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Labour wants to use Albania as a “detention center” for unwanted migrants

Politiko 2025-04-19 19:23:50

Labour wants to use Albania as a “detention center” for unwanted

The Labour Party's plan in Great Britain to deport rejected asylum seekers to Balkan countries, including Albania, has received the support of the United Nations.

Last month, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper held talks with the head of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), where sending migrants to "return centers" in Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and North Macedonia was discussed.

Under the plan, the British government will work with these countries to accept migrants who have been refused asylum in the United Kingdom and who have exhausted all legal avenues of appeal. The host countries will receive financial support from London to accommodate them in special detention centers.

The proposal is part of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's strategy to stem the flow of migrants arriving illegally in Britain via the English Channel in small boats - an issue that continues to create political friction and social tensions.

UNHCR itself has already proposed standards for how these centers should operate, calling an effective returns system essential. The agency's document emphasizes that the centers must respect human rights and international standards, while guaranteeing continuous monitoring to oversee the process.

British government sources have hailed this support as "crucial", given that the same UN agency opposed the Conservative government's previous plan to send migrants to Rwanda - a scheme that was declared unlawful by the British High Court.

“This could be a turning point because it will give us legal protection in the event of challenges in court and will also help with political support from within Labour itself,” a source told The Times.

Meanwhile, Albania currently has two detention centers dedicated to migrants, which are empty after a previous agreement with Italy to use them as asylum processing centers failed to materialize.

Unlike the Rwanda plan, which envisaged sending migrants to that African country before examining their asylum applications, Labor intends to send only people who have received a final negative response to these centers.

Despite the debate, the United Nations' support for this initiative is being seen as a development that could fundamentally change the British approach to the illegal immigration crisis.

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