The migration issue continues to divide Europe. The planned opening in Albania of reception centers for migrants rescued at sea by Italy worries the Council of Europe, which said on Monday it feared violations of the rights of refugees.
Rome and Tirana signed an agreement last week which provides for Italy to open two centers in Albania, which is not a member of the European Union, to receive migrants. These centers will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants from spring 2024, or around 39,000 per year, according to forecasts from the Italian government of Giorgia Meloni.
An agreement with “many legal ambiguities”
For the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, this “extraterritorial asylum regime is characterized by numerous legal ambiguities”. It risks “leading to different treatment between those whose asylum applications will be examined in Albania and those for whom this will take place in Italy”, estimated Dunja Mijatovic. These measures “increase the risk for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants of suffering human rights violations”.
Italy, faced with an influx of migrants since January (145,000 compared to 88,000 in 2022 over the same period), has appealed for solidarity from its European partners, without much result so far.
In Rome, the opposition to the government of Giorgia Meloni rose against the signing of this agreement. This was concluded “in compliance with international legal standards governing the rights of asylum seekers”, for his part assured the Albanian Minister of the Interior, Taulant Balla. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) for its part called for “respect for international law relating to refugees”, while the European Commission indicated that it had requested “detailed information” from the Italian government.