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Foreigners as "sex slaves" Albania is not only a tourist attraction but also an "oasis" for sexual services

2025-08-20 22:44:01Fokus SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Foreigners as "sex slaves" Albania is not only a tourist attraction
Foreigners as "sex slaves" Albania is not only a tourist attraction but also an "oasis" for sexual services

The Xh.Sh two months, between Saranda and Vlora, were not for tourism at all, as together with her friend from May 16 of this year and until July 18, they found themselves in two rooms of an apartment, where they often "stayed" different men to receive sexual services. A month after he was detained by the police structures, at Xh.Sh. (note, for security and ethical reasons, the initials have been changed), the trauma, the fear, the humility for the shelter and food he receives for free, but also the drama that torments him, can be seen. In the confession about Faktoje.al, between uncertainty and fear, he blames himself more than the still unidentified "tutor". "Because of a wrong choice and the wrong belief in a person I went through this situation, these are all my decisions, so I have to bear the consequences," the 38-year-old Xh.Sh, who says with great difficulty that she has offered sexual services to up to five men a day, tells Faktoje.al. The 38-year-old has a minor son in China. This is her biggest concern. From the day she stepped in Rinas, her passport was taken from her tutor, who is still unidentified.

"I cry more at night. I miss my son," she says as she shakes hands repeatedly and gives very short answers when asked about the people who used her. Fear and caution as she still does not know her fate, although the police referred to her as a "prostitution practice" and was recognized as a "victim of trafficking".

This is a fragment of the life of a Chinese woman who was found in Albania in the oasis of prostitution, which in the last three years has been growing as much as tourism in our country.

From 4 continents

In recent years, due to the increase in the number of foreign tourists, well-organized criminal groups consider Albania a possible oasis to bring women to our country with the purpose of exploiting prostitution. According to official sources of the State Police, Asia, Latin America, Africa, but also Eastern Europe are the four continents; which almost all year round and especially in the summer season come with tourist visas or work permits; girls who are at high risk of exploitation of prostitution. "Currently, we are identifying victims from different continents (Africa, Asia and Latin America), who are brought to Albania or transiting through our territory. At the same time, we have cases where Albanian and foreign women play organizing roles in these networks, not just as victims" - says the State Police for Faktoje.al.

"We are identifying girls who come from countries such as Ghana, the Philippines, China, Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Peru, etc.," the law enforcement structures emphasize. Also, the representative of the "Vatra" Center in Vlora, Entela Avduli, in a reaction to Faktoje.al shows that cases of trafficking of foreign citizens who are exploited to offer sexual favors has been increasing.

Foreigners as "sex slaves" Albania is not only a tourist attraction
Entela Avduli, representative of the Vatra center in Vlora

"In 2024, out of all centers, there are 39 cases treated, where the majority are girls trafficked for prostitution purposes, mainly from Asia and Latin America. While during this year only in our center we have 22 women who are being treated" - says Avduli

Police figures "Prostitution with foreigners on the rise"

"For 2023 - there are 70 identified cases (police operations), with 161 perpetrators, (2 perpetrators, foreign citizens). For 2024, there are 76 identified cases, with 133 perpetrators (27 perpetrators, foreign citizens) and for the period January - June 2025, there are 37 identified cases, with 81 perpetrators (25, foreign citizens)" - say the official sources of the State Police when asked about Faktoje.al the number of foreign citizens involved in trafficking and prostitution. The figures are for the cases referred to for "exploitation of prostitution", namely Article 114 of the Criminal Code, while the number of persons prosecuted in a free state for practicing prostitution is many times higher

Prostitution: With a work permit of ballerinas and herbicides.

Identification from the start is quite difficult for the structures of the State Police. Girls arriving from Asian countries, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe come in two forms; with tourist visas or work visas. "They came through employment agencies, to work as waitresses, dancers, baristas, etc., but they also came with tourist visas. The cases we have dealt with have been genuine networks, which organize them in prostitution trafficking. Someone would find a job, then the recruiter, someone who would find the premises, or even the customers" - says one of the leaders of the Vatra center, Entela Avduli. This center specifically deals with trafficking cases and provides passive-social services, but also shelter and safety for victims of trafficking. The cases that are detected by the police structures are referred to the three "Vatra" centers throughout the country, but also by other NGOs that deal specifically with the shelter and integration of victims of trafficking, both domestic and foreign.

"Elite" prostitution. Girls choose customers.

"There are several online sites that from our verifications turn out to be registered by IPs in Ukraine which operate for the purpose of prostitution. The girls chat online with customers, Albanian or foreign, show their age, photos, etc. and after determining the price and agreeing on the sexual services they offer, they make an appointment in a certain place, which can be an apartment taken without a rental contract, or a motel" - says Faktoje.al on condition of anonymity a police officer of the trafficking sector. This type of prostitution is also described as more "elitist", as it is the girls themselves who choose this form in a somewhat independent way and included are mainly citizens from Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The payment for it ranges from 100-300 euros.

Another form of prostitution coverage remains massage centers, but also aesthetic ones. "There are many massage centers, mainly those that employ foreigners who also offer sexual services against payment," says the officer, while adding that they have succeeded in cracking down on networks in some cases when the agents themselves have gone to these centers as infiltrators and then women and girls who practiced prostitution against payment were discovered.

Massage centers "Prostitution shelter"

"What often happens is that an older woman who has exercised or used women for sexual services, manages these centers and the women employed where the prices are set, creates a kind of security for them, but in many cases they keep them isolated by taking their passports, or even threatened that if they leave or denounce them they will have consequences" - says the Anti-Trafficking officer, While adding that they are mainly Asian citizens, who cover their secular services against payment through massage centers.

Another form is the exploitation of prostitution by individuals, who either own or are connected to some of the owners or administrators of various bars, nightclubs or hotels. "In nightclubs or small hotels, we have discovered cases where various foreign citizens, but also Albanians, seemingly work as ballerinas or even waiters and baristas, but when different clients ask for sexual services, they are offered by them," says the agent, while emphasizing that this is a more serious form of exploitation, as often these women are mistreated and deprived of considerable amounts of money from sexual exploitation.

"Women" who exploit women

Recruitment scheme and exploitation network.

Although cases of prostitution exploitation are increasing, where women are implicated, the number of convicts or detainees for this criminal offense is low. Official data from the General Directorate of Prisons show that five women, one with a final sentence and four others in custody, are prosecuted for prostitution exploitation. However, the number of women prosecuted with security measures "house arrest", "obligation to appear" or "investigation in a free state", a large number of foreigners, are numerous, this is also due to the fact that the court takes into consideration the fact that they are women, leaving them in soft security measures.

"We have seen more and more cases where foreign organized groups are being implicated in exploitation for prostitution or other criminal acts," says the representative of the Vatra Center, Entela Avduli. "The cases have come recruited. They have been found a 'job', someone waits for them in Rinas, which is a taxi driver specifically assigned only for these people, sends them to a hotel, or rented houses and then these women offer sexual services against payment" - adds Avduli.

A fact that is also affirmed by the police structures which emphasize that in most of the cases discovered, the exploited women did not come willingly and were aware that they would be used for prostitution purposes, but over time they are put under pressure by these criminal networks that keep their passports, or even threaten them with relatives they have left in their homeland.

A blind eye to tourism?

While the cases of foreign women providing sexual services in Albania is increasing, the law enforcement structures are somewhat unprepared and this is due to the fact that where this type of prostitution does not have the elements of classic violence by groups that exploit women against their will. Many of them choose Albania for prostitution against payment, given the high number of foreign tourists in the country.

"It is ready, as a 'demand-offer' for sexual services against payment and not by chance, during the tourist season, women who offer sexual services for payment move to coastal areas," claims a police source for Faktoje.al. Avduli took the same position, referring to the cases handled by the Vatra center. The most problematic areas are Tirana, Durres, Vlora, Saranda, Elbasan and Shkodra. "The State Police has drafted and is implementing a detailed plan of measures for the summer tourist season 2025, with a special focus on tourist areas, to guarantee order, public safety and prevent criminal activities, including trafficking for prostitution purposes" - the police officially say.

Victims of trafficking: Let's get away as soon as possible!

Girls trafficked and prosecuted for prostitution are sent to treatment centers and under constant monitoring by the police and the Immigration and Asylum Office. "Most of them come back of their own volition. While some of them stay here and we have found them a secure job as they receive a special residence permit from the Immigration and Asylum offices" - says the representative of the Vatra Center, Entela Avduli, while adding that usually they stay in the centers for up to three months, but there is also another great difficulty regarding the part of documents. The amount from the women caught and prosecuted for "prostitution" do not have a passport as their tutors took it from them from the first moment they set foot on Albanian soil. "For victims of trafficking in accountability, both for foreigners and Albanians, what we identify is the tip of the iceberg, because trafficking is a process and phenomenon with networks and such ways that take time to be identified and destroyed," Avduli emphasizes. One of them is Xh.Sh who in her confession claims that her passport was taken from her by "someone I knew", but who had told her that a better life awaited her, shortly after arriving in Albania. "I came because someone told me that he would help me get a visa to Italy, where it's easy to get from here," says Xh.Sh, but what he found was two months of slavery and a drama that follows, without identity and with concern for the boy left in China whom he says an elderly man takes care of. "Maybe I won't tell my child, because I don't want my child to be ashamed of me..."- concludes Xh.Sh confession, one of the hundreds of foreign women who see Albania as an oasis where they can be earned if they offer sexual services. /Sebi Alla Faktoje.al


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