Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 September 1998 and ratified it on 29 February 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 August 2000. It enacted national implementation legislation in 2006, which includes penal sanctions.[1] Albania submitted its 13^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in April 2012.[2]

Albania attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November-December 2011, where it was represented by Deputy Minister of Defense, Dr. Arian Starova, and served as a vice-president of the meeting. Ambassador Gazmund Turdio opened the meeting on behalf of Albania as outgoing president of the Tenth Meeting of States Parties, held in Geneva in November–December 2010. During the meeting Albania made a number of statements, including on victim assistance, clearance, universalization, the International Support Unit, and cooperation and assistance. Ambassador Turdio reflected on his work as president in 2011 on universalization, including convening a workshop in Tirana for universalization partners, holding bilateral meetings with representatives of states not party in Geneva, promoting the convention at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and efforts to engage with Morocco in-country.[3] He noted that he had made statements to the media expressing deep concern over instances of new use of antipersonnel mines and called on all States Parties to condemn any future violations of the treaty’s norms.[4]

Albania also attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012, where it gave an update on its progress on victim assistance.

Albania is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, but has never submitted an Article 13 report for Amended Protocol II.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Production of antipersonnel mines in Albania was suspended in 1990 and officially ceased in 1991.[5] Albania may have been a minor exporter of antipersonnel mines in the past. The last use of antipersonnel mines in Albania occurred in 1998 and 1999 in the northeast of the country during the Kosovo crisis.

Albania completed the destruction of its stockpile of 1,683,860 antipersonnel mines on 4 April 2002, more than two years before its treaty deadline.[6] In its initial Article 7 report, Albania stated that “there are no justifiable reasons for the retention of APM [antipersonnel mines] for training or any other purpose” and has therefore not retained mines since becoming a State Party.[7]

 

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

After reviewing existing laws, Albania declared in April 2013 that specific legislation to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions is not necessary because “the Government of Albania considers as sufficient the existing legislation.”[1]

Albania provided its initial Article 7 report for the convention in January 2011 and annual updated reports in April 2012 and April 2013.[2]

Albania actively participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and made many strong contributions from the perspective of a state affected by cluster munitions.[3] Albania continued to engage in the work of the convention in 2012 and the first half of 2013. It attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012 and the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, making statements on victim assistance and international cooperation and assistance at both meetings.

At the Third Meeting of States Parties, Albania called on states that have not joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions to do so.[4] At the convention’s intersessional meetings in April 2013, Albania strongly condemned “the use of cluster munitions in any conflicts by causing unacceptable harm to innocent civilians” and commended and encouraged all “states to continue their tireless endeavours to end the harm caused by cluster munitions.”[5] Albania voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on 15 May 2013 that strongly condemned “the use by the Syrian authorities of … cluster munitions.”[6]

Albania has not yet stated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Albania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Albania has declared that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7] In December 2008, Albania stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[8]

Cluster munitions were used in Albania in 1999 by forces of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and by states participating in the NATO operation.[9] In December 2009, Albania announced it had completed the clearance of all known cluster munition remnants on its territory.[10]

 

Contamination and Impact

Mines

Albania declared that it had completed clearance of all known mined areas in accordance with its Mine Ban Treaty obligations in October 2009.[1] Albania became contaminated by mines and other ordnance mainly as a result of the Kosovo crisis of 1998–1999 when forces of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia laid extensive minefields in the northeastern border districts of Has, Kukës, and Tropojë.[2] In a decade of demining operations started in 2000 by the Albanian Armed Forces (AAF) and which continued with several demining organizations such as RONCO, HELP, Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD) and DanChurchAid (DCA), Albania released through survey and clearance a total of 16.6km² of land, destroying 12,452 antipersonnel mines, 152 antivehicle mines, and 4,965 items of unexploded ordinance (UXO), including cluster munitions.[3]

Cluster munition remnants

Albania declared completion of clearance of all known unexploded submunitions in November 2009.[4] The northeast of the country had been contaminated with unexploded submunitions from at least six NATO cluster munitions during the conflict over Kosovo;[5] this left 44 areas covering 2.1km² affected by unexploded submunitions, including BLU-97B, BL755, MK118 Rockeye, KB-1, and KB-2 submunitions. Between 1999 and 2005, there were 32 incidents involving submunitions, which resulted in nine deaths and 44 people injured.[6]

Other explosive remnants of war

Clearance of explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the northeast border region of Kukës, mainly UXO resulting from the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, was completed by the end of 2009.[7]

Albania still faces a threat from abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) around former army ammunition storage sites which were destroyed and looted during internal turmoil in Albania in 1997, leaving tons of dangerous munitions scattered around. The AAF conducted surface clearance of 15 so-called hotspots in 2003, but technical assessment conducted by the Albanian Mines and Munitions Coordination Office (AMMCO, formerly the Albanian Mine Action Executive, AMAE), which visited most of these hotspots in 2011, showed that the areas still contain live and abandoned ammunition which attract the attention of scrap metal collectors and pose a serious risk of injury to civilians.[8] Albania plans to complete hotspot clearance by the end of 2014.[9]

Albania is also still tackling contamination that resulted from the 15 March 2008 explosion at a military depot used for demolition of munitions in Gerdec village, about 13km from the capital, Tirana. The explosion killed 27 people, injured some 300 others, and scattered up to 600,000 projectiles/pieces of 9,000 tons of UXO across four other villages, contaminating an area of approximately 3.5km². The explosion completely destroyed some 200 houses and damaged approximately 1,500 to some degree (as well as 32 businesses and 34 farms), inflicting damage estimated at that time at US$18.75 million (€12.7 million).[10]

The AAF conducted emergency clearance from 17 March to 3 April 2008;[11] DCA carried out some emergency clearance in 2008;[12] and Sterling International/Explosive and Ordnance Demilitarisation Solutions (EODS) took over clearance in 2009.[13] There is no available estimate of the current size of the contamination.[14]

Albania has also had to dispose of substantial stocks of obsolete munitions held in poorly maintained military depots near populated areas. As of the end of 2010, it still had about 74,000 tons of these dangerous surplus munitions, but by the end of 2011 stocks had fallen to 26,000 tons (26 million kg).[15] Albania has planned to complete destruction of these stocks by the end of 2013.[16]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The Albanian Mine Action Committee (AMAC), an interministerial body formed in October 1999, serves as the “executive and policy making body for mine action” in Albania.[17] In 2008, AMAC contributed to the emergency response to the Gerdec explosion but responsibility for the operations in Gerdec was with the Ministry of Defense[18] until mid-2011.[19]

The AMAE, set up at the same time as AMAC, coordinated and monitored mine action in Albania until completion of demining at the end of 2010. In December 2010, the Ministry of Defense engaged AMAE to assist in tackling hotspots to help ensure that clearance and ammunition disposal was conducted according to international standards. In addition, AMAE was converted to AMMCO.[20] The Ministry of Defense and UNDP signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2011 which will run to December 2013 under which UNDP will give AMMCO technical and financial support and help to develop a humanitarian framework and standards for clearing hotspots. The Ministry of Defense provides storage for unexploded ammunition and is responsible for its destruction.[21]

Under an agreement between the Albanian Ministry of Defense and the United States (US) State Department, the International Trust Fund: Enhancing Human Security (ITF) contracted Sterling International/EODS in 2011 to clear ammunition hotspots. Sterling International/EODS subcontracted DCA, which had conducted mine clearance until 2009, to clear two hotspots in Ura e Gjadrit (Shkoder) and Gjeroven (Berat) in 2012.[22] Under this process, the AAF explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams are responsible for transporting ammunition found during clearance for disposal. The role of the AAF EOD teams was expected to increase in 2012.[23]

Sterling International/EODS also supports the Albanian Armed Forces in UXO/ammunition clearance and removal in Gerdec.[24]

Land Release

No mine clearance or cluster munition clearance activities were conducted in Albania during 2011. As noted above, major clearance operations were completed in 2009.[25]

Five-year summary of clearance[26]

Survey in 2011

In July to December 2011, an AMMCO team supported by a senior technical advisor from the Swiss Armed Forces conducted technical assessments of 15 hotspots in 11 locations, with three more remaining to be conducted during 2012. Of the 15 assessed, three were rated as high risk and therefore a high priority for clearance; two were discounted as presenting no risk; the remainder were categorized as either low or medium risk.[27] The assessments were designed to identify the exact location of hazards, determine clearance requirements, develop standing operating procedures for quality assurance and control, and determine the impact of hazards on the community and the need for risk education (RE) and victim assistance.[28]

In general, the assessment team found that all hotspots contain dangerous, scattered ammunition despite several surface clearance operations conducted in the past by the AAF. Ammunition attracts scrap metal collectors with the consequent risk to life and limb.[29]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Albania was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2010. Albania reported completion and the fulfillment of its Article 5 obligations in October 2009.[30]

Compliance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Albania became a State Party on 1 August 2010 upon entry into force of the convention with a deadline for clearance of all unexploded submunitions of 1 August 2020. A general survey in 1999 had identified 44 areas contaminated by cluster munitions covering 2.1km². Albania stated in November 2009 that it had already completed clearance of all remaining contaminated areas with the destruction of 4,869 unexploded submunitions.[31]

Battle area clearance in 2011

Ordnance Demilitarization Solutions (based in the United Kingdom) was subcontracted by Sterling International/EODS to clear contamination at Gerdec; it continued operations in 2011 in cooperation with the AAF. This project is conducted under a Technical Agreement between the Albanian Ministry of Defense and the US State Department.[32]

In 2011, teams cleared or deep searched a total of 111,329m², finding a total of 4,339 items of ordnance, including 2,747 items found during deep search operations. Overall, 2,856 items were moved to storage and 1,474 munitions destroyed.[33] Since the beginning of the project, Sterling International/EODS has searched 273,760m² to a depth of up to two meters on flat ground and 1.5 meters on hills, finding 21,709 munitions.[34]

 

Sterling International/EODS started another project in Gerdec in September 2011 to assist the AAF to remove an estimated 300,000 fuzes. By the end of 2011, Sterling International /EODS had removed 723 live fuzes, 6,793 parts of fuzes, and 18 high-explosive shells.[35]

DCA, subcontracted by Sterling International/EODS and funded by the US State Department, started operating in November 2011 on a hotspot at Ura e Gjadrit, near the Gjader river covering 91,000m². The AAF had previously conducted surface clearance in the area, but an assessment in July 2011 found mortar rounds, small arms ammunition, and mortar fuzes.[36] As of 27 January 2012, DCA teams had cleared a total of 32,620m², removing 509 fuzes, 350 artillery shells, 68 mortars, 76 hand-grenades, and seven rocket-propelled grenades, as well as quantities of small arms ammunition.[37]

Quality management

An AMMCO monitoring team conducted six quality control and two quality assurance inspections of hotspot clearance operations in 2011. The AMMCO team consists of one team leader and two monitors.[38]

Safety of demining personnel

No demining accidents occurred during 2011.[39]

Risk Education

The AMMCO monitored and coordinated RE activities, conducted by the Albanian Red Cross (ARC) in 12 regions in Albania.[40]

The ARC implemented a data collection project in 12 prefectures. In addition, 5,000 leaflets prepared in consultation with AMMCO were distributed by ARC volunteers to areas affected by unexploded ammunition and containing messages for a safe behavior. The ARC, with funding from the ICRC, produced and distributed 2,000 new posters, mainly to areas around the hotspots where clearance operations were under way.[41]

 

Summary action points based on 2012 findings

·         More support is needed to advance the Republic of Albania’s progress in incorporating victim assistance into the disability and development sectors.

·         Extensive knowledge on small-scale affordable prosthetics services developed though Albania’s victim assistance program should be used to assist other amputees and survivors of weapons in the country.

Victim assistance commitments

Albania is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Albania has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Protocol V, and has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2012, the Albanian Mine and Munitions Coordination Office (AMMCO) reported eight casualties of AXO; five boys and one girl were injured, the other two casualties were adult men. AMMCO reported six AXO casualties for 2011.

A total of 980 (141 killed; 839 injured) mine/unexploded ordnance (UXO) and AXO/ERW casualties have been identified in Albania between 1997 and 2012. The Albanian Mine Action Executive (AMAE) casualty database for Kukës region[1] contained information on 272 (34 killed; 238 injured) mine and ERW casualties for the period 1999–2005.

Cluster munitions casualties

There have been at least 55 cluster munitions casualties in Albania. The Kukës database recorded 53 casualties from cluster munition remnants (nine killed; 44 injured).[2] Two additional casualties due to the use of cluster munitions were also identified.[3]

Victim Assistance

Albania is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and other survivors of explosive remnants of war. Albania has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Conventional Weapons and has victim assistance obligations under the Cluster Munitions Convention.

There are at least 839 mine/ERW (including AXO) survivors in Albania.

Victim Assistance since 1999[4]

Since 1999, Albania has made significant progress in developing all components of victim assistance in the northeast with the introduction of an initial victim assistance plan in 2003. Extensive data collection, used for program design and information sharing, contributed to the success of the regional victim assistance program in 2005–2009. Needs-based and comprehensive community-based programming, as well as linkages to broader development strategies, were applied to develop an exemplary victim assistance program. However, after the country was declared mine-free in 2009, resources for victim assistance in Albania declined and were insufficient to meet the needs of survivors.

Since 1999, progress in victim assistance was most prominent in the areas of medical care, employment and economic support in the northeast. A prosthetic and rehabilitation center was built in the mine-affected region. Conditions at the National Orthotic-Prosthetic Center in Tirana, once the only such facility in Albania, had been deteriorating since 2005, and in 2010 the center lost ICRC support. A five-year project to build capacity in the rehabilitation sector through training of physiotherapists and the establishment of a prosthetics workshop in the mine-affected area was successfully completed by 2012. Some delays in implementation were attributed to general difficulties experienced by the overall healthcare reform process in Albania. However, a teaching program for physiotherapy was successfully established and integrated into the state Nursing Faculty. The national NGO, ALB-AID (formerly VMA-Kukës, founded in November 2000) provided direct victim assistance, including economic inclusion.

Economic inclusion and psychological support remained the most serious needs of survivors. Overall, widespread poverty, unregulated working conditions, and poor medical care posed significant problems for many persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance in 2012

In 2012, the main victim assistance provider in Albania, ALB-AID, continued to implement victim assistance programs. However, due to decreased funding ALB-AID had just one economic inclusion project, which was not enough to address the significant employment needs among survivors. ALB-AID also has a project to build a sustainable survivors network and has worked on expanding opportunities to access physical rehabilitation services for survivors and amputees in other parts of the country. A study on the transition from mine action to national ownership noted that Albania’s victim assistance program had the capacity to expand its focus beyond the mine-affected northern regions, and more recently to the Gerdece explosion site, to assist survivors of explosive ordnance and other persons with disabilities throughout the country. ALB-AID worked with local associations in AXO-affected areas to make rehabilitation more accessible to amputees in the other regions.

Assessing victim assistance needs

ALB-AID maintained data on all its survivor members and continued its media monitoring of explosives and small arms incidents in 2012.[5] The Albanian Red Cross Society continued collecting data on AXO casualties in 12 AXO-affected prefectures of Albania for use by AMMCO. Data is disaggregated by age and gender, recorded in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database and regularly shared with the national statistical office. In 2012, AMMCO staff liaised with other key actors to lay the groundwork for a survey to identify the medical and socio-economic needs of explosive ordnance survivors in Albania, based on its AXO casualty data.[6]

Key victim assistance actors sought the most appropriate approach to sharing AXO “hotspot” casualty data with details of survivors between ALB-AID and AMMCO and relevant ministries, not only the statistical office, as well as other disability actors including the Labor Invalids Association. However, a protocol for sharing data was yet to be established.[7]

Victim assistance coordination[8]

AMMCO was responsible for coordination of victim assistance activities, resource mobilization and liaising with the government. In 2012, AMMCO’s mandate involved expanding Albania’s existing victim assistance program to include other AXO and UXO survivors.[9]

The objectives of Albania’s National Victim Assistance Plan were aligned with the recommendations of the Cartagena Action Plan.[10] The national Mine Action Plan (2010) aimed to make victim assistance sustainable by building sufficient national capacity and by linking future progress with implementation of the National Strategy on People with Disabilities (NSPWD).[11] In 2012, implementation of the NSPWD continued to be inadequate.[12]

Survivors were represented at all levels of planning and implementation of victim assistance through the participation of ALB-AID.[13]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[14]

Medical care and Rehabilitation

The National Trauma Center, located within the Military Hospital in Tirana, is responsible for treating people with injuries and trauma. Some physiotherapy is available in this center; however the service remained limited and was not specific to the rehabilitation needs of all patients.[15] In 2012, AMMCO continued to negotiate with health care authorities to strengthen trauma services at the hospital.[16]

No psychological support is provided in this center and there are no rehabilitation physiatrists.

In 2012, amputees from throughout the country, including mine/ERW survivors, continued to utilize the capacity of the Kukës Prosthetic Workshop. However, in 2012 the Kukës Prosthetic Workshop, situated in the Kukës regional hospital and integrated into the hospital’s human resources funding, was facing difficulties in securing enough raw materials and components to produce and repair prostheses. The workshop also required an additional technician.[17] AMMCO was investigating how the model of the Kukës Prosthetic Workshop could be replicated in other regions of Albania.[18]

The National Prosthetic and Orthotic Center in Tirana was reportedly “badly managed, and not accessible to persons with disabilities.”[19]

The five–year collaborative project to support Albania in developing a national physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) system concluded in 2012. The Nursery Faculty of Tirana continued to implement a sustainable program of physiotherapy training in 2012.[20] In March 2012, the Albanian Association of Physiotherapists was established. The Association held the first National Congress of Physiotherapy in December.[21]

In 2012, the Ministry of Health in cooperation with AMMCO and the University Rehabilitation Institute, Slovenia held a training workshop on providing rehabilitation and assistive devices to people following amputation. Participants included surgeons, orthopedists, nurses, physiotherapists, and prosthetic/orthotic technicians from several hospital departments in Albania as well as from ALB-AID.[22]

Overall, regional hospitals and other health centers did not provide physiotherapy services. As a result, not all those in need can readily access it. Rehabilitation medicine remained at the beginning stage in Albania and was far from meeting the needs of survivors and other persons with disabilities. Some rehabilitation, mainly physiotherapy, was offered by small private clinics and professionals. More structured private services offered rehabilitation with other forms of therapy than just physiotherapy. The Lady of the Good Counsel Catholic University Hospital provided pool therapy with modern equipment. However, the cost of private rehabilitation was prohibitive to most people in Albania.[23]

Economic and social inclusion and psychological support

In 2012, ALB-AID continued to diversify its funding and began a new computer and literacy training program for mine/ERW survivors, persons with disabilities, and their family members, supported by the Vodafone Albania Foundation.[24] No progress was made regarding employment of persons with disabilities more generally in 2012. The Law on Employment Promotion was not adequately implemented and the employment quota stipulated by the law was not penalized according to the law. [25]

A law adopted in June 2012 requires assistant teachers in classes with children with disabilities. Previously, children with disabilities had not been integrated into the public education system.[26] The new law on pre-university education improved the opportunities for students with disabilities by ensuring that inclusive education will be made available while isolated special education will be gradually eliminated; local authorities make schools accessible; educational institutions are obliged by law not to discriminate against students with disabilities and such discrimination can include a lack of reasonable accommodation.[27]

ALB-AID continued to lack financial resources to implement psychosocial support activities in Kukës during 2012. However, during the year ALB-AID initiated a survivor network advocacy and awareness-raising project with a small grant from the ICBL-CMC Survivor Network Project supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[28]

The Nursery Faculty of the University of Tirana ran a course in psychological assistance through a logotherapy program.[29] A capacity to provide psychological support and education assistance specifically relevant to survivors was developed by AMMCO and ALB-AID during a multiyear project for survivors of the Gerdec ammunition storage site explosion. In 2012 after completion of the project, trained psychologists were prepared to continue the work to assist other mine/ERW and AXO survivors throughout Albania. A need for psychosocial support existed in many hotspot areas where trauma continued to affect victims and members of the community, as well as in other areas affected by armed violence. However, in 2012 the national victim assistance program lacked the resources to extend or expand the project.[30]

Generally, resource constraints and lack of infrastructure make it difficult for persons with disabilities to participate fully in many social activities. Governmental social services agencies were often unable to implement their programs due to lack of funding.[31]

Laws and policies

The European Commission (EC) reported limited progress in the implementation of policies for persons with disabilities in 2012. Amendments made to the Law on Social Assistance and Services in 2012 resulted in persons with disabilities being excluded from receiving economic aid and disability allowances at the same time. An interministerial working group drafted and held consultations on a framework law on the rights of persons with disabilities. Due to the differentiated status of certain disabled persons’ organizations and associations and the lack of official status for certain disabilities, there continued to be unequal access to rights.[32] This remained the main concern for survivors; if they were not working when they were injured, they are not recognized as persons with disabilities and therefore do not benefit from disability benefits. In early 2013, survivors, through the ALB-AID survivors Network Project, publically declared their requests and sought the recognition of their needs in existing disability legislation and strategies.[33]

Differences in legal status meant that most mine survivors with disabilities were not eligible for the state benefits available to some other groups of persons with disabilities.[34] For example, only those survivors who are registered as ‘labor invalids’ due to an accident while at work may receive benefits, including free transportation, subsidies on utilities, and study scholarships for their children.[35] There were delays and disruptions to disability and pension payments in 2012. Electricity bills and telephone bills, which were reimbursed for a few groups of persons with disabilities, were suddenly interrupted for six months due to the economic situation. Subsequently, the law was amended to considerably reduce the amount of this reimbursement. The new reimbursement benefits started again at the end of 2012, though at a considerably lower rate.[36]

Legislation prohibited discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to healthcare, and the provision of other state services. However, service providers did sometimes discriminate against persons with disabilities. The law mandated that new public buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities, but this was not regularly enforced. [37]

Albania ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRDP) on 11 February 2013. Albania signed the CRDP on 22 December 2009 and the Albanian Parliament passed national ratification of the CRPD on 15 November 2012.[38] Throughout 2012, UNDP, ADRF and ALB-AID had been advocating for the Albanian parliament to ratify the CRDP.[39] AMMCO also worked closely with the wider disability sector in Albania on the ratification of the CRPD.[40]

 

In 2009, the Republic of Albania declared that it had completed clearance of all known mined areas in accordance with its Mine Ban Treaty obligations; it is no longer thought to be affected by cluster munition remnants.[1] In 2012, Albania received some international assistance for victim assistance.

In 2012, Austria provided €125,000 (US$160,738) for victim assistance through the ITF Enhancing Human Security to Handicap International and the Albanian Red Cross.[2]

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[3]