Though they have a long history, with families in the Shkodra region of northern Albania are not available yet.
We visited Niko, a 13-year-old boy, in his tiny hamlet in northern Albania. (19459008)
Niko lives with his elderly grandparents and is in danger every time he leaves his home. Dozens of others families in the northern Shkodra region of Albania also live virtual self-imposed house arrest in the fear of their lives.
Three teachers on a boat going to visit Niko
We were taken by road and boat to visit Niko in his isolated community by his teacher Liljana Luani. Mrs. Luani specializes in teaching "in blood children" at their homes. The blood feud means they can not leave their homes, even to go to school.
The rules governing blood feuds have long been codified in a book of laws, called the Kanun, that dates back to the 15th Century. The Kanun helped to bring order to the tribes in northern Albania, particularly during its incorporation in the Ottoman Empire.
Albania's blood feuds
- "Gjakmarrja" means blood-taking: the blood feud. "Hakmarrja" is the obligation to take life to right an earlier wrong, to salvage honor.
- Oral laws governing the blood feud go as far back as the Bronze Age. Kanun dates to the late 15th Century.
- The Kanun is divided into 12 sections and helped regulate life for tribes in northern Albania.
- [1945-1991:CommunistdictatorshipsuppressedKanunanditscodeofhonorParticipantsinbloodfeudswereexecutedorimprisonedinlabourcamps
- 1997: Economic crisis caused by pyramid schemes led to widespread social disorder. The Kanun makes a come-back.
- Albanian government reforms state institutions and courts and hopes this leads to decline in blood feuds.
- Police arrest feud participants and investigate feud murders, bringing culprits to court.
But Mrs Luani said the Kanun was often abused by those involved in blood feuds.
"If they follow the rules of Kanun ... they would not kill children and women." But nowadays neither the Kanun nor the laws of the state are being followed, "she explained.
"I think the state law enforcement authorities should do more and that they are not working properly."
Niko is being brought up by his grandmother
The blood feud involving Albania is caused by the collapse of so-called pyramid selling schemes. The chaos led to a collapse of trust in state institutions and the judiciary.
The family became entangled in a land dispute with a family in a nearby village. A member of his family killed one of the neighbors. This led to other feuds and disputes involving nearby communities.
Subsequently, neither of Niko's parents lives at the family home
Mrs Luani told us that Niko knows little about the feud. "He hears other people talk about all the matters involved in the feud." He knows that he is "in blood", as the expression goes, and that "
Colonel Gjovalin Loka, the police chief for the Shkodra region, said he was doing all he could to prevent and investigate blood feuds.
Liljana Luani with Niko
"We have intensively investigated cases of possible murders as the result of blood feuds," he said. "
Colonel Loka also complained that people were misusing the Kanun, adding:" Different people are interpreting it in the ways that suit them. It is not being implemented properly.
"Besides, nowadays we do have the laws of the modern Albanian state - that is in accordance with the European law - and the time is up for the Kanun. "
There is a consensus that the continuing reform of state and judicial institutions must succeed if the blood feud is to be eradicated from Albanian life.
Dr Olsi Lelaj, a researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology and Art Studies in Tirana, Albania's capital city, said: "It is not a matter of having a strong state institution but rather of having a just state institution. (19459008) Meanwhile, Mrs. Luani continues to worry about Niko's future.
"I think that this is a problem that can be solved by all of us. I also work hard with the parents, especially with the mothers of these children, the tolerance, forgiveness and how to forgive and let go and not to continue with the cycle of violence. "
