The European Convention on Human Rights, transitional justice and the protection of property rights in Albania

For Albania, property has always been considered as the foundation stone of its unsettled legal and political order. In the last two centuries, the attitude towards property has changed several times alongside the country’s various political and economic regimes. The most recent changes occurred more than two decades ago, after the fall of the communist regime when Albania started to build a market economy. Successive post-communist governments adopted a series of laws relating to property rights to redress the violations of human rights brought about by the former dictatorial regime. However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found Albania in violation of its obligation imposed by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in several cases related to property compensation and restitution approaches.
This thesis aims to highlight the gap between the European Convention system’s understanding of a transitional justice model for property rights and the Albanian approach. I will examine the response of the Albanian authorities to the Strasbourg Court`s recommendations to reach the quality and degree of the ECHR standards on property rights protection. In its response, Albania did not meet those standards; neither did it close the gap. The solution implemented by the Albanian authorities was not a rational or convincing one and generated further conflicts with the former owners. It will be argued that the ECtHR jurisprudence and especially the general measures indicated through the pilot judgment Manushaqe Puto, which pointed the way towards a fast and just resolution of the complex situation created, should have been used by Albanian authorities as a way to facilitate the process.