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UNHCR will monitor asylum seeker centers in Albania

Politiko 2024-08-14 17:27:50

Three months of initial monitoring, to finally report in Rome what is wrong with the Italian centers for immigrants on Albanian soil provided by the agreement last November between Giorgia Meloni and Edi Rama.

The UN Refugee Agency ( UNHCR ) has been officially invited by the Italian Ministry of the Interior to oversee the implementation of the Protocol and to guarantee "the rights and dignity of those subject to it".

Although the presence of UNHCR staff at hotspots for asylum applications and detained migrants should not be taken for granted, it is an established practice, in line with the UN agency's mandate to oversee the implementation of 1951 Refugee Convention and to provide protection to refugees.

UNHCR was not involved in the negotiations between Rome and Tirana for the drafting of the Protocol. However, after a series of meetings in which the Italian government "provided additional information" on its implementation and "reiterated its strong desire to comply with international law and standards", the Italian Interior Ministry involved the UN agency to take on a "monitoring and advising" role for the first three months.

During this period, UNHCR "will endeavor to improve the protection of asylum seekers and refugees by identifying and reporting to the competent authorities any non-compliance with international human rights and refugee law and standards of good practice, and will advocate for extended protections". The protocol has raised many doubts and criticisms, and a key issue concerns the potential risk of outsourcing asylum obligations, contrary to international law. On paper it is not so, because the two centers of Shengjin for disembarkation and identification procedures and Gjader for return (CPR) will remain under Italian jurisdiction. However, it remains "an innovation" and "needs to be there", UNCHR sources confirm.

Before entering the centers, as early as the rescue operations, the migrants undergo an initial check. Then they are transferred to a hotspot ship in the port of Shengjin. UNHCR staff would monitor each of these steps. At the end of the three months, it will "make its recommendations available to the Italian government and other interested actors". In the statement announcing its commitment, the UNHCR emphasized that in order to ensure the independence of its monitoring function, it will not receive any funds from Rome.

The opening of the first part of the return center in Gjadër, for now, has slipped to August 20, while Tirana is expected to hand over the keys to Shengjin to Italy by September 1. However, even UNHCR says that there is still no set date for the start of the task.