For years, Italy has been part of the list of EU countries that have failed to manage the crisis of illegal immigration, but above all, in the violation of human rights.
Despite the fact that several Italian courts – first in Rome and finally in Catania – are “overturning” the migrant agreement between Italy and Albania, the right-wing Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, seems determined to push it forward. Through a decree a few days ago, Meloni designed the latest Italian government law, which “gives free rein” to the latter, to consider all countries from which illegal immigrants come as safe countries of origin. The agreement had many voices against it after the moments of its officialization in Rome, where the Italian prime minister and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, signed the agreement with a smile and expressed more optimism than ever about the good neighborliness between the two countries over the centuries.
The largest organizations in Europe and the world, which deal with the protection of the rights of immigrants, continue to be against the agreement and the centers set up in Albania, where asylum requests for male immigrants who come mainly from the Mediterranean will be processed. Flaminia Delle Cese, legal advisor at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for Italy, tells Deutsche Welle that “the decisions of the Italian courts confirmed what the IRC has been saying for months: Italian detention centers in Albania should not exist”.
In arguing the decision, the Court of Rome, the first institution to officially oppose this agreement, referred to a previous decision of the Court of Human Rights, according to which “the countries from which these immigrants come can be considered as safe countries origin, only when the respect of human rights and the safety of the individual is recognized and accepted in a uniform form”. “This was not the case for the 12 people arbitrarily detained in Albania. This decision is an important reminder that everyone has the fundamental right to seek asylum in Europe, a right that must be respected, regardless of where these immigrants come from or where they want to go,” says Delle Cese.
FLAGRANTE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The IRC, like many other international organizations dealing with migration issues, is closely monitoring the agreement and its implementation on the ground. Based on these observations, they are concerned that vulnerable categories – such as children, pregnant women or other persons – who theoretically will not be sent to Albania, are not sufficiently safe. “Of the first 16 migrants who were sent to Albania on October 16, two turned out to be children and two had health problems. All of these were noticed after they arrived in Albania. If the authorities failed immediately to identify children among a the relatively small group of people, who have survived trafficking or torture, or people with disabilities, then imagine how many of them will escape this ‘radar’, especially when they are on a ship with more people”, says Delle Cece.
ITALY AMONG THE MOST PROBLEMATIC COUNTRIES IN THE TREATMENT OF IMMIGRANTS
In the last decade, Italy is listed in international reports as one of the most problematic countries in the treatment of illegal immigrants who touch its shores in the most dangerous ways, often losing their lives. Sending them to a country outside the jurisdiction of the EU complicates the issue more in terms of protecting the rights of immigrants, according to international organizations.
“Detaining people who have already experienced a traumatic journey to reach Europe only adds to their suffering”, legal adviser Delle Cese emphasizes. In addition to violating human rights, experts are skeptical that a country like Italy, which within its territory barely manages to meet the basic needs of the emigrants, can succeed by sending them to Albania.
DISCRIMINATION AND RACISM
A few days ago, the “European Commission against Racism and Intolerance” (ECRI), a structure of the Council of Europe that monitors issues of discrimination and racism, published the sixth monitoring report for its member countries. In the case of Italy, despite some improvements noted in the report, ECRI again raised major concerns about the issue of immigrants and asylum seekers. immigrants, also Italian citizens with a migration background, as well as persons from the Roma and LGBTI communities. Hate speech, including by high-level politicians, often goes unchallenged”, says the ECRI report, whose findings also highlight the decrease in trust in the carabinieri and other law enforcement agencies.
Based on the evidence gathered in the field, the experts have observed that the negative political narrative, to a large extent, towards immigrants has created serious obstacles and has also put at risk the work of organizations that support immigrants.
“Immigrant children are more exposed to bullying in schools and leave the education system earlier than Italian children. Forced evictions of Roma, contrary to international standards, have continued. There are a number of files which are drawn up on the basis of racial profiling by of law-enforcement officials, mainly towards the Roma community and people of African origin,” says the report. Deutsche Welle approached the Council of Europe to find out if ECRI will focus on the migrant agreement in Italy – Albania and specifically the establishment of two camps for asylum seekers. Via e-mail, a KiE spokesperson said that they could not comment on this question. However, they emphasized that they recommend the establishment of an independent structure to deal with discrimination-based issues racial.
The agency that currently functions as an equality body, namely the National Office against Racial Discrimination, acts as an excellent government coordinating body, but cannot function as an independent body in accordance with ECRI’s standards,” the sources told DW. While the International Rescue Committee has another suggestion for Italy. “To prevent further loss of life in the Mediterranean, the Italian government should not invest in costly and fruitless immigration deals with third countries, but should urgently expand safe routes so that people are not forced to take dangerous journeys,” says Delle Cese.
IS THIS THE RIGHT MODEL?
“Keeping people trapped behind barbed wire – with the aim of keeping them out of sight and out of mind – is not a sustainable solution to Europe’s migration challenges. While the number of people arriving in Italy has decreased in recent months, the number of dangerous crossings to Spain has increased. These migration agreements do not prevent people from risking their lives to reach Europe. They simply lead migrants to more and more dangerous routes”, argues the representative of the IRC.
She and other similar organizations are afraid of this model, for which other European countries have publicly declared “that they are looking at it as an opportunity”, including the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. (DW)
