The Italy-Albania agreement for two migrant reception centers is feared

The intended opening at Albania reception centers for migrants rescued at sea by the Italian authorities the Council of Europe is concerned, which stressed yesterday Monday that it fears that the rights of refugees will be violated.

Rome and Tirana signed a memorandum last week understanding which foresees that Italy will open two migrant reception centers in Albania, which is not a member state of the European Union. The centers will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants from spring 2024 and a total of around 39,000 a year, according to projections by the Italian government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

But for the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Dunia Mijatovic, this “foreign asylum status characterized by many legal ambiguities”.

In particular, it raises the risk of “different treatment of those whose asylum applications will be examined in Albania and those whose applications will be examined in Italy”, Mrs. Mijatovic noted in a statement released in Strasbourg. It increases “the risk for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to suffer violations of their human rights”.

Italy, faced with a large increase in migration flows since January (145,000 arrivals, compared to 88,000 in the corresponding period of 2022), has appealed to its European partners for more solidarity, without any particular result so far.

The opposition to the far-right coalition government led by Mme Melon rebels against the signed text, reports AFP and rebroadcasts Athens News Agency.

The agreement concluded “conforms to the international legal rules governing the rights of asylum seekers”, assured the Minister of the Interior of Albania Taulad Bala.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for “international refugee law” to be respected, while the European Commission said it had requested “detailed information” on the deal from the Italian government.