Home Global Ties Albanian Parliament Agrees to Asylum Agreement with Italy

Albanian Parliament Agrees to Asylum Agreement with Italy

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(3 Minutes Read)

Importantly, the decision to accommodate the migrants did not meet with the same degree of resistance as was the case with the Rwandan agreement with Britain, wherein both countries agreed to park immigrants in Rwanda while processing their papers.  Activists resisted that deal on the plea that Rwanda has a poor track record of upholding human rights

Albania’s parliament approved a deal for the country to hold thousands of asylum seekers for Italy in a vote recently. However, the decision did not go well with migrants, asylum seekers, and human rights activists, while a section of people applauded the decision. The divided opinion might engage the media space in the coming days.

Importantly, the decision to accommodate the migrants did not meet with the same degree of resistance as was the case with the Rwandan agreement with Britain, wherein both countries agreed to park immigrants in Rwanda while processing their papers.  Activists resisted that deal on the plea that Rwanda has a poor track record of upholding human rights.

Under the five-year deal, Albania would shelter up to 3,000 migrants rescued from international waters at any one time. With asylum requests expected to take around a month to process, the number of asylum seekers sent to Albania could reach up to 36,000 in a year.

Albania is not a European Union member, and the idea of sending asylum seekers outside the bloc is controversial. The deal was endorsed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as an example of out-of-the-box thinking. However, there is criticism from rights groups.

Read Also:

https://trendsnafrica.com/british-migration-bill-before-upper-house-for-debate/

https://trendsnafrica.com/un-warns-of-massive-migration-of-people-from-sudan-if-war-continues/

The agreement, signed in November between Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, is part of Meloni’s efforts to share the burden of addressing migration with other European countries.