Manastirliu:

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the National Council for Gender Equality,
Dear representatives of partner organizations,
Dear guests,

In this first meeting for 2018 of the National Council for Gender Equality, I am pleased to emphasize that:
The Albanian Government remains committed to issues of gender equality, anti-discrimination and the elimination of violence against women and girls, as important conditions for Albania’s membership in the European Union, as well as one of the objectives of the sustainable development of the 2030 Agenda of the member states of the Nations United States, objective no. 5/SDG 5 “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls”, but also an essential element in the fulfillment of the National Council of Gender Equality,
is one of the most important mechanisms in the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, the monitoring of the Strategy and Action Plan of Gender Equality 2016-2020, but also as one of the most important bodies, also evidenced in the Resolution approved in December 2017 by the Parliament of Albania “On the Condemnation of violence against women and girls and increasing the effectiveness of legal mechanisms
for preventing it”.
This first meeting of the National Council for Gender Equality brings us together in this special month, the month of women, a few days before March 8, the International Women’s Day.
A moment of reflection for everyone, to respect women’s rights, to commit to every woman living in an environment without violence, without discrimination and having the opportunity to release the potential she has within herself.

Because empowering one woman empowers us all, so we must raise our voice for our rights
not simply and only to achieve gender equality quotas, which are certainly important,
but to guarantee that every woman has equal chances and opportunities.

Today, in the capacity of the President of the council, I have the pleasure of being invited to this meeting
deputy The Speaker of the Assembly Mrs. V. Hysi and deputy Prime Minister and General Coordinator
for Gender Equality Ms. Senida Mesi.

At the same time, I am pleased to present to you that in the composition of this council we have three representatives of civil society, selected as members of this Council, through a transparent competition procedure, Aurela Bozo, Altin Hazizaj and Ines Xhelili.
dear,
Kofi Annan, one of the greatest secretaries general that the United Nations Organization has had, said: “Gender equality is more than just a goal in itself. It is a prerequisite to meet the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and
building a good governance”.

When we talk about gender equality, we must clearly understand the issue we are addressing.

It is not an issue that exclusively affects girls and women, but the whole society.

In our efforts to address gender equality, we are actually addressing the concept of an equal society, which of course constitutes a major challenge in itself.

And in fact, efforts to address gender equality are not easy.
This is due to the fact that women’s unequal positions in society and in the family are often hidden behind a partial progress.
Because it is not enough to simply make girls and women aware of their potential.
It is important to have men by our side in this effort to rebuild an equal relationship and in a stable balance.
We have made significant steps forward, internationally recognized, as far as gender equality is concerned.
Not without pride, I can say that we are the first country in the region that has included gender budgeting, as a special fund to promote gender-based policies in the state budget.
Thus, in the 2017 budget, approximately 15 billion Lek or 90.1 million USD were foreseen to support these policies.
This figure constitutes about 2.3% of the total budget expenditures.
We believe that employment is the best form for the integration and empowerment of women and we have taken steps forward in this direction.

In the last 10 years, the percentage of women owners/administrators has increased in all business categories, with the largest increase in small enterprises with 1-4 employees.
Meanwhile, in the category of businesses with 5-9 employees, we have an almost double increase in the number of women administrators or owners in the last five years.
Some optimistic figures show the trend of recent years.

Thus, at the end of 2017, from all employment offices, 23,136 people were mediated for work, of which more than half (50.5%) are women and girls, reducing the gender gap by 2%.
Over 5,200 unemployed jobseekers have been employed through the implementation of employment promotion programs,
of which 62% are women and girls.
But we still have a long way to go to reduce the pay gap in the private sector between men and women for the same job.
On the other hand, we have marked significant progress for the participation and representation of women in political and public decision-making, a key indicator for measuring the progress of a society that aims to achieve gender equality in all its spheres.

Today half of the government cabinet are women; half of the deputy ministers are women and 30% of the members of parliament are women!
The representation of women in municipal councils to the extent of 50% in some of the main municipalities of the country is also an achievement in the field of representation of women and girls in political life in the country.

Progress can also be seen in the representation of women at high levels of Public Administration, where today for the first time we have 45% of General Directors women.

The Albanian government has improved this ratio even in diplomacy or other positions that until yesterday were dominated by men.
Today, ¼ of the ambassadors are women, while the participation of women in the police forces and the armed forces has increased by about 15%.

But these steps to be evaluated in terms of gender equality go against a completely different reality for hundreds and thousands of women who face unparalleled violence within the walls of the house!

I have met them myself, I have talked with them. There are women like Arjana, who was systematically abused by her husband, but with extraordinary strength she managed to break away and, amid many difficulties, managed to start her life again.

But many others like Hurma, Firdesi, Lumturi, Demirka, Natasha, Sosja, Dija, Migena, Vera did not manage to win the battle with violence!
Should we strengthen the legal mechanism more? Definitely YES

That’s why we have undertaken legal changes – and I take the opportunity to address at this important table the need to speed up these changes – in the law “On measures against violence in family relationships”.
We have requested the acceleration of legal procedures and the determination of clear deadlines for the protection order requests for women victims of domestic violence; we asked not to appeal the immediate protection order to give the abused women the opportunity to receive it as soon as possible
protection from state structures.

Domestic violence is often directly or indirectly related to children, so we propose that the protection order for the mother automatically anticipates the protection order for the children, even if they have not been directly abused.

I believe that this National Council will support the acceleration of these legal changes, but above all the concrete implementation of these measures, in defense of every woman who faces domestic violence.

Reducing gender-based violence and domestic violence is more than a strategic objective, it is a challenge for which we must all work together, and the time is now!

For 2017, 4,543 cases of violence and other crimes in family relationships were reported, or 380 cases more than the previous year.
Of course, the increase in denunciations is an indicator of the increase in the reliability of women in the relevant bodies, but on the other hand, these data are an alarm bell for all of us, to act as soon as possible to eliminate this phenomenon that takes dozens of lives every year. women and girls!
We are working every day to protect women through the services we offer to victims of domestic violence, the counseling line and the reintegration of victims of domestic violence.
But it is still not enough.

The anti-violence referral mechanism is operational in 37 municipalities today. There is still work to be done to raise it in 24 other municipalities.

Of particular importance is the establishment of the Domestic Violence Coordination Office in the Ministry of Justice.
which aims at the joint commitment of the three Ministries to escalate inter-institutional actions at the national and local level to fight domestic violence and mainly against women and girls.
Of course, these are steps in the right direction to ensure protective mechanisms to help women and girls who face domestic violence.

But it is still not enough!

Because we must all be together to first change the mentality of submission or shyness to denounce the abuser, and equally important is the approach of our society towards women.

Without further ado, I would like to thank all international partners such as UNDP, UN WOMEN, UNFPA, UNICEF, IOM, Swedish Government, EU Delegation, OSCE, Austrian Government, Council of Europe, Dutch Embassy, Civil Society as well for support in challenges related to Gender Equality issues.

What we must guarantee for every woman is that the start is equal. And we can do this only if we dedicate ourselves together to this undertaking, which is more than an objective, it is a mission!