Country Profile Albania

General Country Information

Summary

There is a national women’s helpline in Albania, operating 24/7 and free of charge, offering multilingual support. Additionally, there are other regional helplines and apps supporting survivors of violence against women. There are 26 women’s shelters with at least 153 beds, and at least 12 women’s centres. One rape crisis centre is available in the capital, and two “one-stop-shop” services for cases of sexualised violence have been integrated in hospitals. Primary prevention is included in the National Strategy for Gender Equality, which has a specific budget allocated to it. The state collects data on primary prevention and on women’s specialist services, but data collection is not comprehensive and accurate. Data is available upon request.

Women’s Specialist Services

Albania has one official state-wide women’s helpline, the National Counselling Line for Women and Girls (Linja Kombëtare e Këshillimitpër Gra dhe Vajza, tel.: 116117). This helpline operates 24/7, is free of charge, and therefore, meets the standards of the Istanbul Convention. It is operated by Hotline Albania and offers multilingual support according to the availability of the counsellors. It provides psychological and legal counselling services to women and girls who are survivors of domestic violence, gender-based violence, or sexual abuse, as well as referrals to shelters and protection services. The helpline receives state funding, donations and international funding, and in 2024, it received 4,658 calls, representing a 12% increase compared to the previous year. The most common forms of violence reported by callers were domestic, physical and psychological violence.

In addition to the national helpline, several local organisations across Albania operate regional helplines and provide support services. For instance, the Psycho-Social Centre “Vatra”, a non-profit organisation which supports survivors of human trafficking and violence, provides legal and psychosocial counselling through a helpline available 24/7 and free of charge (Qendra Psiko-Sociale “Vatra”, tel.: +355 699333523). Digital tools like the Bright Sky Albania and Find Your Voice (GjejZa) apps also help women identify abuse and access help. There is also a National Child Helpline for children and adolescents, including survivors of violence (116111), an Anti-Trafficking Helpline managed by the Ministry of Interior (+355 8001212) and a Green Line for Elderly People, which provides referrals and social support.

There are 26 shelters in Albania, offering at least 153 beds.³ These include two state-run shelters (one for survivors of domestic violence and one for survivors of trafficking), eight long-term shelters for survivors of gender-based violence, and 16 emergency shelters, which offer accommodation up to 72 hours. The number of beds available in Albania does not meet the country’s needs. All shelters offer 24/7 access, and women are not expected to pay for their accommodation. The length of stay depends on the type of shelter, with limited time in emergency shelters and up to one year in shelters managed by NGOs.

According to law no. 121/2016 “On social care services in the Republic of Albania”, in-house services provided by shelters include specialised support, housing, physical security, food, health care, legal assistance, psychosocial rehabilitation, employment empowerment, and reintegration services. According to Law 22/2018 “On Social Housing”, the state must provide survivors of domestic violence with specialised housing, along with specialised social workers and guaranteed protection from the State Police for high-risk cases. Nevertheless, the specialised housing programme foreseen in this law has not been implemented yet.

In terms of accessibility, all shelters can accommodate women with uncertain residence permits and undocumented women, refugee women, transgender women, women with children with disabilities and unaccompanied minor girls. Most shelters can be accessed by and are accessible to women with physical disabilities, homeless women, women with substance abuse issues and older women, while some shelters are also equipped to support women with cognitive and sensory disabilities. There are also several specialised shelters in supporting survivors of trafficking (e.g., in Tirana, Elbasan, Vlora) offering housing, legal aid, healthcare and vocational support. The Vatra Psycho-Social centre specialises in supporting both survivors of trafficking and specific forms of violence, such as forced marriage and honour-based violence, while the shelter Edlira Haxhiymeri in Tirana provides support for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women, in collaboration with the Streha Centre. The Albanian Disability Rights Foundation (ADRF) offers specialised support (including technology-based tools and peer mentoring) for women with disabilities and partners with shelters to improve accessibility. While no shelters are exclusively for older women, some social centres provide support groups and services for older survivors of domestic violence.

While the state-operated shelters are financed directly by the ministry, other shelters rely on multiple sources of funding: state funding, donations, international funding, funds from religious institutions and crowdfunding. Women’s NGOs with a feminist and gender-specific approach run seven shelters in Albania, while the others are run by other NGOs and faith-based organisations. Shelters are located in urban areas except for the shelter in Lezhë “Shpija Rozalba“, which is in a rural area. The reasons why shelters had to decline referrals were the lack of space and capacity to support the survivor, the shelter not being adequately equipped to support women and children, if the survivors had severe mental health issues or if no protection order had been issued. The most common forms of violence reported by survivors in 2024 were domestic violence, physical violence and psychological violence.

In Albania, besides women-only shelters, there are other types of shelters that support survivors of violence against women. These include mixed-gender shelters that provide assistance to women, men, children, and LGBTQI+ individuals, particularly in cases involving trafficking or displacement. Municipal social centres across various cities offer emergency housing, legal aid, and psychosocial support to survivors of domestic violence, serving people of all genders. Additionally, anti-trafficking shelters, such as those operated by the National Coalition of Anti-Trafficking Shelters (NCATS), provide comprehensive services to all survivors of trafficking, many of whom have experienced gender-based violence. Some faith-based and charity-run shelters also offer support to women in crisis, often collaborating with NGOs to provide specialised care. While these are not exclusively women-only shelters, they do assist survivors of violence against women and often refer them to more specialised services when necessary. Most of these shelters offer 24/7 access.

There are at least 12 women’s centres in the country, some of which are part of the Women’s Empowerment Network in Albania (AWEN), while others are part of the Monitoring Network Against Gender-Based Violence. Five of these centres are exclusively for women, five are open to all survivors of gender-based violence, and two engage in advocacy activities or social services, supporting broader gender equality efforts. Women’s centres offer various types of support, including counselling and psychological support, legal advice, financial and social welfare support, housing advice, employment counselling, referrals and collaboration with other services, representation at court and other institutions, and residential support services, although the capacity for this is limited. Women’s centres also provide specialist support for survivors of sexualised violence, such as specialist forensic and medical care, needs assessment, specialist psychological care, specialist advocacy services, community awareness and education for prevention and legal advice.

Women’s centres in Albania are accessible to various groups of survivors: women with uncertain residence permits, undocumented women, refugee women, women with physical and cognitive disabilities, older women, unaccompanied girls and transgender women. The Albania Disability Rights Foundation provides specialised support to people with disabilities, and two centres are specialised in supporting transgender women. The Streha Centre offers specialised services for LGBTQI+ individuals who face violence, family rejection, and housing insecurity, and besides emergency accommodation, it also provides psychosocial counselling, guidance and referrals to specialised services, as well as support in accessing education, employment, and healthcare.

Women’s centres in Albania are run by women’s NGOs, the state, and religious institutions, and are funded through state funds, donations, international funding and religious institutions. They are only located in major cities.

There is one rape crisis centre in Albania, the Lilium Centre, based in Tirana, which provides medical, psychological, and legal support to survivors of sexualised violence. This centre also handles forensic evidence collection within a hospital setting. The centre is funded by the state and provides support to women, young women and children, and other survivors. Additionally, there are two new services in the regional hospitals in Fier and Shkodër, dealing with cases of sexualised violence and applying a “one-stop-shop” approach. Besides this, women’s centres and specialist NGOs play a crucial role in supporting survivors of sexualised violence, especially outside of the capital.

Public authorities in Albania collect data on primary prevention activities related to gender-based violence through surveys, monitoring referral mechanisms, and UN-supported programmes. However, such data collection is not comprehensive and systematic. Albania includes primary prevention activities in key documents such as the National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021–2030, and various municipal Gender Equality Action Plans. These documents focus on education, awareness, and community engagement to prevent gender-based violence, but the focus on evidence-based primary prevention measures, beyond general awareness raising, is still developing. The National Strategy for Gender Equality 2021–2030 emphasises reducing harmful practices and gender-based violence before they occur, using gender mainstreaming as a key prevention tool. Albania regularly finances various primary prevention activities against violence towards women and girls, including awareness-raising campaigns, education, community engagement, and capacity building. In 2023, approximately 9.6% of the national budget was directed to gender equality initiatives, covering both prevention and support services. The activities conducted in the country include feminist self-defence trainings, empowerment activities for women and girls, primary prevention activities specifically targeted to men and boys, training for primary prevention practitioners, self-care activities and awareness-raising campaigns or programmes. Albania has conducted evaluations of primary prevention activities against violence toward women and girls. These evaluations have been funded by both international organisations and public authorities, including national ministries, to help measure the effectiveness of prevention programmes and guide improvements in policies and services.

1. The latest available population data on Eurostat is from 2023. ↩︎
2. Ibid. ↩︎
3. Numbers of beds from the WAVE Country Report 2023 ↩︎