Transitional Justice in Albania: A Critical Review with a Special Focus on the Contribution of the European Convention of Human Rights

Abstract

This thesis aims to shed light on the “never again”, the transitional justice efforts in Albania, a former communist country behind the Iron Curtain. Particularly, it focuses on identifying the legal and institutional measures Albania has adopted in the context of Transitional Justice, their contribution to Albanian transition, how the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted and applied the European Convention of Human Rights to the Albanian transitional context and how that in turn has shaped Albania’s transition. Firstly, the thesis goes over the understanding of transitional justice as it has been envisioned by prominent scholars since its emergence as a field of study, while considering the events that brought about the need for transition in Albania. Afterwards, an overview of Albanian legislation in the pillars of Transitional Justice: Truth, Justice, Reparation and Restitution, Memorialization, and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence is considered. The circumstances that brought the European Convention and Court of Human Rights into existence are explored. Lastly, Albania and Albanian transition’s interplay with the European Court of Human Rights is analyzed. The thesis concludes that Albania has undertaken a number of legal initiatives towards achieving transition, of which membership in the Council of Europe, is one example but that the quantity of legal efforts has not been followed by progress. The analysis of the interplay of the European Court of Human Rights and Albanian transition shows that there does not exist a separate legal stance, by the Court, on Albania to which singularity could be attributed. Instead, the singularity of Albanian cases rests with Albania’s own decision-making in the field.

The thesis notes that Transitional Justice aspirations in Albania cannot depend solely on the European Court of Human Rights to achieve the completion of the transitional process.