ALBANIAN YOUTH : THE GREAT ESCAPE

AIM TIRANA, 24 November 1999

Albanians have forgotten now the long queues of socialism period. Paradoxally only an area in the Albanian capital, Tirana, however, has remained, where the queues of people are everlasting. This is the most luxurious area of the capital, that of the foreign embassies residences. Hundreds of people mainly youngsters are waiting for days to get a visa to settle on "the promised land". The planes departing from Tirana are always crowded, while when they fly back are half full. The bulk of them, who leave do not come back.

Even they have been waiting for days for the dreamed visa and most of them have received a no from the Italian or French consulates' employees, then the youngest ones find an alternate solution. From the coast of Vlora or Durres ports every night motor-powered dinghies loaded with illegal immigrants, against a payment of $1000, sail to the other coast of the Adriatic Sea. It is a perilous undertaking, but for the majority of people this is not a Robinso Crusoe's adventure, but the last chance.

Albania is part of countries with a young age population. The young population made up, during the last decade, 15-20 percent of country's entire population, a very high index compared with other European countries, where the above mention figures move from 13 to 15 percent.

But at the same time Albania has higher dimensions of emigration in all Europe during the last decade. Around 15 percent of the Albanian population or about 500,000 Albanian have immigrated in the Western countries, sources from the Ministry of Social Works report. The average age of the immigrants doesn't surpass 30-years-old. The majority of the Albanian immigrants are in Italy, nearly 400,000. A considerable number of the immigrants have just graduated, but there are also teen-agers who due to the scarce economic conditions of their families, are forced to immigrate after the finish the secondary school. The real immigration of the intellectuals and of people of young age from Albania, compared with Central-Eastern European countries is very high and is estimated at 35,8 percent. More than half are under 40-years-old. Although the massive immigration has helped in reducing the number of unemployed people in Albania, mainly among the juvenile group, the magnitude of immigration have slowed down.

The reasons of immigration during the last decade are many and complex. After the fall of the communist regime in Albania, in 1990, the main factor, which urged the immigration, was the swift opening of Albania towards the world. Over 5000 people mainly young ones entered forcefully the residences of the Western Embassies in Tirana, where they also gained the status of the political immigrant. In 1991 around 40,000 people left for Italy by ships and around 200,000 more crossed the border illegally to Greece. Later, mainly for economic reasons the immigration included 35 percent of the young labor force.

According to the Center for Economic and Social Studies the immigration en masse has included primarily the Albanian male, which represents 73 percent of the total number of immigrants. The last wave of massive immigration was noticed in the first months of 1997. Around 35,000 people, within several months were obliged to leave for Italy and Greece due to the fall of the pyramid investments schemes, where Albanians lost $1 billion. According to the Human Development Report, the dimensions of the immigration in Albania are three times higher than the average ratio of immigration at present.

What makes more dramatic this phenomenon is the "brain drain" process. A considerable part of "the brain" is forced to immigrate due to economic reasons. About 77 percent of the graduated specialists up to 30-year-old want to immigrate, this according to the Center for Economic and Social Studies.

The flux of the immigration's will do not tend to go down. First of all are the hard economic situation and the lack of jobs, which forces the young Albanians to head for Europe. Being in the crossroads, 200,000 unemployed Albanians, mainly youths, have nothing else to do, but look across the sea.

But not only this. The prolonged anarchy, lack of safety, political tension, jumping from one crisis to another have exhausted the young Albanians, or made them feel indifferent towards Albania. Albania is a weary country, which among others still suffers the intermittence of power during the winter time or the lack of running water during the summer time. Under these circumstances the will to seek a better future across the Adriatic Sea or the mountains that divide Albania with Greece is still strong.

The Albanian transition had as its co-associate also some current phenomenon in all ex communist countries: criminality among the youngsters (which makes up 53 percent of all felonies), prostitution of Albanian girls in Greece and Italy, the rapid spread of drugs, mainly heroine. This atmosphere of crime, in a country where half a million of Kallashnikows are in the hands of people, has served as another push to leave the country.

The scholars of juvenile issues are skeptical in relation with returning home in a near future of the youths who have immigrated. "The ideology of return, mainly remains an ideology of "failure", due to the country's difficult situation," said proff. Kosta Barbaja, the author of some books on juvenile issues. Barbaja adds, "The Western Promised Land is becoming less attractive, but the return in an unsafe country like Albania is still an un imaginable thing."

At the crossroads within the country, at the crossroads outside the country, the young Albanians do not know what road to chose. An young Albanian looks like a passanger waiting in a transit point, without knowing where he is going. ANGELA PAPARIZO (AIM)