Almost half of the migrants transferred from Albania to Italy on February 6 have filed an appeal against the rejection of their asylum requests. This happened on the same day that two migrants lost their lives while trying to reach Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa.
On February 6, the first appeals were filed by some of the 43 migrants who had been transferred from Italy to a center in Albania before being moved back to Italy. These migrants, mostly from Bangladesh and Egypt, had their asylum applications rejected and were given a deadline to appeal -- either by the evening of February 6 or February 7, depending on when they received the rejection notice.
After a court annulled their detention orders in Albania’s Gjader repatriation center, the migrants were relocated to a facility in Bari, a southern port city in Italy.
Earlier, on January 28, 49 migrants intercepted off Lampedusa were sent to Albania on the Italian patrol boat Cassiopeia. However, six of them -- minors and individuals deemed vulnerable -- were later brought back to Italy.
The remaining migrants stayed only a few days in Albania before an appeals court in Rome suspended their detention while awaiting a decision from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on whether Albania qualifies as a "safe" country for asylum seekers. This ruling led to their release and rendered the transfer to Albania ineffective.
This was the third such transfer since October, but unlike before, the Italian government had expected a different result due to a legal change shifting the jurisdiction of the cases from the immigration court to the appeals court.
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Awaiting EU court ruling on 'safe' country definition
The key issue now is whether Bangladesh and Egypt, the migrants’ countries of origin, can be considered "safe." Under a decree issued in December, Italy includes these nations on its official list of safe countries, meaning migrants from these regions can be subjected to fast-track asylum procedures and deported more quickly.
However, the appeals court ruled that the decree did not consider the specific risks faced by certain groups of people in these countries. The European Court of Justice will now determine if these countries meet the necessary safety standards.
Meanwhile, the journey of two other migrants tragically ended on February 6 in Lampedusa. They were among about 40 people who arrived on a small nine-meter boat. While most of the group was intercepted by authorities, one person died on the beach, and another passed away shortly after being taken to a clinic.
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