AYS News Digest 6.11.23: Albania to host people who cross to Italy
Greece: Violence increases after three month calm // Weapons, dogs and violence — report from Bulgaria/Turkiye border // 999 calls downgrade before 2021 boat tragedy // EU Council considers impact of screening // Worth reading and more
FEATURE
Albania to host people on the move who cross to Italy
Italy has announced a plan to send people rescued at sea to Albania while their asylum claims are decided. Prime Ministers of both countries announced on Monday that two camps would be built in northern Albania. Albania is not an EU member state and this is the first time that a migration issue has been outsourced to a non-member state country, although Albania is in talks to join the EU.
The proposed facilities are planned to host 36,000 people per year and will be entirely funded and governed by Italian authorities. Previous suggestions of outsourcing to neighbouring countries have been discarded due to international migration law — to remove someone to another country without having their asylum claim heard is illegal.
The announcement has received backlash from Albanian politicians — saying that there was no parliamentary vote as well as concerns about giving Italy any authority on Albanian soil.
Concerns have not only been raised by politicians. The fact that these camps will resemble prisons with external surveillance to “keep Albanian people safe” will no doubt have negative impacts on those being held there. Women, children and vulnerable people won’t be taken there — suggesting that it won’t be a humane solution.
The Balkan route
Albania is already part of the migration route from Greece to the EU through the Balkans. Speculation suggests that the new camps will inevitably add to the Balkan route. People who are not granted asylum yet cannot be deported will be released, and then travel via Bosnia and Herzegovina or Serbia to Croatia or Hungary.
Another factor is that some people who are in Libya hope to avoid the violence and hardship of the Balkan route by risking a dangerous sea crossing. If that sea crossing still requires facing the violence and illegal border guards at the EU fences then why risk crossing the Mediterranean?
After the fall of communism in 1991, thousands of Albanians fled to Italy by boat and were warmly welcomed — the irony of how some visitors are treated versus others is glaring.
SEA and SEARCH and RESCUE
75 people rescued by Ocean Viking
Civil rescue vessel Ocean Viking helped a struggling vessel which had left from Turkey. 75 men, women and children were rescued at the request of the Italian authorities. The overloaded sailing boat had been at sea for seven days.
GREECE
Violence increases after a three month calm
Following the disastrous shipwreck in June where 650 people died — Greek authorities were under pressure to conform under the gaze of the world media. That seems to have stopped. This report describes how illegal pushbacks, violence and detention are once again becoming the norm.
BULGARIA
Weapons, Dogs and Violence — a report from the Bulgarian Turkish border
No Name Kitchen shares the testimony of someone who was subjected to violence at the hands of the EU.
LITHUANIA
The crossing from Belarus to Lithuania, Poland and Latvia is becoming more and more dangerous as the weather gets colder. Siens Grupe report on recent events with people receiving hospital treatment who are struggling to communicate with family members.
UNITED KINGDOM
999 calls downgraded before 2021 boat tragedy
A new report has been published revealing that several emergency calls were downgraded in terms of their urgency shortly before 27 people died in one of the Channel’s most deadly incidents. Evidence came to light after a 10 month freedom of information battle on behalf of the families of those who died.
“The coastguard “effectively ignored” reports of 19 migrant boats over four separate days in the weeks before the 24 November 2021 mass drowning”. Liberty HQ
Homelessness and the Home Secretary
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has described sleeping in a tent on the streets as a “lifestyle choice”. Recent changes in law means that those who have their asylum claims granted are liable to being evicted from their accommodation with just seven days notice with very few options available. Homelessness in the UK is a growing problem, as charity Glassdoor reports with a 12% increase in rough-sleeping in London.
EU
EU Council considers impact of Screening
As part of the discussions of the new immigration pact, the EU Council discussed the use of screening methods. Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) provided evidence that shows when people are screened on arrival to an EU country.
“arbitrary detention in inadequate conditions for extended periods of time which, compounded by a chronic lack of access to information and legal support, deprives them of the possibility to challenge violations of their fundamental rights.” BVMN
Despite evidence from Greece and Italy, the EU Council looks to be rejecting the evidence. More information here.
WORTH READING / WATCHING / LISTENING
Why is Libya Not A Safe Country? Thread by LouiseMichel
Snapshots: A Palestinian photographer captures life under bombardment in Gaza — New Humantiarian
Africa’s military coups are climate coups — New Internationalist
Refugees in Pakistan Forced to return to Afghanistan
This year’s NobelPrize Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi has gone on hunger strike.
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