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A day before the start of the implementation of an agreement between Italy and Albania, that migrants rescued at sea trying to reach Italian soil will be transferred to Albanian soil, one of the reception centers is not yet ready. The five-year agreement, signed by the Italian Prime Minister and the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama last November, provides for the shelter of about 3,000 migrants caught by the Italian Coast Guard in international waters. People who are considered vulnerable, such as women, children, the elderly and those who are sick or victims of torture will be sheltered in Italy.
Migrants rescued at sea trying to reach Italian soil are expected to be transferred to Albania starting August 1, while their asylum claims will be processed under an agreement between the two countries.
Speaking during a visit to Albania in June, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that the two centers set up to accommodate migrants would be ready to receive the first 1,000 people at the beginning of August.
The five-year agreement, signed by the Italian Prime Minister and the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama last November, provides for the shelter of about 3,000 migrants caught by the Italian Coast Guard in international waters.
They will first be checked on board the ships that saved them, before being sent to Albania. The centers will accommodate only men, the Italian ambassador to Albania, Fabrizio Bucci, told the Associated Press news agency.
People who are considered vulnerable, such as women, children, the elderly and those who are sick or victims of torture will be sheltered in Italy. Families will also not be separated, the ambassador said.
Those sent to Albania will retain their right under international and European Union law to apply for asylum in Italy and have their claims processed there, but their movement in and out of centers in Albania will be restricted . Those whose applications are rejected face direct deportation from Albania, says the Italian ambassador in Tirana.
The two centers in Albania will cost Italy 670 million euros over five years. The premises will be fully run by Italy and both centers are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide security for the outer perimeter.
One of the centers, in the port of Shengjin, on the Adriatic coast, has been ready for more than a month. But the other center for the reception of immigrants, near the former military airport in Gjader, is still far from completion.
According to the Italian ambassador in Albania, the delays in the construction of this center are related to the landslides as well as the high temperatures that have forced the local authorities not to allow work during the hottest hours of the day.
The Associated Press news agency was not allowed into the camp, but evidence of intensive construction was clear, with two excavators and a crane working.
The village chief of Gjadër and the local residents said that the work in the center was far from finished, while they support the construction of this center which, according to them, brings an economic boom to the poor rural area.
In Shengjin, the reception center for immigrants is ready, but journalists from the Associated Press agency were not allowed access.
Sending asylum seekers to non-EU countries to process their claims has been a controversial issue in Europe. Human rights groups say that Italy's agreement with Albania endangers the safety of refugees.
"These centers are under Italian jurisdiction, they must follow Italian laws. But we don't know how these laws will be respected there and obviously it will be more difficult to monitor the situation, considering that the centers there are basically a prison, they are a closed space, very isolated. And so it will definitely be more difficult for people to access outside resources," says Sara Bonfanti, from the International Rescue Committee.
It is not the first time that a developed country seeks to transfer asylum seekers' housing. Britain's new prime minister has scrapped the former Conservative government's much-criticized and costly plan to send migrants to Rwanda to process their asylum claims. / VOA
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