12
migrants sent to Albania for processing are returned to Italy
Italian
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to convene a Cabinet meeting on Monday to address
the issue.
October 19,
2024 5:08 pm CET
By Giedre
Peseckyte
The first
group of 12 migrants were returned to Italy from newly opened asylum processing
centers in Albania following a ruling by a Rome court.
The
immigration unit of the Rome Court decided on Friday that migrants sent to
Albania by Italy cannot be detained. However, they cannot be released in
Albania; therefore they will be vetted for asylum eligibility in Italy or
potentially sent back to their countries of origin.
This
decision represents an early stumbling block to Italy’s plan to send migrants
to detention and processing centers in Albania.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The court’s
rejection of detention was based on concerns about the safety of the migrants’
home countries — Bangladesh and Egypt. The court cited an Oct. 4 ruling by the
Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Italian
government on Friday vowed to push ahead with the program, saying it would
appeal the court ruling.
The
detention centers, operational for just a week, received their first group of
16 migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt, who arrived on an Italian warship on
Wednesday. Four other migrants had already been rejected by center staff — two
due to vulnerability after health assessments and two because they were minors,
according to the Associated Press.
Under the
2023 agreement, Albania agreed to receive up to 36,000 male migrants
intercepted in international waters each year, to two asylum-processing centers
in northern Albania.
Italian
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni touted the initiative as a model for Europe. But
after the court ruling, she expressed concerns that if countries like
Bangladesh and Egypt are deemed unsafe, nearly all migrants could be excluded
from the program, making it ineffective.
During a
trip to Lebanon, Meloni said she would convene a Cabinet meeting on Monday to
address the issue.
“We’ll meet
to approve some norms that will allow us to overcome this obstacle,” Meloni
said, according to an AP report. “I believe it’s up to the government and not
magistrates to establish which countries can be considered safe.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário