Aligned to His Majesty’s Government (HMG) priorities of curtailing irregular migration and associated connections to human trafficking from Albania, efforts to address the drivers of migration and organised crime at source are underway. The British Army’s ongoing specialist survey work in Albania’s Kukës Subterranean Complex (KSC) may lead to livelihood creation, mitigating some of the risk factors of human trafficking. This demonstrates the military instrument’s contribution to Human Security.
UK Strategy on Irregular Migration from Albania
Enabled in large part by online messaging applications such as TikTok Albanians made up a quarter of all arrivals to the UK by small boats at a reported peak in 2022.
The UK’s Home Affairs Committee June 2023 report details the legal, social and political context of migration to the UK from Albania. Three key drivers identified are:
- Economic migration because of Albania’s comparative poverty
- Refugees (particularly women) who have been trafficked or made modern slaves; and
- Organised crime
In 2023 and 2024, the UK returned more Albanians (2624) by nationality than any other, but irregular detections from Albania continued throughout 2024 (825).
Time should be taken to understand migration terms and figures (see here), but the key takeaway is that the UK’s intent is to reduce migration and where possible, minimise push factors at source
To achieve this effect, cross-government strategy in partnership with international state and non-state partners has been pursued, complimented by a plethora of UK-Albania bilaterals, culminating in a Bilateral Cooperation Plan signed in December 2022 which centred around ‘security and home affairs’ with a focus on ‘organised crime and illegal immigration’.
Development of Kukës city – a vulnerable area prone to criminality and trafficking ‘from which a substantial proportion of Albanian emigration to the UK occurs’ – has been recognised as means to combat emigration. The UK has already worked with local NGOs, UNICEF and conducted fact finding missions in Kukës on perceptions and drivers of emigration.
Defence Integrating into UK Strategy
On 17 July 2023, the then Secretary for Defence Ben Wallace received Albanian Defence Minister Niko Peleshi in London, with former Minister of State Baroness Goldie later signing a Statement of Intent (SoI) between the two MoDs with Peleshi.
The SoI is wide ranging, and leaves plenty of scope for ‘any new potential areas of cooperation’. Likely by design, the SoI does not detail expected outcomes, but does list some specific outputs, one of which includes ‘infrastructural development’.
While the military instrument is not positioned as the lead actor in counter-trafficking efforts, those drafting the SoI seem aware that military activity could contribute meaningfully to the conditions which reduce trafficking risk.
The Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) form completed for bilateral activity reinforces this interpretation. The military engagement is framed in terms of defence engagement, recognising ‘representatives of other [Albanian] government and academic institutions also attend activity delivered by the UK Defence Section in support of UK Partners Across Government’.
The effect is subtle but significant: rather than overstate Defence’s role, the SoI and OSJA position military activity as a potential discreet net contributor to broader foreign policy and Human Security outcomes – reduction of emigration and associated trafficking through targeted development programmes at source.
In this context, the absence of outcome language should be read not as an oversight, but as policy discipline. It reflects a conscious decision to align with HMG objectives without mischaracterising the military’s role or inadvertently committing Defence to outcomes it alone cannot deliver.
The Plan
‘Exploring the potentials of the tunnels’ was agreed as an output in the Defence and Security Bilateral Cooperation planned on 17 March 2023, signed by British Defence Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Wight-Boycott and General Director of Defence Policy Mr Blerim Çaka.
The first significant survey in Summer 2024, which followed a rudimentary survey in Autumn 2023, was led by HQ 29 EOD&S Group and the Military Geology Cell supported by the British Army Royal Engineers and engineering SMEs.
The post activity report detailed three objectives of the survey;
- Technical subterranean training and innovation (for own forces)
- Defence engagement
- Community engagement … create local employment and positive enhance the local and regional economy.
The objectives were set by the UK Defence Attache, after consultation with the specialist team leadership, and was considered to support ‘HMG intent to project UK influence’.
A range of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey techniques were used by the team to map and better understand the scale and design of notable sites of interest within the overall subterranean tunnel network.
The report goes on to give a series of recommendations. Some of which relates to novel military training opportunities in a subterranean environment, with the PAR importantly recognising a key takeaway for HMG will be the ‘development potential for the city’, which in part could lead to reduced emigration.
Communications, Implementation, Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Sustainability
In addition to serving defence, diplomacy and development aims, the Army’s survey work specifically protects and promotes Albanian cultural heritage – a fundamental aspect of Human Security and another nod to cross-governmental synergy with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The history of Kukës it itself dramatic, and the revitalization of the underground tunnels will contribute to the preservation of historical memory, identity and reconciliation with its difficult past under totalitarian leader, Enver Hoxha.
During the surveying activity, an open day was convened to showcase the British Army’s work and to highlight the Embassy’s wider support for the local community. Hosting Blendi Gonxhja, Albania’s Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation, secured the Government’s attention.
Moving from the inception and study phase to implementation may prove difficult. In 2020, the Mayor of Kukës told The Guardian of plans to raise funding to renovate the KSC into a tourist attraction. Five years on, progress has been slow, but awareness of the tunnels’ potential has now reached the highest levels of government. On 30 April 2025, Prime Minister Edi Rama suggested Kukës should aim to host one million tourists by 2030, with the KSC as the “main attraction.” In discussions with Kukës municipality, Rama is understood to have cited the British Army’s work. Although UK Defence was not the first to recognise the tunnels’ potential, it has played a significant role in elevating it on the national agenda.
Embedding learning loops into defence engagement cycles will help calibrate military contributions to wider HMG outcomes, ensuring future activities are informed by cross-government coherence and evolving civil-military dynamics. Defence Attaches are pivotal to identifying and driving these activities. Lessons on process should be submitted to the various Warfare Centre’s Operational Analysis and Lessons cells.
Sustainability of the initiative will depend on multi-actor follow-through. While the British Army will likely continue to provide critical foundational survey work, long-term success will hinge on whether local authorities, supported by UK partners, can advance the Kukës development agenda. Indicators of success – designed in part cross-government, in part by Operational Analysis military organisations and in-part by local and central Albanian governmental and INGO/NGO organisations – should go beyond tourist footfall or infrastructure completion to include, but not limited to;
- Reductions in push factors for emigration;
- Improved perceptions of opportunity in Kukës;
- Generation of youth employment and retention;
- Engagement with UNESCO;
- Environmental metrics in any reconstruction work, such as water conservation measures, or use of sustainable or recycled materials;
- Cohesion with Rama’s Socialist Party ‘heartlands’ with the marginalised Kukës community;
- Integration and stakeholder development of minority groups, including the Gorani people;
- Increased institutional capacity to manage subterranean assets.
Embedding these indicators in future UK-Albania cooperation frameworks would allow for structured monitoring and engagement themes and outcomes over time.
Conclusion
In the context of significant cuts to overseas development aid internationally, it is this author’s belief that responsible security actors will be increasingly called upon to be integrated into cross-government strategy and to deliver defence, diplomacy and development goals, achieving strategic effect.
The alternative to meaningful, values-based engagement is strategic irrelevance. As some western activity in the Balkans may scaled down due to funding cuts, others are scaling up. Turkish construction investment, Chinese infrastructure diplomacy, and the expanding financial footprint of Gulf states all signal increased competition for influence. Without integrated initiatives which delivers defence, development, and diplomacy together, the UK risks ceding ground in a region where its values, partnerships and presence still resonate.
In a region where state capture and corruption remain fragile, the UK’s competitive edge lies in its integrity. Having been the first city to be nominated for a Nobel Prize for sheltering 400,000 Kosovar refugees, Kukēs itself has a compelling narrative for continued development which the UK should support. Transparent partnerships, community-led outcomes, and rigorous safeguarding frameworks differentiate UK engagement from more transactional or opaque alternatives. Ensuring that Defence activities uphold these standards is essential – not only to protect legitimacy, but to reinforce the UK’s long-term reputation as a credible, principled actor.
Human Security in Defence is about civilian harm mitigation, it is about positioning Defence as a responsible actor in the context of conflict and sub-threshold, it is about understanding the civil environment and how adversaries may exploit it, but importantly Human Security is about shaping the environment to promote values, achieving objectives, effects and if possible, Human Security developmental outcomes. The British Army’s ongoing work in Albania is excellent case study of this.
Luke James
- Luke James#molongui-disabled-link
- Luke James#molongui-disabled-link
