Hundreds of children have turned into workers of the marijuana packaging industry in Lazarat.
UNICEF representatives say that 300 children are employed each season in this area of Albania, to bring revenues for their families. Besides the local children, there are others who are involved due to economic needs.
The UNICEF representative in Albania, Detlef Palm, declared that no society should allow their children to be involved in criminal activities.
“We are very concerned about the seasonal labor performed by children in the cannabis cultivation process of Lazarat. They might earn money, but their lives are in danger. No society can allow children to become part of criminal acts, just because they live on the street and make money on the street. The social care reform will help for changing this situation”, declared Detlef Palm, representative of UNICEF in Albania.
The national study has shown that more than 2500 children are exploited by working in mines, by selling products on the streets or by begging.
There are children beggars in every central road of Tirana, and the Minister of Social Welfare has asked for begging to be stopped.
“Children who live on the road generate up to 10,000 ALL each day. If you think that by giving money to beggars you are helping the person that approaches to you, you are wrong. You are helping the person who abuses and uses those children for profit. We know who is responsible, but we will not refuse to keep our own responsibilities and our competence to intervene. We will do the same in the Tirana Municipality and in any other Municipality that refuses to act with the street children”, declared Minister Veliaj.
Veliaj asked help from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Prosecution for stopping this phenomenon, and added that they are drafting a concrete plan.
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