Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and Counseling Line for Women and Girls, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Trust Fund against Violence against Women organized today the national conference “Violence is crime! Act Now! A real man never hurts a woman” in a joint event in the framework of the 16 Days of Activism to end Violence against Women.

With the participation of high state officials, representatives of the diplomatic missions in the country, civil society activists and UN agencies, the conference put an emphasis on gender-based violence and aimed to discuss and find ways on how to engage men and boys in the fight against domestic violence.

Key-note speakers include Prime Minister Sali Berisha, UN Resident Coordinator Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun, Swedish Chargé d’affaires a.i. Patrik Svensson, EU Head of Delegation Ettore Sequi and US Ambassador Alexander Arvizu.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, H.E Mr. Sali Berisha present at the event,
said that violence against women has become an issue of great concern, a nationwide and multidimensional media campaign against this phenomenon is necessary coupled with legal mechanisms to make the perpetrators of this violence accountable.

The national conference served as a platform to promote discussions and identifying strategies for involvement of men and boys in combatting gender-based and domestic violence and to share innovative activities involving male public figures as well as men and boys in the communities around Albania to take a stand against violence against women. The preliminary findings of a recent study “A boy – father to a man” conducted in the regions of Durrës and Dibra were also presented in the conference.

Addressing the conference, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun referring to gender-based violence said: “All too often, men are viewed as part of the problem, while not sufficiently leveraging on their potential for contributing to its solution. All of us, men and women alike, as part of a patriarchal set-up, are both part of this problem and are and should be considered part of the solution’.

The Head of EU Delegation in Albania Ettore Sequi said: "Domestic violence is a hidden war. And the battleground is in all our homes. This is the reason why we need to involve men and boys. One thing we do know about domestic violence is that it is passed down from generation to generation. It is a learned behaviour. This is why we need to act and change."

Detlef Palm, UNICEF Representative in Albania said amongst others: ”For behavior to change among those that are the most difficult to reach, we need a movement. A movement where everyone participates. A movement where all men participate. Let’s be clear. A man who beats his wife, or a boy who beats his girlfriend, is not likely to listen to a woman or a girl to stop using violence. Nor is he likely to listen to the outcome of a conference. He must be talked to by men, his neighbors, his colleagues at work. The police - the policemen - need to take him into custody. The judges - most of them men - need to sentence him, and restrain him.”

The conference also aimed to convey the message that violence against women and girls has far- reaching consequences, harming families and communities, stunting human development, and undermining economic growth. It is also important to understand that everyone has a role to play in combating this global pandemic and that the time to commit is now.

The United Nations in Albania are organizing a number of activities to raise awareness on gender-based violence across the country as part of the UN Secretary General’s system-wide campaign, UNiTE to End Violence against Women.