International Day of Missing Children/ Brikena Kasmi: Albania, the paradise of civilian kidnapping

2024-05-25 23:57:00, Aktualitet CNA

International Day of Missing Children/ Brikena Kasmi: Albania, the paradise of

Lawyer Brikena Kasmi, on the International Day of Missing Children, spoke on the podcast of journalist Anila Hoxha about child abduction cases in Albania.

Kasmi has emphasized that Albania is otherwise known as the paradise of civilian kidnapping.

The lawyer said that, when the child is brought to Albania, the processes move slowly, the Ministry of Justice has only an informative role and not a party, and it is difficult to trace the address of the abducting parent.

Anila Hoxha: We are with Ms. Brikena Kasmi, who has studied well the problem of children and minors when they are victims, victims of a divorce process, in which one of the parents kidnaps the children, and this is considered an Albanian phenomenon, but not only. however, it needs to be fixed in Albania. There is a high number of children kidnapped by one of the parents, then victims of various issues which we will discuss. Mrs. Kasmi, good evening.

Brikena Kasmi: Good evening Anila. And many thanks for capturing this topic and congratulations because you have really become with your podcast, the voice of the victims, the various victims of court processes, but not only of society or social injustices, holding the government accountable. And it is a sublime mission that you have undertaken. I congratulate you on this.

Anila Hoxha: Thank you. Ms. Kasmi, you have conducted a study regarding the ``civil abduction'' of children. What does this study consist of, where did you get the data?

Part of the podcast with Anila Hoxha

Brikena Kasmi: The study actually started because I am part of the International Family Law Academy of Family Lawyers. Considering that our country has been a member of the Hague Convention since 2005, regarding the civil aspects of child abduction, it is the only country that never reports in any year to this organization, to this Convention. To start from the beginning, at the end of 2004 and throughout 2005, the Ministry of Justice at that time took a very good initiative to join and ratify some international initiatives, some international conventions, which touch on some of the problems, which often in the daily routine, while we discuss the economic woes of a country, they are not left aside and are not touched as they should be or do not receive the proper attention and such are the civil aspects of child abduction. Until that time, we did not recognize this as a civil aspect, so they were not known because we were satisfied with the legal provisions of the Penal Code and the discussion was always that the abduction of children happened only in cases of human trafficking. Meanwhile, often as lawyers and during the work we did for the accession and ratification of this convention, we often confused it as a legal concept and we did not have a clear understanding of the phenomenon when the Hague lawyers had approved this convention since 1980, when couples break up or couples have let's say that of their marital conflicts and often the object of the conflict or the center of the conflict is moved to the child.

Anila Hoxha: What did you find out in 2005?

Brikena Kasmi: It was noticed that with a click of the pencil, let's say with a conflict between the couple, one from and mainly the mother, but one of the couple happens that the father also takes the children in conditions of emotional pressure on the other couple and move them.

Anila Hoxha: How present is this problem even today? So, ``civilian abduction''.

Brikena Kasmi: It has grown and been loaded. If the father has notified the central authorities, which are generally different, it depends as specified by the Convention or by the member countries. For Albania it is the Ministry of Justice. It is immediately alerted, i.e. the central authority, which has the obligation to return the child to the permanent habitat within 24 hours and a maximum of 6 weeks. Unfortunately, Albania has actually become a kidnapping ``paradise''. So, those who already want, I have cases, I have come across in my practice that even the Italian mother or the German mother, when they want to do something like this, they have the paradise of kidnapping in Albania.

Anila Hoxha: That is to say. one of the parents is Albanian or...?

Brikena Kasmi: That means that are transferred. The connection with Albania is not very important, but that they transfer the child to Albania because the Albanian judicial authorities delay the return of the child to the habitat, to the permanent residence.

Anila Hoxha: Do you have data? Do you have statistics that you describe as the ``paradise'' of child abduction?

Brikena Kasmi: Yes, we have the statistics. I actually have the statistics in processing due to the increased volume of these issues in recent years.

Anila Hoxha: There is no instrument to check? Foreign institutions are not notified in this case, the relevant ministry of the relevant state?

Brikena Kasmi: We have had cases like in the case of the Greek Ministry of Justice, the German Ministry of Justice, the Italian Ministry of Justice who immediately send the request within 24 hours to our Ministry of Justice. Our Ministry of Justice is obliged to present it to the court within 24 hours. Here, other problems are encountered. First, the first problem is that the procedure does not recognize the procedural quality of the Ministry of Justice, whether it is an active or passive applicant. With an announcement that, in fact, I would say is totally illegal and that's where the first problem started, the Ministry of Justice, due to not finding a procedural mechanism, has put itself in an informative circular letter, telling the Albanian courts, ``we bring them such processes''. But the Ministry of Justice does not participate in these processes, leaving, I would say, the process to the mercy of fate.

Anila Hoxha: Who follows him?

Brikena Kasmi: That means it is mandatory that the next requesting parent, who are often foreigners or who is the parent who has stayed abroad, who is from the country of origin, the country of origin is not Albania. He is often forced to hire a private lawyer, and wanting to hire a private lawyer, he will then become familiar with the processes or other problems of the Albanian judicial process.

Anila Hoxha: From 2010 to 2024, how many issues did you focus on?

Brikena Kasmi: Oh, I've had a lot actually, to be honest. From 2010-2014, there were almost 2-3 cases per year.

Anila Hoxha: With what object is the session opened in this case?

Brikena Kasmi: It is the compulsory return of the child due to wrongful retention or removal. There have been cases where the child was taken away from the mother, let's say by the English authorities, because of the violence the mother was doing. The mother went to the institution illegally, kidnapped her child and immediately returned to Albania.

Anila Hoxha: Is this an issue that is being considered by the court?

Brikena Kasmi: These are issues that have been reviewed by the English authorities to once again return to the English authorities, the institution, because the English authorities have taken this child because of the violence that the child had. Keep in mind that mothers often take their children and place them in their own areas, let's say in places, in villages, in places where the address is not found. It is very difficult for the law enforcement agencies to find and check where this child is.

Anila Hoxha: Why is there no civil status, a country of origin?

Brikena Kasmi: We talk about this being a problem in two aspects. The first problem is illegality, often the mothers include the children with forged passports or with other passports or not registered at all at the border points. We have had cases where the father searched for her. The father was German, he searched in Italy because he actually knew that the daughter, the mother she was Albanian, but she was born and raised in Italy herself. She was no longer even a mother, she no longer had any connection with Albania. She had contracted a German private detective who had spent almost 40 days from the south to the north of Italy to find his opportunities.

Anila Hoxha: Where was the child hiding?

Brikena Kasmi: Until, in one of the contacts with the German lawyer, the lawyer had heard about the Albanian ``paradise'' because that's what they already say in the lawyers' network, that's what we call Albanian paradise or we often call it ``kidnapping tourism''. If we have a tourism for dentists, for teeth, we also have a tourism ie. child abduction. He had returned it to Albania and it became a colossal job to find exactly in which country.

Anila Hoxha: The first is the impossibility of tracking where the child is, the ease for the child to enter. How is this child allowed to travel to foreign border points without one of the parents?

Brikena Kasmi: It probably also happens between couples that often the father or mother, we have also had cases when the father has done this, they manipulate the couple or deceive the couple and especially when they have family members in Albania and say that we are going for 10 (ten) day and get those statements that you've probably heard from other parents that they should…

Anila Hoxha: So, Albania changed and sophisticated the law a few years ago precisely for this reason. Because some parents leave, one of the parents leaves with one of the children and does not return. The most serious case was that of two small children, the children of the Dumani family, Eva and her brother, Endri, who left after their father, who died in Syria during the extremist fighting, presented them at the border point of Rinas precisely a notarial document in which the mother gave her consent for the temporary trip. She was tricked, as you say, into a short-term trip to Turkey, but in fact the children were sent all the way to Syria, where the now-adult girl has not yet returned. What about you, you say, that we are considered the ``paradise'' of children's issues, in this ``civil war'', which could be divorced parents, could be cohabiting partners or...?

Brikena Kasmi: Because I would say the mechanisms of quick action are missing in Albania.

Anila Hoxha: You mentioned the inefficiency, that is, the lack of response in time to address the finding of the children, you also mentioned the lack of coordination and the third is the lack of justice or are we more in this part that is not only the delay is not only the flow? But we do not have a party in the process? How should this be fixed? So the Ministry of Justice is just an informant?

Brikena Kasmi: Bulgaria has the best possible model that we shared not more than 1(one) week ago. We had an online conference. In Sofia, a specialized court has been established only in relation to cases of child abduction. It does not happen that they exceed the 6-week period of the Convention. The state allocates legal aid to children, in such cases, therefore, obligatorily assigns a lawyer under the state legal aid to protect exactly the highest interest of the children. We had a child in 2016, if I'm not mistaken, or in 2015, who came 6 years old from Athens and he didn't know a word of Albanian. I mean he was raised in fact, his father was Greek, his mother was Albanian. Both had such situations, they were not, let's say, the best possible parents, but he had a grandmother who was originally from Albania, but Greek. And he had grown up with his grandmother. And the grandmother did her best for him. In fact, we requested that according to the Convention it could not be the grandmother, but the father, but in fact the whole process was pushed by the grandmother. But until he was 6 years old, he did not know anything about Albania. Court, this is because the Convention itself says ``if the highest interest of the children is that he is not moved for more than one year''. If the judicial process automatically passes the time of 1 (one) year, it means that the child has already moved and intentionally or unintentionally, bad or good, has started a new life and has been integrated into another community. So, we have had cases in which the father has been separated from England and when we say together with the other lawyer ``you understand how much your children will hate, further, later''. They were children born in England. The Tirana court, in fact, did a very good convincing job in the first session, it made it clear that what you have done, there is no escape. So I can't break the law for you. He explained to him exactly, despite the problems, he asked not to investigate this, to investigate the violence, etc. Many other problems, in the end the father for another 24 hours, so with this communication he had with the court in the courtroom, he bought the ticket and returned it himself.

Anila Hoxha: With a court decision?

Brikena Kasmi: No, he did not wait for a court decision. The court decision that we are waiting for Anila has extraordinary deadlines. Because this procedure is not supported, the Convention has a discrepancy with the Code of Civil Procedure. The Code of Civil Procedure does not recognize accelerated trials in relation to this issue, ie. does not know 6 week trials. Indeed, the Convention says 6 weeks, but the parties have the right to appeal, they go to court proceedings. The parties often ask for experts, they ask for psychologists. We have had cases where they also require experts on the use of narcotic substances and they have often. I have had a case where the party requested 6 (six) experts ie. and financial for the income, despite the fact that the father told him ``that I now close some income in a bank account'' even though the Convention says that leaving parents is not economic insufficiency, all the Conventions say, even our law ``On the rights of children' says that 'economic insufficiency is not a reason to remove them from their parents'. However, the court, in ignorance of the law, in fact because I cannot say otherwise, appointed accounting experts to investigate how much money he had in Germany. So, in reading the Convention, 6 weeks became 6 years.

Anila Hoxha: How is it regulated? Need another law?

Brikena Kasmi: One of the best possible examples is America. They have an Amber Alert at a certain moment when the parent says ``that the other parent has kidnapped the child'' the whole community sends a message to the cell phone automatically and it becomes very easy and the whole community commits exactly to return it once again. Nqs. they look at him on the street they don't help him because he is in the system. Another second case is the public registry of abducted children, so it is immediately entered into the registry and people can check it of course on the basis of the protection of the child's privacy data and personal data.

Anila Hoxha: It is a new childhood, but it is a childhood that leaves its traumas behind. Thank you very much Mrs. Kasmi.

Brikena Kasmi: Thank you.