ACTIVITIES ORGANISED IN ALBANIA
ON THE OCCASION OF WDACL 2011

It is the fourth year that Albanian education trade unions, FSASH and SPASH, organise special activities on the occasion of WDACL.
The main activities of this year were focused on “Children in hazardous work, End Child labour”

A high level National Meeting was held in Tirana International Hotel, in Tirana, on the 11th of June 2011, in collaboration with Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Chances and the Ministry of Education and Science of Albania.

More than 80 teachers, pupils and parents, especially from the schools and districts where education trade unions are working concretely and individually with pupils dropped out from the school and working, especially in hazardous work, as well as representatives from both ministries, State Labour Inspectorate and so on, took part in the Meeting.

Vice Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Mrs. Filloreta Kodra, Vice Minister of Education and Science of Albania, Mrs. Nora Malaj, as well as both chairmen of education trade unions, Xhafer Dobrushi and Bajram Kruja, representative of UNICEF in Albania, took also  part in the meeting.

The Meeting was opened by the Chairman of FSASH, Mr. Xhafer Dobrushi, who pointed out the initiative of both Albanian education trade unions to organise this activity and thanked both Ministries for the support and active engagement to make possible this activity and to organise other activities on the occasion WDACL, which this year had a special Slogan: “Children in hazardous work, End Child labour”

The Vice Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Chances, Mrs. Filloreta Kodra, spoke on the commitments of the Albanian Government and the Ministry of Labour to eliminate child labour, and involvement of children especially in hazardous work, being focused especially to the improvement of legislation, assistance for families in need, enforcement of the control by State Labour Inspectorate, and so on.

The Head of State Agency on Children Rights Protection, Mrs. Miranda Pashaj, mentioned the need of the establishment of a wide coalition with participation of state institutions and all stakeholders, as well as the contribution and role of social partners in the framework of the implementation of Albanian Roadmap for the elimination of worst forms of child labour in Albania by 2016.

Following, the Vice Minister of Education and Science of Albania, Mrs. Nora Malaj, appreciated the commitment of both education trade unions in child labour prevention and elimination and spoke about the commitment of the Ministry of Education to keep children in school, reduce their drop out and mobilize more and more teachers in prevention children from entering child labour especially in hazardous work, implementation of the law on compulsory education and so on.

On behalf of both education trade unions, the chairman of TUFESA, Mr. Xhafer Dobrushi, spoke on the commitment of these trade unions to prevent and eliminate child labour, being focused especially in the districts and schools where there are more problems and more possibilities of trade unions to deal with the problem, like Tirana, (Bathore area), Fieri, (Levani school), Korca, “Asdreni" and “Naim Frasheri" schools), Elbasani and so on.

He mentioned that more than 2400 teachers are engaged in this work, dealing with more than 4500 pupils, turning back on school more than 1800 pupils, while continue to work with more than 3500 pupils at risk to drop out from school and enter child labour. He expressed the intention of both FSASH and SPASH to continue working hard on children protection and child labour prevention and elimination.

Representative of UNICEF in Tirana, expressed the continuous commitment of these important institutions in supporting child labour prevention and elimination projects and activities in Albania.
He pointed out: “Today we remind ourselves of Albania’s commitments to prevent child labour. Today we renew that commitment and promise to do more to protect children, to answer their calls for help, to keep them in school and to shield them from trafficking”

The Headmaster of “Naim Frasheri” school, Ylli Shahinasi, spoke about the special situation in this school where almost all the pupils are from Roma and Egyptian community, as well as the mobilisation of teachers, pupils and parents commitment , supported by both Albanian education trade unions, FSASH and SPASH as well as by Dutch education Trade union, AOb, to avoid pupils’ drop out and keep all pupils in school.

Vice chairman of SPASH, Mr. Defrim Spahiu, spoke about the role of education trade unions and especially SPASH, to mobilise teachers and pupils in child labour prevention and elimination.

Discussions from teachers and pupils were followed by a cocktail, where informal discussions were really interesting among all the participants from different districts and institutions.