Landscape in the Kukës region, Albania (42°05' N, 20°24' E).
The Kukës region in northeastern Albania contains the country’s highest mountain range, the Korab, which rises to 9,027 feet (2,753 m). This mountainous enclave, bordered by the valley of the Drin river, has always been a pocket of resistance in terms of the kanun, a form of vendetta based on the old code of blood vengeance.” The northern clans, grouped into vast patriarchal families, have never stopped exercising this traditional right, which is more than 500 years old, despite all the political and judicial reforms that various ruling powers have implemented. Neither the Ottoman decrees, made from the sixteenth century to 1912, nor the laws of King Zog made between World Wars I and II have succeeded in putting an end to this tradition of the mountain people. Today, the kanun is still current—indeed, it has even seen something of a revival since the fall of Communism. It is estimated that 10,000 people are exposed to its pernicious influence to some degree. In 2002, between 150 and 800 children were deprived of schooling because their parents kept them confined to their homes, for fear that they might be killed or kidnapped.
