TIRANA, Oct 8 /ATA/ During today’s session of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Public Information, Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination Robert Gajda reported that over the past year, the institution has issued 294 decisions and made four recommendations.
According to Gajda, of the total, 94 decisions and 4 recommendations pertain to complaints or cases registered in 2023, while 200 decisions relate to complaints lodged or cases initiated in 2024.
“As part of our mandate, we oversee the enforcement of social legislation, which necessitates the adoption of bylaws and strict compliance by public administration bodies. A recurring issue identified in our work, not only for 2024 but historically, is the administrative misapplication of social laws that provide services and safeguard rights, particularly for vulnerable groups within society,” he stated.
According to Gajda, of the total, 94 decisions and 4 recommendations pertain to complaints or cases registered in 2023, while 200 decisions relate to complaints lodged or cases initiated in 2024.
“People with visual impairments encounter challenges in securing free tickets for urban transportation or benefiting from 50% discounted tickets for intercity travel. Another significant concern is political discrimination, with numerous complaints about dismissals from public administration positions based on political affiliations within local government,” Gajda added.
“Another issue relates to alleged discrimination based on race or ethnicity, primarily affecting the Roma and Egyptian communities. Here, the main problems concern housing conditions, with our findings revealing entire families, including children and the elderly, living in inhumane circumstances in many cities,” he said.
According to the Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination, gender remains another prevalent category of complaints received by the institution. The most affected, Gajda noted, are women during vulnerable periods such as pregnancy and motherhood.
“There is a noticeable insensitivity among public and private institutions when it comes to providing women with the necessary support to balance work and childcare,” he stated.
“Hate speech constitutes a form of discrimination, and our institution actively investigates such cases. Unfortunately, we have observed a concerning pattern of hate speech being directed predominantly at LGBT individuals, particularly due to their sexual orientation,” Gajda explained.
Gajda highlighted a notable enhancement in the judiciary’s reasoning and adjudication quality concerning discrimination cases, accompanied by a rise in cases referred to administrative and civil courts.
The Commissioner further reported that, in 2024, compensatory damages totaling 115, 000, 000 lek were awarded, a remedy he characterized as a critical tool for deterring discriminatory conduct across all categories.
Ivi Kaso, in his capacity as Deputy Chair of the Committee on Human Rights and Public Information, stated that approximately nine thousand cases of discrimination based on political convictions have been identified in the public administration, according to court rulings.
Kaso also addressed the issue of hate speech on social media, describing it as a collective hysteria following the tragic incident in which Judge Astrit Kalaja was killed at his workplace. Additionally, Kaso expressed concern over the decline in institutional responses to the recommendations of the Commissioner for Protection Against Discrimination (KMD), which dropped from 56% in 2023 to 28% last year.
/e.i/j.p/sm/
