In Albania, tradition states that blood must flow to make amends for a crime. “I’m well, I’m isolating at home,” Nikollë Shullani said by phone from Shkodër, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the capital Tirana. [15], Ismet Elezi, a professor of law at the University of Tirana, believes that in spite of the Kanun's endorsement of blood vengeance, there are strict rules on how the practice may be carried out. The authorities recorded just three revenge killings in 2018, and Operazione Colomba, a volunteer organization, counted six murders “with blood feud elements” in 2016, two in 2015, four in 2014 and seven in 2013, according to a UK government report. Register for $9.99 per month and become a member today. [13], "Albania: The dark shadow of tradition and blood feuds", "Albania: Blood Feuds -- Forgotten Rules Imperil Everyone (Part 3)", "The children trapped by Albania's blood feuds", "Blood feuds still affect a number of Albanian families", "Montenegro Albanians Take Pride in Abandoning Ancient Blood Feuds", "This Blood Feud with Kalashnikov is Barbarian", "Blood feuds in Albania's Accursed Mountains", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gjakmarrja&oldid=983974226, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Articles containing potentially dated statements from before 1990, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing Albanian-language text, Articles containing Portuguese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 October 2020, at 11:39. AL (Albania) [2019] EWCA Civ 950 is a new Court of Appeal judgment which says some important things about the approach a tribunal judge should take to factual findings made by … Fair Observer does not use personal data collected from its website for advertising purposes or to market to you. Unique insights from 2000+ contributors in 80+ countries. "blood feud") or hakmarrja ("revenge") refers to the social obligation to commit murder in order to salvage honour questioned by an earlier violation of any of the many core morals of Albanian culture. The code was originally a "a non-religious code that was used by Muslims and Christians alike. They also lay down strict social rules, including that women cannot be targeted in blood feuds and that those who owe blood may not be targeted while inside their homes. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. The Kanun is still applied in the northern and central parts of Albania, and research from the British Embassy in Tirana concluded that these blood feuds are “largely restricted to remote pockets in the mountain north of the country.”, Judges in Albania can often be bribed to dramatically reduce prison sentences, even in cases of murder, and Shullani explains that this weakness in Albania’s justice system is why the Kanun has reemerged in recent times. [17] Families and other extended kin in the Malesia region made a besa and agreed to cease blood feuding and accept state judicial outcomes for victims and perpetrators. [13] For instance, in recent years, there are more and more reports of women and children being subjected to the same redemption murders. [8] To resolve disputes and clamp down on the practice the Ottoman state addressed the problem directly by sending Blood Feud Reconciliation Commissions (musalaha-ı dem komisyonları) that produced results with limited success. [15] In Tiranë blood feuds arrived to the capital city with the migration of people from the north and north-eastern regions. [4] Nineteen percent of male deaths in İşkodra vilayet were caused by murders due to vendetta and blood feuding during the late Ottoman period. [2], In Kosovo, most cases of Gjakmarrja were reconciled in the early 1990s in the course of a large-scale reconciliation movement to end blood feuds led by Anton Çetta. Under his authoritarian regime, the practice completely halted. Your donation is tax-deductible. Gjakmarrja (English: "blood-taking", i.e. This cookie consists of the word “yes” to enable us to remember your acceptance of the site cookie notification, and prevents it from displaying to you in future. These statistics are collected and processed using the Google Analytics service. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Therefore, when a personal attack of a formidable magnitude is unleashed on a member of any family, an equal punishment is to be expected by the laws of the Kanun. Become a Fair Observer and help us make sense of the world. “The first best thing is the rule of law,” he said. 3771 0 obj <>stream Regretfully, the COVID-19 pandemic had no mitigating effect on the blood feuds phenomenon in Albania. Traditionally the elderly, who are highly respected in Albanian culture, play a central role in these negotiations. “Ngujim në shtëpi,” he said, using the same word for coronavirus-related isolation that is used for those locked inside because of a gjakmarrja. "����n�U� �wPp��9 What Are Albania’s Blood Feuds? Gjakmarrja (English: "blood-taking", i.e. The blood feud involving Niko's family began shortly after the deep economic crisis in Albania caused by the collapse of so-called pyramid selling schemes. “That is not a problem for me,” she replied. Shullani recalled one feud that left a particularly strong impression on him — the story of a widow in a village near Shkodër. [13][14] [15] Shkodër and Lezhë districts are most affected and the cities of Tiranë and Durrës are least affected. [14][2], An Albanian study of 2018 on blood feuds that included data from police records noted that there are 704 families affected with 591 in Albania and 113 having left the country. The BBC quotes Liljana Luani, a teacher of children “involved in blood,” as saying: “Nowadays neither the Kanun nor the laws of the state are being followed. The American-Albanian film The Forgiveness of Blood also deals with the consequences of a blood feud on a family in a remote area of modern-day Albania. [18] His novel Broken April (Albanian: Prilli i Thyer) explores the social effects of an ancestral blood feud between two landowning families. [10] After the Young Turk Revolution and subsequent restoration of the Ottoman constitution, the Shala, Kastrati, Shoshi and Hoti tribes made a besa (pledge) to support the document and to stop blood feuding with other tribes until 6 November 1908. R��� 7N)�2(�^�،g_? EKׯ'�rO�Ġ�=. [11], As of 1940[update], about 600 blood feuds reportedly existed against King Zog I of the Albanians. We bring you perspectives from around the world. The first question is whether the Home Office is entitled to hold that an Albanian seeking asylum on the basis of a blood feud would unarguably be protected sufficiently by the state, such that it would not be open to a hypothetical tribunal judge to conclude otherwise. Despite the barbaric nature of this ancient system, Shullani points out that the strict rules and established process for peacemaking set the blood feuds apart from the random, merciless crime that happens elsewhere. Those who choose not to pay with the lives of their family members live in shame and seclusion for the rest of their lives, imprisoned in their homes. [16], In Montenegro, an event "Beslidhja e Malësisë" (Pledge of Malësia) took place in Tuzi (28 June 1970) in the presence of Catholic and Muslim clergy. The … Join our community of more than 2,500 contributors to publish your perspective, share your narrative and shape the global discourse. Blood feuds: what happens when the Home Office shares information with the Albanian authorities? The Albanian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights considers one reason for the pervasiveness of blood feuds to be the malfunction of the country's judiciary. Fair Observer uses these aggregate statistics from website visits to help improve the content of the website and to provide regular reports to our current and future donors and funding organizations.