General
Italy Sends Boat to Albania With Migrants Who Were Bound for Italian Shores
The plan was heralded by the Italian government as an innovative model to manage and deter immigration, and criticized by human rights groups.
Italy sent its first boat carrying migrants to Albania on Monday, part of a plan to send migrants who are rescued in the Mediterranean by Italian ships to detention centers in the Balkan nation, where their asylum claims will be assessed.
The plan, which is being heralded by the Italian government and some European Union leaders as an innovative model to manage and deter immigration to Italy, has been criticized by human rights officials and groups, who fear it would put the migrants at risk and expose them to rights violations.
The centers, in the Albanian towns of Schengjin and Gjader, started operating last week.
Francesco Kamel, a spokesman for Italy’s interior ministry, said Italian officials would not immediately disclose the number or nationality of the migrants or details of their arrival time in Albania, since the Italian naval boat carrying them may still stop to gather more. He said the boat has been picking up migrants off the southern Italian coast.
The Italian government has said only “non-vulnerable” men coming from “safe countries” would be taken to the centers in Albania. Children, pregnant women and others labeled “vulnerable” — including the ill and disabled — would not go to the centers but would be taken directly to Italy for processing.
Once in Albania, the migrants would be allowed to register for asylum and could plead their cases remotely to Italian judges, then await responses to the applications. Such asylum cases can often take months, but Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, said last week that they expected the cases to be resolved in just days.
If the asylum claims are rejected, the migrants would be directly expelled by Albania to their home countries.
