Human Rights in the Constitution and Jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania

Abstract

This paper discusses how Albania's fundamental human rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and how the Constitutional Court's jurisprudence has contributed to this effort. It includes two aspects of their treatment: the constitutional background and some of the most important decisions made by the Constitutional Court concerning the protection of fundamental human rights. Its goal is to provide the reader with a brief overview of the Constitutional Court's role in this regard while also acting as a jurisprudential guide for the protection of fundamental rights. Although this topic has been covered by some legal experts in previous works, it is particularly relevant now that the Republic of Albania is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the adoption of its Constitution because it highlights the Constitutional Court's contribution even after the Law Reform of the year 2016 and the innovations it brought about. The methodology employed to produce this paper involves processing and analysing secondary data obtained through various means, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The primary focus is on the decisions made by the Constitutional Court between the end of 1998 and the present, viewed through the lens of human rights. The methodological part that is based on interviews or other primary data is not included in the study because of its nature and the time constraints. The article concludes that in order to prevent inconsistencies within the current jurisprudence and to provide more substantive rights for individuals, including those that will be expanded after 2016, it is necessary to add qualitative aspects to its consolidation and to expand it quantitatively.

Received: 2 October 2023 / Accepted: 10 December 2023 / Published: 23 December 2023