Rights teams criticise settlement that might see as much as 36,000 folks a yr held in Italian-run asylum-processing centres.
Albania’s Parliament has authorized a deal signed with Italy that may see authorities maintain hundreds of asylum seekers rescued in worldwide waters whereas their purposes are processed, drawing criticism from human rights teams.
Underneath the settlement, Albania would maintain as much as 3,000 migrants and refugees at anyone time in two Italian-run processing centres positioned close to the Albanian port of Shengjin for durations of a few month. It’s anticipated that as much as 36,000 folks a yr may very well be despatched to the nation.
The settlement has been denounced by rights teams with the Worldwide Rescue Committee describing it as “dehumanising“. Amnesty Worldwide condemned it as “unlawful and unworkable“.
The deal, authorized by Albania’s Constitutional Court docket final month, was backed by 77 lawmakers within the 140-seat parliament, dominated by Prime Minister Edi Rama‘s Socialist Get together.
Conservative opposition MPs boycotted the vote, lambasting the federal government over a scarcity of transparency and saying the deal was an “irresponsible and harmful act for nationwide safety”.
Albania’s parliamentary approval got here weeks after Italian lawmakers additionally voted in favour of the settlement.
The Balkan nation’s president will situation a decree as the ultimate step to implement the deal.
European Fee approval
The settlement was signed in November between Rama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. It was endorsed by European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen.
Meloni stated she expects the 2 processing centres, which might be totally run by Italy, to grow to be operational by this spring.
Italy would stay legally accountable for the asylum seekers all through the method and would organise their deportations from Albania if they’re refused worldwide safety.
Rama stated Albania stands beside Meloni in gratitude on behalf of Albanians who discovered refuge in Italy and “escaped hell and imagined a greater life” after the collapse of communism within the Nineteen Nineties.
The variety of migrants and refugees arriving in Italy by boat up to now in 2024 has almost doubled to about 160,000 in contrast with the identical interval a yr in the past.
