TIRANA, Oct. 16, 2024 – An Italian military ship carrying the first group of migrants arrived in the Albanian port of Shëngjin early Wednesday, marking the launch of a controversial project to process Italian asylum applications on Albanian soil, drawing much international attention.
The initiative is part of a bilateral agreement between Italy and Albania aimed at curbing illegal immigration to the EU by transferring asylum seekers rescued at sea to a closed camp in northwestern Albania, which will be under Italian administration.
The Italian naval vessel Libra docked at Shëngjin, Albania’s third largest port, just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday with 16 male migrants on board, 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt, with both countries classified as safe by Italian authorities. The migrants, who were rescued at sea on Sunday, were escorted off the ship in groups by Italian police officers and immediately underwent medical checks. They will be housed in a reception facility in Gjadër, a former Albanian military air base located about 20 kilometers inland, which has been repurposed as a processing center under Italian jurisdiction.
The agreement between Italy and Albania, signed in late 2023 by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, is the first of its kind between a European Union member state and a non-EU country. Under the deal, up to 36,000 migrants per year, all adult men from countries considered safe, can be sent to Albania for asylum processing. The agreement currently limits the number of migrants present in Albania at any one time to 3,000.
Supporters, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have hailed the deal as an innovative approach to managing migration pressures in Europe. However, human rights organizations have condemned the agreement, warning it could set a dangerous precedent for outsourcing asylum procedures and violating international protections for migrants.
Speaking on Wednesday, Prime Minister Rama defended Albania’s participation, citing the country’s longstanding ties with Italy and the support it has received from Rome during times of crisis, such as the economic turmoil in the 1990s. However, Rama made it clear that Albania would not permit any other countries to establish similar processing centers on its territory, even though others, including Germany, had made requests to do so.
Rama told international media no Albanian officials would be involved with the running of the camp or the port processing, however, no migrant would be allowed by Albanian law enforcement to leave the Italian-run camps, making them effectively closed to the outside world.
The camp in Gjadër is divided into three zones: a reception area for migrants awaiting the outcome of their asylum requests, a section for those whose claims are rejected and face deportation and a secure area designed to detain migrants involved in criminal activity within the camp. Only men from safe countries, classified as “non-vulnerable” by Italian standards, are eligible to be transferred to Albania under the deal. Vulnerable groups, such as women, children, and those with health concerns, will remain in Italy.
While the agreement is set to last five years, its future impact on broader European migration policies remains uncertain, as tensions between border control, humanitarian concerns and international law continue to shape the continent’s response to migrant flows.
