MAPPING OF THE POPULATION AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN ALBANIA
one of the children was born in Devoll-Korçë maternity.
Having no birth certificate for home-born children, the citizen V.A. could not register the children in the
civil status because they had been told to pursue a court procedure to verify the fact of birth. She found
the process impossible to understand and did not have the money to hire a lawyer to help.
Even the child born in a maternity unit remains unregistered as V.A. felt unable to travel from Dibra to
Korça to take her document to the hospital because of her financial situation. As a result the child remains unregistered. None of the children have been given access to the healthcare system or been able
to attend school as a result of being unregistered and not having an identification document.
Interview 9
P.H and A.H. have been married for 15 years. In 2002 they emigrated illegally to Greece and stayed
there for many years until they finally returned in 2016 to Albania.
During their cohabitation in Greece, they had three children: S.H. currently 13 years old, A.H. - 12 years
old and F.H. - 10 years old. Since they were illegal migrants and because they were afraid that if they
were found as such by the Greek authorities they could be deported, they avoided any contact with the
Greek state institutions. The children were born at home and as a result none of the three children has
any legal document certifying their birth.
Upon their return to Albania, they tried to register the children in the civil status office, but the authorities
requested the legal documents for the birth of children from the Greek state. Not having any documents,
they were advised to pursue a court procedure for establishing the fact of birth.
Since their return to Albania, none of the family has benefited from state services. The children cannot
be registered in school, they speak almosts no Albanian.
P.H. and A.H. are unable to pursue a legal procedure because of their financial inability to pay for legal
services.
Interview 10
E.C. and H.C. are Albanian nationals and are parents of the child E.C. who is 17. The child was born in
London while E.C. and H.C. were illegal immigrants in Great Britain. E.C. is unregistered in Albania and
does not enjoy Albanian citizenship.
E.C. and H.C emigrated to England in 1999 and declared themselves to be Kosovo citizens, taking
advantage of the war situation in Kosovo and by the fact that Kosovo citizens were granted special
protection at that time by the European Countries.
UNHCR - TLAS / May 2018
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