causes of this global threat. Key Outcomes 1. A community while subject to interpretations is commonly seen to be a collection of groups and individuals that have a common interest or share a geographic area. 2. Community resilience in Preventing Violent Extremism represents a paradigm shift from an emergency response approach, in which individuals are victims of adversity, to an approach in which people are agents of change. 3. Building community resilience works best when it is a community-oriented approach that gains the trust of the community and allows them to become responsible stakeholders. 4. Community resilience is not only a strategy for preventing violent extremism but can also be a way for communities to combat extremism as it happens. 5. Public support for any initiative depends on the respect for human rights and rule of law that state institutions display.

Competition Policy in the European Union provides the various dimensions of the competition contr... more Competition Policy in the European Union provides the various dimensions of the competition control, including restrictive practices policy, monopoly policy, merger policy and state aid policy. Competition policy is not an end in itself, but one essential tool to achieve efficient market outcomes and the effort of competition authorities should concentrate on ensuring that those market failures, which can be r emedied by public intervention, are addresses effectively. Competition law is a new concept for Albania, but the law is oriented towards European Competition legislation on competition regulation including Regulation 1/2003. This paper seeks to analyse the new Albanian competition framework and will look at its approximation with EU law, together with proposing further steps for the modernisation and Europeanisation of its competition law regime

21 12 Data from identified and referred cases of police brutality are now reported through use of... more 21 12 Data from identified and referred cases of police brutality are now reported through use of ARCT format of effective documentation of torture, Since 2012, there are 13 cases reported by PTD MinePeza, Fushe-Kruja PTD, Jordan Misja PTD, Lushnja PTD and Durres PTD. 13 Of these, here are 5 cases reported by the prison authorities in Tirana 313 Prison, Saranda Pre-detention and Fushe-Kruja.

Books by Erinda Bllaca

Kushtetuta e Republikës së Shqipërisë sanksionon parimin e barazisë dhe të mosdiskriminimit, si p... more Kushtetuta e Republikës së Shqipërisë sanksionon parimin e barazisë dhe të mosdiskriminimit, si parim përshkues i të gjithë legjislacionit. Neni 3 i Kushtetutës ndalon të gjitha politikat dhe praktikat që do të vinin në disavantazh pjesëtarët e pakicave në çdo fushë të jetës. Ky nen sanksionon parimet universale të të drejtave dhe lirive të njeriut, drejtësinë shoqërore, rendin kushtetues, pluralizmin, identitetin, bashkëjetesën dhe mirëkuptimin. Në nenin 18 të saj përcaktohet qartë se "Të gjithë janë të barabartë përpara ligjit dhe se askush nuk mund të diskriminohet padrejtësisht për shkaqe të tilla si gjinia, raca, feja, etnia, gjuha, bindjet politike, fetare a filozofike, gjendja ekonomike, arsimore, sociale ose përkatësia prindërore nëse nuk ekziston një përligjje e arsyeshme dhe objektive. Mbi të gjitha, Kushtetuta përcakton se fëmijët, të rinjtë, gratë shtatzëna dhe nënat e reja kanë të drejtën e një mbrojtjeje të veçantë nga shteti.

Assessing 41 Bis regime in Albania, 2020

DEALING WITH RETURNED WOMEN IN THE WESTERN BALKANS, 2022

The paper has three key objectives:

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Romanian Economic and Business Review, 2012

Torture Journal

This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understa... more This paper seeks to understand the root causes of violent extremism, as the processes of understanding violent extremism and preventing violent extremism are mutually constitutive. Unraveling the root causes of violent extremism, in an effort to prevent this process or stop it as early as possible, requires interventions that are embedded in consideration of greater social, economic, political and cultural settings that otherwise can enable the conditions conducive for violent extremism to thrive. The preventive approach attempts at going beyond the security aspect of violent extremism and unfold the development-related causes of this global threat. Key outcomes 1. Three types of causes and drivers of radicalization are particular relevant for youth: identity crisis, political disenfranchisement, and socioeconomic exclusion. 2. Youth are especially vulnerable to radicalization through the following means: media and communication technologies, mosques and religious schools, social networks (both on-line and of-line). 3. Many regular youth-focused development projects already contribute to addressing structural causes of youth radicalization 4. To increase PVE-effectiveness of youth-focused development work much more efforts should be spend on identifying specific vulnerable groups and geographic targeting of interventions.

A concise legal analysis on better regulation to guarantee rights of victims of communist regime,... more A concise legal analysis on better regulation to guarantee rights of victims of communist regime, investigate disappearance, and enable decent reparations.

Conference Proceedings, 2016

Hate crimes are a particularly complex topic in post-conflict countries and transition countries,... more Hate crimes are a particularly complex topic in post-conflict countries and transition countries, such as the Western Balkans countries. By signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement these countries took on the commitment to harmonize its legislation with the EU acquis. The EU legislation regulating hate crimes is composed of the Victims' Rights Directive and the Framework Decision on Combating Certain Forms and Expressions of Racism and Xenophobia by Means of Criminal Law. The main goal of the paper is to analyse how hate crimes are regulated in Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Conference Proceedings , 2021

This comparative study provides is an effort to identify shortcomings of the Albanian legislation... more This comparative study provides is an effort to identify shortcomings of the Albanian legislation and criminal justice in the challenge of identification of over 6000 missing persons during the communist regime. In a major struggle of duality and legal ambiguity of acknowledgement, the state tents to “throw” the ball from institution to institutions without being able to address the issue, aim for exhaustive solutions and start a process that can bring clarity for the missing truth.
The issue of the missing persons, apart of being considered as a crime against humanity, it is a clear violation of the right to life – a fundamental right, violated randomly during the period of dictatorship in Albania.
According to Article 7/1 of the Rome Statute, the "enforced disappearance of persons" means the arrest, detention or abduction of persons by, or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of, a State or a political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of those persons, with the intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time”.
This should be the legal definition of the law on the missing persons during the communist regime. And such Article should orient a process of institutional reform with regards to the existing structures, mechanisms and agencies that are legally obliged to address these major un-condemned crimes of the communist past in Albania.
The international law offers unified interpretation with regards to the national mechanisms in implementing and bringing justice to victim families, but it also takes into account the efforts to condemn the crimes against humanity openly and publicly. And in this study, cases of countries in Latin America and closer, Kosovo and Bosnia are brought as a comparison with regards to the role of state institutions responsible for the identification, and effective investigation and prosecution of the cases of the missing persons (accountability measures).
However, a more holistic approach renders visible all the different transitional justice principles that comprise (1) the right to justice, (2) right to reparations (pertaining compensation, restitution or rehabilitation of victims of human rights violations), (3) right to know, and the (4) guarantee of Non-Recurrence.
This study stresses the urgent need to address the unsolved issue of the missing persons by drafting a special law that could incorporate the required holistic approach for this category of the victims of the past dictatorship in Albania.