Albania is a global hotspot for human trafficking, with an estimated 34,000 people currently enslaved. Patriarchal norms make women and girls especially vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation. Highly developed criminal networks exploit Albania’s high levels of poverty and corruption, rendering Albanians one of the largest groups of foreign trafficked victims in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.

State capacity in Albania is not sufficiently developed to prevent exploitation effectively - and frontline organizations are providing essential services as a result. Arise is partnering with rehabilitative shelters, legal charities, and child safeguarding groups amongst others, in order to bolster prevention, protection, prosecution and rehabilitation across the country.

As treatment of Albanian victims becomes increasingly harsh and politicized throughout the continent, it is critical that victims, including those vulnerable to re-trafficking, are protected at source. Despite the inadequate response from the Albanian state to combat human trafficking and exploitation, a resilient group of NGOs within the United Response Against Trafficking (URAT) Network have combined over two decades of expertise in delivering extensive rehabilitation, reintegration, and prevention services for victims of trafficking and vulnerable communities.

Their multidisciplinary team comprises dedicated case managers, medical professionals, psychologists, educators, legal experts, economic empowerment specialists, shelter administrators, and reintegration coordinators.

Arise has provided over 6,818 hours of capacity building and network building to frontline workers and supported 25 direct anti-trafficking programs in Albania over the last 6 years, directly impacting over 14,000 at-risk people.

Strengthen our partnership with the URAT Network: We plan to enhance our collaboration with the URAT Network by providing additional grants. These grants will specifically focus on sustaining shelter facilities, which are critical to supporting victims in their immediate needs, expanding reintegration programs for survivors by focusing on economic empowerment and independence, as well as supporting prevention initiatives aimed at responding to the root causes of human trafficking.

Facilitating Cross-Border Collaboration: We aim to facilitate increased collaboration between organizations in the United Kingdom and Albania. This collaboration will promote further cooperation on anti-trafficking advocacy efforts.

Capacity-Building and Network Strengthening: We are committed to supporting the URAT network through capacity-building activities and organizing network events. These activities include further training sessions on case management, and advocacy for a dedicated anti-trafficking law, as well as activities on raising awareness about human trafficking both online and offline, especially in underserved regions of Albania.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, which is ongoing at the time of writing. The war has been marked by brutality and tragedy, with Ukrainian cities subject to bombing, urban warfare, and widespread human rights abuses.

War-zones often feature high rates of exploitation, including sex trafficking, child soldiering, and forced labor. In 2020, a team of researchers from the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab (including longtime Arise collaborator Dr Monti Datta) found that slavery or human trafficking were present in 90% of wars and conflicts between 1989 and 2016. In 2019, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that trafficking was becoming ‘horrific’ in modern warfare. Clearly, the Russian invasion put millions of fleeing Ukrainian refugees at risk of trafficking, and required robust action from the trafficking prevention sector.

Those fleeing were predominantly women and children, who were often traveling to unfamiliar environments, facing a language barrier and limited resources. From the outset of the war, the chaos at Ukraine’s borders was apparent, and reports of attempted abduction spread quickly. A year after the war, thousands of Ukrainian children had been reported missing (accurate numbers are unavailable in the circumstances), with at least 8,000 suspected to have been taken to Russia in the first year of war.

Arise quickly developed a response, applying our frontline model to protect refugees in border countries to Ukraine. Our objective was to facilitate safe passage for at-risk Ukrainians and ensure they remained protected from trafficking and exploitation upon arrival. With the exceptional support of our donors, Arise carefully identified and rolled out support to frontline groups engaged in refugee protection and trafficking prevention in Hungary, Poland and Romania. These operations have directly helped thousands of Ukrainian refugees, including a number of those with special-needs. Arise also supported a team of researchers in Poland to gather and report on the Polish response to Ukrainian refugees, helping to inform refugee protection efforts.