Laureta (name changed) remembers the day she decided to break her silence. After a decade of repeated physical and psychological abuse by her husband, she went to a police station in a coastal Albanian city to seek safety for herself and her two daughters. Police carried out an urgent risk assessment and referred the case to the courts. Within 48 hours a court ordered her husband to leave the family home, barred contact with her and the children, required him to attend a rehabilitation programme for domestic violence offenders, and mandated child support — although Laureta says payments have been irregular.
Thanks to temporary financial assistance and finding work as a hairdresser, Laureta was able to rebuild her life. Her story did not end in femicide. But many women in Albania do not survive domestic violence.
Femicide — the intentional killing of a woman or girl for gender-based reasons — is not defined in Albania’s penal code as a separate offence. Killings of women are prosecuted under general homicide laws, with a gender motive treated only as an aggravating circumstance. Lawyer Rezarta Agolli says the term femicide is not included in the current code or the new draft, and that the Women’s Empowerment Network in Albania has called for its explicit inclusion.
The scale of the problem is stark. The Observatory for Femicide in Albania reported in “Killing of Women and Girls and Femicide in Albania, 2021–2023” that 32 women and girls were killed in that period; 24 of those deaths were classified as femicides. In 27 of the cases the victim was related to the perpetrator. Official Ministry of Health and Social Protection figures show 23 women were killed in family-related incidents between 2022 and 2025. The Observatory also found that in roughly 90% of femicide cases victims had experienced prior violence from the eventual killer, yet only six had previously reported that abuse to police.
Authorities are issuing protection orders: between 2021 and 2025 Albania recorded 11,819 protection orders for women. In 2025 alone there were 2,849 orders, of which 144 were violated. Those numbers indicate a growing institutional response, but they also reveal a critical limitation: a protection order does not always guarantee a woman’s physical safety.
The Ministry of Health and Social Protection says it develops rehabilitation programmes for victims and perpetrators and works to ensure implementation. Albania runs 17 rehabilitation and reintegration shelters with a combined capacity of around 40 places, and provides free legal assistance through 20 primary legal aid centres, 12 legal clinics and 15 authorised non-profit organisations. Experts warn, however, that legal and social services remain insufficient without faster, better-coordinated responses and sustainable funding.
Observers point to economic, cultural and institutional inequalities as underlying drivers of violence against women. Ines Leskaj, head of the Albanian Women Empowerment Network (AWEN), says the causes are “multiple and intertwined”: economic dependence, social isolation and lack of psychological support, all rooted in a patriarchal mentality that restricts women’s ability to live independently and free from abuse. Pressure from families and communities, where women may be treated as property or seen as bearers of shame, can further escalate violence into femicide.
International bodies have urged legal reform. In October 2023 the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) recommended that Albania amend its penal code to criminalise femicide and explicitly define all forms of gender-based violence — including economic and cyber violence — as offences.
Experts say that laws, protection orders and legal aid are important but not sufficient. Without deeper shifts in patriarchal attitudes, broader public awareness and stronger, faster protective mechanisms, many women will remain at risk. Leskaj stresses that the protection and social support system itself must change: it needs direct services for victims and children, structures able to respond at any hour, and properly planned budgets to make assistance reliable.
Laureta’s case shows that timely intervention can save lives, but it also highlights how fragile women’s safety is when protection orders are violated and economic support is inadequate. Recognising femicide as a distinct crime, strengthening immediate response mechanisms, investing in sustainable social services and educating communities to reject violence are essential steps to prevent tragedies and to intervene before abuse escalates.
Femicide does not begin with a gunshot: it begins with silence, daily fear and the normalization of control and humiliation. Until those root causes are tackled, the statistics will keep telling stories that should never be repeated.
Name changed to protect identity.
Edited by Aingeal Flanagan. This article was produced with support from the government of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of a project promoting quality journalism in North Macedonia and neighboring countries.