The Albania protocol: are human rights in danger?

Translated by Irene Cecchi

In November 2023, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the signing of the Albania protocol consisting in the creation of two accomodation centers for migrants on Albanian soil. The protocol was heavily criticized and also the EU expressed concerns: Dunja Mijatovic, Human Rights commissioner at the European Council, underlined that the protocol of understanding signed by Rome and Tirana is undermining migrants, refugees and asylum seekers’ rights. The understanding between Giorgia Meloni and Edi Rama “raises concerns regarding human rights and it adds up to the existing European tendency of asylum responsibilities’ externalization”. The European Commission is still going through the protocol text looking for potential violations of the international and community migration law. Mijatović added “externalization measures significantly extend migrants, refugees and asylum seekers’ risks to human rights violations since the shift of responsibilities enacted by one Country stimulates others’ same response, potentially creating a ripple effect that may end up undermining the European and global protection system”. With the creation of two accommodation centers in Albania but under Italia jurisdiction (one in Shengjin for disembarking and identification procedures and one in Gjader for accommodation before the repatriation) the understanding between Italy and Albania “creates an extraterritorial asylum regime characterized by many juridical ambiguities”. In other words, the lack of a jurisdictional certainty will probably compromise fundamental guarantees in terms of human rights and responsibilities violations, allowing a different handling of asylum applications depending on whether they are analyzed in Italy or Albania.

Matteo Piantedosi, the Italian Minister for Home Affairs, recently announced the end of the construction works of these centers in Albania; Italy built them at its own expense, managed by national authorities, to host about 3 thousand migrants. The selected areas are the Shengjin harbor, where they set an identification hotspot for those migrants who are rescued at sea, and Gjader, a hinterland village where they built a 880 slots reception center for asylum seekers, a 114 slots holding facility for those to be repatriated and a 20 people penitentiary.

The set-up in Gjader took more time than expected and it was finally inaugurated only a few days ago, against the May 20th 2024 date that the Rome prefecture expected. In June 2024 Meloni said that the reception centers would have been up to use starting on August 1st, but ended up not meeting her own deadline. According to the Interior Ministry’s estimates, the cost of the whole project –with an initial duration of five years, to be extended for five more– would sum up to about 650 million euros, considering building and managing costs.

Not all migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard will end up in Albania. In fact, only male adults coming from “safe countries” –the ones that Italy consider that there is a democratic order and people’s rights are ensured– can be transferred in these reception centers. Along with Albania, this list of countries includes Bangladesh, Camerun, Gambia, Algeria, Bosnia-Erzegovina, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Montenegro, Nigeria, Perù, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka and Morocco. Asylum applications of people coming from these countries will be examined faster and with a very low possibility of acceptance since, according to the Italian government, in here people don’t face human rights violations and don't take risks.

One week ago, 16 migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard in the Mediterranean Sea arrived at the Shengjin port. Shortly after, four of them were led back to Italy because two were minors and the other two suffered from health problems, then the Court of Rome didn’t validate the decree of detention also for the rest of them. The 16 of them, ten from Bangladesh and six from Egypt, arrived in Albania with the national Navy boat Libera that set sail from Lampedusa. The reception centers are in Albania but they are under Italian jurisdiction meaning that all procedures related to identification, detention and application examinations are up to Italian authorities. Rome police was in charge of these 12 migrants and it released a detention decree that had to be confirmed by the migration section of the civil court. The validation was denied so those migrants couldn't stay in Albania nor in any Italian reception centers there. A national Navy boat will take them back to Italy, Bari exactly, with an expected cost of about 80 thousand euros. Here, they will have two weeks time to seek international protection. The competent judges explain “Bangladeshs and Egypt are not safe countries, also based on the recent verdict of the European Court of Justice”. The reaction of the right wing party Lega didn’t took long and it heated up the political and public debate: “Pro-migration judges are free to present themselves as candidates for the elections but be aware that they will never intimidate us”. Elly Schlein reiterates her stand: “We presented an interrogation on the costs for the entire project, there is a fiscal damage”. Piantedosi followed: “We respect the judges’ decision, we will appeal”. The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stays still on her stand claiming that the decision on which countries are safe or not should be up to the government and not to the judiciary.

The costs are not the only concern; NGOs like Amnesty International are also worried for migrants’ rights. The organization disclosed a public declaration that underlines the main problems of the agreement and contextualizes it in the biggest framework of the externalization trend concerning border and asylum applications management.

Amnesty International Italia admitted being deeply worried about the potential negative consequences of the protocol on human rights and reiterated its call to Italian institutions to oppose the protocol endorsement and actualisation.

Anneliese Baldaccini, Amnesty International Italia representative for Institutional Relations, stated: “the actualization of the protocol will have numerous negative consequences on human rights. In particular, on sea rescue procedures, asylum rights and guarantees for vulnerable people, along with migrants and asylum seekers’ loss of personal freedom. The international duty to ensure a safe harbor for those rescued at sea is shattered by the decision to make them sail for about a thousand kilometers to reach Albania. This route extension, above being a violation of international standards in matters of search and rescue, subjects migrants to additional and unnecessary suffering. In addition, the agreement may also have repercussions on the research and rescue system, making the situation in the Mediterranean worse than how it already is and putting many lives at risk. In 2023 only, at least 2498 people lost their lives in the central portion of the Mediterranean, notably more than the previous year. In international and community law, detention is an exception that is contingent on individual evaluations and can not turn into a habit. The only thing left to do is wait and see if the Italian-Albanian protocol will become an actual response to the migration crisis.

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