officials 5F 1 . United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the European Union have adopted several directives and instruments to materialize these principles in the everyday work of law enforcement agencies. Although some of these legal documents include soft law 6F 2 , they direct signatory countries toward embracing the best practices 7F 3 . The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, the UN Standard Minimum Rules, and the UN Body of Principles set out several important principles and prerequisites for the performance of law enforcement functions, focusing on the importance of ethical conduct of their mission. 8F 4 In addition, there are numerous directives within the framework of the Council of Europe and the European Union and legal instruments and mechanisms in their implementation, which define the rules and boundaries of the conduct of law enforcement institutions concerning the equal treatment of citizens. 2.3 DOMESTIC LEGAL DOCUMENTS The Albanian legal framework also regulates the equal treatment of citizens by public authorities. The Constitution of the Republic of Albania prescribes, in its second part, the fundamental human rights and freedoms as values that underlie the entire Albanian legal order. Article 18 of the Constitution sanctions the principles of equality and non-discrimination: “1. All are equal before the law. 2. No one may be unjustly discriminated against for reasons such as gender, race, religion, ethnicity, language, 1 The term"law enforcement officials" includes all officers of the law, whether appointed or elected, who exercise police powers, especially the powers of arrest and detention. This should be given the widest possible interpretation and includes military and other security personnel as well as immigration officials where they exercise such powers. 2 Soft law comprises non-binding instruments, established through resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Soft law instruments may serve to strengthen States' commitment to international agreements, reaffirm international norms, or establish a legal foundation for subsequent treaties 3 Some of these documents are:(i) UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials;(ii) UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials;(iii) UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances;(iv) UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or UN;(v) UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;(vi) UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;(vii) UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;(viii) UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse. 4 These include principles like every law enforcement agency should be representative of, and responsive and accountable to, the community as a whole; The effective maintenance of ethical standards among law enforcement officials depends on the existence of a well­conceived, popularly accepted, and humane system of laws; Every law enforcement official is a part of the criminal justice system, the aim of which is to prevent and control crime, and the conduct of every official has an impact on the entire system; Every law enforcement agency should discipline itself to uphold international human rights standards and the actions of law enforcement officials should be open to public scrutiny; Standards for humane conduct of law enforcement officials lack practical value unless their content and meaning become part of the creed of every law enforcement official, through education and training and monitoring.(Amnesty International 1998). 9