Updated 11/14/23 at 4:52 am.
The migration issue continues to divide Europe. The planned opening of reception centers in Albania for migrants rescued from the 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 that would see Italy open two centers in Albania, which is not a member of the European Union, to receive migrants. According to Italian government forecasts by Giorgia Meloni, these centers will be able to accommodate up to 3,000 migrants from spring 2024, i.e. around 39,000 per year.
An agreement with “many legal ambiguities”
For the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, this “exterritorial asylum regime is characterized by numerous legal ambiguities”. There is a risk that “there will be a difference in treatment between those whose asylum applications are being examined in Albania and those whose asylum applications are being examined in Italy,” estimates Dunja Mijatovic. These measures “increase the risk of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants suffering human rights violations.”
Italy, which has been facing an influx of migrants since January (145,000 compared to 88,000 in 2022 during the same period), has asked its European partners for solidarity, so far without significant results.
In Rome, resistance arose against the government of Giorgia Meloni against the signing of this agreement. For his part, the Albanian Interior Minister Taulant Balla assured that this was concluded “in accordance with international legal standards for the rights of asylum seekers”. For its part, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for “respect for international refugee law”, while the European Commission said it had requested “detailed information” from the Italian government.