The European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner on April 29 said that the EU executive had received a report filed by the anti-torture committee of the Council of Europe and discussed it with Italy, replying to a question submitted by representatives of Italian center-left parties Green-Left Alliance (AVS), Five-Star Movement (M5S) and Democratic Party (PD) over the report on human rights violations at CPRs in Italy.

The report was drafted after committee members visited CPRs in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome from April 2 to April 12 last year.

"The European Commission has acknowledged the report of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe" and has discussed it with Italy as part of a "working group devoted to repatriations", said Brunner.

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'Centers in Albania must not hinder European legislation'

"After the Schengen evaluation carried out in Italy in 2021, the Council of Europe drafted recommendations concerning, among others, detention conditions," explained Brunner. "The Commission is carefully monitoring the actual implementation of such recommendations by Italy," he noted.

The commissioner then spoke about a protocol between Rome and Tirana for the fast-track processing of asylum seekers at two facilities Italy opened in Albania last October, one of which early this year was turned into a CPR for irregular migrants in Italy after the plan was stymied by Italian courts.

"As far as Italy's initiative following the signature of a protocol with Albania, the implementation of the protocol under Italian law must not hinder or prevent the implementation of EU legislation. Moreover, it can't hinder the pursuit of the aims and objectives of European law and must not compromise the rights and guarantees that member States grant to people in such situations, abiding by their national law and international law obligations", he added.

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Government disparaged judges, CPRs don't respect international standards, says Amnesty

Meanwhile, the migration policy pursued by Premier Giorgia Meloni's government has been targeted by Amnesty International's "The State of the World's Human Rights" report. The Italian executive allegedly tried to disparage judges who had failed to validate the detention of the first three groups of migrants taken to the Italian-run centers in Albania in October, November and January, "undermining their independence", according to the report's edition focusing on 2024.

The European Court of Justice began hearing the case on the Italy-Albania protocol in February to examine referrals filed by Italian courts which have yet to recognise the legitimacy of detentions ordered against migrants rescued by Italian Navy vessels in the Mediterranean and transferred to the other side of the Adriatic.

The report in particular accused Italy of attempting to "send asylum seekers rescued at sea to Albania" for the fast-track processing of their requests "outside national territory" and of continuing to "support Libya in detaining migrants despite evidence of grave human rights violations."

Speaking about migrant centers, the report stressed how "conditions for migrants in repatriation centers don't abide by international standards, with people detained in empty cages, concrete furniture and inadequate bathrooms."

Amnesty, moreover, stressed that three UN special procedures "have expressed concern for the restrictions placed by Italy on the activities of human rights promoters who work to rescue lives at sea" and whose job "Italy continues to hinder", according to the organization.

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