"Albania's migration flow has, since the early 1990s, been five
times higher than the average migration flow in developing
countries." Migration Policy Institute Albanians had no right to
a passport until May 1990. Until the penal code was revised in
July 1990, leaving the country was officially an act of treason.
Nothing could have prepared Albania and its neighbours for the
mass exodus that followed when these barriers were relaxed. It
began when 400 people scaled the gates of the Italian and German
Embassies in Tirana in July 1990. Thousands of others followed.
In the same month, the first of many ships filled with people
destined for Italy was seized in the port of Durres. Battles
between security forces and those desperate to leave were fought
on the beaches of Durres. Others set out to cross on foot the
mountainous border to Greece. Everywhere Albania's border
controls – whose main purpose had been to keep people from
leaving – broke down. Migration under these conditions was
risky. Some perished in the