|
Blerina grew up in Albania, a country troubled by political
violence and human
trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of State’s yearly Trafficking
In Persons (TIPs) Report:
"Albania is a source country for
women and girls trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation;
[Ö] Albanian victims are
trafficked to Greece, Italy, Macedonia, and Kosovo [...] Approximately
half of all Albanian trafficking victims are under age 18." (TIPs Report
2008, United States Department of State)
Blerina’s family had a long history of opposing Communist
and Socialist rule. Blerina’s father worked for democracy locally until he had
to move their family to another town because of increasing violence and
Socialist threats.
Even after the family’s relocation, their house was
arbitrarily searched by the police, they received death threats in the mail,
and Blerina’s father was beaten in the street by members of another political
party. One beating left him nearly dead. Local farmers found him bruised and
bloodied and rushed him to the hospital. When ten-year-old Blerina saw him
laying in the hospital bed, she feared for his life.
Soon after leaving the hospital, Blerina’s family found a
threatening note in their home, promising to kidnap Blerina if her father
continued his political activities in Albania. A friend of Blerina’s had recently
been kidnapped because of her parents’ political membership. Blerina’s family
knew that kidnapped
Albanian girls were commonly sold into
prostitution in Greece and Italy.
After so many threats, Blerina’s family fled to the United
States in 2001 to protect her from kidnapping and sexual slavery. In 2001, an
Immigration Judge denied Blerina’s father’s asylum application. Fortunately the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals recognized the possibility that Blerina may
have a valid asylum claim in her own right and remanded the case to the
immigration court. Human Rights USA is co-counsel to Attorney Vlad Kuzmin in
litigating Blerina’s case before the Immigration Judge, which will be heard in
2010.
Blerina’s case is a hopeful sign for hundreds of women who
are threatened with kidnapping and sex trafficking. Human Rights USA remains on
the forefront
of asylum cases dealing with sex trafficking and other gender-based forms
of persecution.
*Blerina is a pseudonym. Her name in legal documents is S-N-.
|
