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Tirana, 28 January 2019 – CRCA/ECPAT Albania together with the Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Group “Friends of Children”, MP Erisa Xhixho, filed this morning the request to the Albanian Parliament for urgent amendments to the existing Penal Code. The changes were deemed as urgently necessary as only in January six new cases of sexual violence and exploitation against children were reported.

The legal initiative was made public by MP Erisa Xhixho, who submitted the request to the Parliament as a private members bill, while the proposals were prepared by the team of lawyers the Free Legal Aid Office for Vulnerable Children and Youth of CRCA /ECPAT Albania.

“Noting that there are shortcomings in our criminal legislation, despite frequent interventions that have been made, I consider it necessary to tighten the criminal law for any action that affects minors,” said MP Xhixho in her Facebook profile, making the legislative initiative public.

The proposed amendments affect three articles of the Albanian Penal Code, respectively Articles 100 and 101, which deal with sexual intercourse with violence against children under the age of 14 and those between the ages of 14 and 18. In this context, the legal proposals call for raising the age of consent for sexual intercourse from 14 to 16, as well as prohibiting the conduct of adult sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 18. The legal proposal also is to further adjust the article known as “child pornography”, where there is a proposal to add a new paragraph on CSAM materials produced by using advanced technologies and artificial intelligence.

“We are aware that soon the draft of the new Criminal Code will be made public– said Altin Hazizaj, Director of CRCA /ECPAT Albania – but paedophiles and sexual predators do not expect the adoption of new codes! On the contrary, given that the current Code allows them to commit sexual acts that do not constitute crimes against children, the risk is that during this period of time we will face a larger number of sexual crimes against children. The adoption of these proposals is therefore extremely urgent, as the new Code will take at least a year or more to be consulted, adopted, and enter into force!”

CRCA/ECPAT Albania has since 2016 sought improvements to the Penal Code to include new sexual crimes occurring against children, including raising the age of consent for sexual acts from 14 to 16. But Parliament has insisted that all new criminal acts to be included in the new Criminal Code.

MP Erisa Xhixho has an extensive experience in her activism for stronger laws on protection of children from sexual violence. In 2019, together with CRCA/ECPAT Albania, she led the effort to hand over to the Albanian Parliament and then the adoption of the law on the national register of sex offenders in Albania. The law came into force in January 2022.

For more information about this legal initiative, contact:

CRCA/ECPAT Albania

Tel: +355422657541

Email: crca@