Article 26
No one may be required to perform forced labor, except in cases of the execution of a judicial decision, the performance of military service, or for a service that results from a state of war, a state of emergency or a natural disaster that threatens human life or health.
Article 49
- Everyone has the right to earn the means of living by lawful work that he has chosen or accepted himself. He is free to choose his profession, place of work, and his own system of professional qualification.
- Employees have the right to social protection oflabor.
Article 54
- Children, the young, pregnant women and new mothers have the right to special protection by the state.
- Children born out of wedlock have rights equal to those born within marriage.
- Every child has the right to be protected from violence, ill treatment, exploitation and from performing any work, especially under the minimum age for childlabor, which could damage his health and morals or endanger his life or normal development.
The Constitution of the Republic of Albania (PDF)
Article 74 Crimes against humanity
Murder, enforced disappearance, extermination, enslaving, internment and expulsion and any other kind of human torture or violence committed according to a concrete premeditated plan or systematically, against a group of the civil population for political, ideological, racial, ethnical and religious motives, shall be punishable to not less than fifteen years of or life imprisonment.
Article 75 War crimes
Offences committed by different persons at war time, such as murder, maltreatment or deportation for slave labor, as well as any other inhuman exploitation to the detriment of civil population or in occupied territory, the killing or maltreatment of war prisoners, the killing of hostages, destruction of private or public property, destruction of towns, commons or villages, which are not ordained from military necessity, are sentenced with no less than fifteen years, or life imprisonment.
Article 110/a Trafficking in adult persons
The recruitment, transport, transfer, hiding or reception of persons through threat or the use of force or other forms of compulsion, kidnapping, fraud, abuse of office or taking advantage of social, physical or psychological condition or the giving or receipt of payments or benefits in order to get the consent of a person who controls another person, with the purpose of exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or forms similar to slavery, putting in use or transplanting organs, as well as other forms of exploitation, both within and beyond the territory of the Republic of Albania, shall be punishable by imprisonment from eight to fifteen years.
When such offence is committed against an adult female person, it shall be punishable by imprisonment of from ten to fifteen years.
The organization, management and financing of the trafficking of persons is punished with imprisonment of from seven to fifteen years.
When such offence is committed in collaboration, more than once, accompanied with maltreatment and forcing the victim to commit various actions through the use of physical or psychological violence, causing serious consequences to the health or threatening his life, is punishable by imprisonment of no less than fifteen years
When the offence as a consequence has caused the death of the victim, it is punished by imprisonment of no less than twenty years or with life imprisonment.
When the criminal offence is committed through the utilization of a state function or public service, the punishment of imprisonment is increased by (¼) one fourth of the punishment given.
Article 110/b Benefit from or use of services provided by trafficked persons
The benefit from or use of services provided by trafficked persons, or services which are subject to exploitation by trafficking, being aware that the person is trafficked, shall be punishable by imprisonment of from two to five years.
When this offence is committed against a minor, it shall be punishable by imprisonment of from three to seven years.
Article 110/c Actions facilitating trafficking
Forgery, possession, or provision of identity cards, passports, visas or other travel documents, or their retaining, removal, hiding, damaging or destruction which have served for the trafficking of adult persons, but having no knowledge of this fact, shall constitute criminal offence and shall be punishable by two to five years of imprisonment.
The same offence, when committed in complicity, more than once, or is committed by the person who has the task to issue the ID card, passport, visa, or the travel document, or has enabled trafficking of children, shall be punishable by four to eight years of imprisonment.
The same offence, when it results in serious consequences, shall be punishable by not less than five years of imprisonment.
Article 128/b Trafficking of Minors
Recruitment, sale, transport, transfer, hiding or reception of minors with the purpose of exploitation for prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor of service, slavery or forms similar to slavery, putting in use or transplanting organs, as well as other forms of exploitation, shall be punishable by ten to twenty years of imprisonment.
Organization, management and financing of the trafficking of minors is punished with imprisonment of from ten to twenty years.
When this crime is committed in collaboration or more than once, or is accompanied with the maltreatment and forcing of the victim through physical or psychological violence to commit various actions, or bring serious consequences to health, it is punished with imprisonment of no less than fifteen years.
When the offence as a consequence has brought about the death of the victim it is punished with imprisonment of no less than twenty years or with life imprisonment.
When the criminal offence is committed through the utilization of a state function or public service, the punishment of imprisonment is increased by one fourth of the punishment given.
Article 130 Coercion or obstruction of cohabitating, concluding or dissolving a marriage
Coercing or obstructing the initiation or continuation of cohabitation, or coercion to enter into or dissolve the marriage, shall constitute a criminal misdemeanour and is punishable with a fine or imprisonment up to three months.
Intentional request to an adult or child to leave the territory of the Republic of Albania for purposes of obliging him to enter into marriage, shall constitute a criminal misdemeanour and is punishable with a fine or imprisonment up to three months
Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania (PDF)
Article 8
(1) All forms of compulsory labor are prohibited.
(2) With compulsory or forced labor is meant any job or service imposed on the individual against his/her will, threatening him/her through whatever punishment. Prohibited is the use of compulsory labor as:
a) a coercive measure or sanction against persons that have or air beliefs running contrary to the ruling political, economic and social order;
b) a method of mobilization or exploitation of labor force for the purpose of economic development;
c) a disciplinary measure at work;
d) a punishment for having participated in a strike;
e) a measure of racial, social, national or religious discrimination.
(3) The following are not considered to be compulsory labor:
a) any job or service imposed on the basis of the law on the Armed Forced of the Republic of Albania, which are designed to serve activities of purely military character;
b) any job or service imposed on the individual as a punishment determined by the court and during which the person is not put at the service of the citizens or private juridical persons, except for the cases provided for in paragraph 2 of this Article.
c) any job imposed in case of war or because of forces majeures, natural calamities, especially in case of fire, floods, starvation, earthquakes, epidemics and under all circumstances threatening life or normal living conditions of the entire population or of one part of it.
