Mediators accompanying lawmakers and lawyers with migrant rights organization Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione were denied access to the new Italian-run migrant processing center in Shengjin, Albania.
Migrants' rights group Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione, in cooperation with a group of MPs, on November 8 traveled to Albania to "monitor the forcible transfer, after four days at sea, of the second group of migrants as part of a protocol signed a year ago" by Rome and Tirana.
On the first day of the mission, the group carried out its inspection at the facility in Shëngjin, where migrants are identified and screened.
However, the migrants' rights organization said that, while MPs Rachele Scarpa (Democratic Party - PD) and Francesco Mari (Green and Left Alliance - AVS) were allowed in, together with the associations' attorneys, access was denied to the mediators accompanying them.
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'Sum to avoid detention'
All guests at the facility were classified as asylum seekers: five are citizens of Bangladesh and three of Egypt. They have applied for asylum by compiling the 'C3' module to seek an audition with the commission in charge of the procedure.
On the day of arrival, the first of the eight was deemed to be vulnerable and authorities decided to transfer him back to Italy.
The Tavolo organization also said an official responsible for immigration at the facility had told members that, as part of a government measure which the group called "shameful", asylum seekers are allowed to pay 'bail' to avoid being detained at the processing facility.
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'Incoherent implementation of law, Albania centers must be closed'
The Tavolo explained that asylum seekers "are allowed to contact family members and friends by phone."
On November 9, the delegation visited Gjader, the other facility opened by Italy in Albania.
Tavolo asilo e Immigrazione held a press conference in front of the center, together with the Italian lawmakers and Albanian civil society organizations, including representatives of the collective Mesdhe, to denounce "the incongruous implementation of the law and to loudly ask for the immediate closure of the centers opened in Albania"