IOM has decided to join ‘Operation Albania’ to “protect migrants”

Rome, October 18 (EFE).- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) decided to “stay” for at least three months the Giorgia Meloni government’s operation to transfer and detain people rescued at sea to Albania. Have done. They manage their asylum applications to “protect migrants”.

“We have decided that it is better to be there than not to be there, because we know from experience that this type of operation generally fails to adequately protect the rights of migrants and their vulnerabilities,” EFE said. There is no ability to guarantee safety.” Flavio Di Giacomo, IOM spokesperson for the Central Mediterranean, explained.

Within the framework of the agreement signed by Rome and Tirana, the first 16 migrants arrived this Wednesday in two centers created by Italy in Albania, which Meloni defends as “a new and brave path” and which the EU is now considering. Starting to do. A possibility rejected a few years ago due to doubts about its compatibility with Community and international law.

Last Sunday, the Italian military navy ship ‘Libra’ was dispatched to the open sea to intercept two migrant boats, one carrying 53 people and the other 32, both coming from Libya. IOM personnel were traveling in it.

“We carried out preliminary tests on the ship and identified a whole range of vulnerabilities, even in migrants who met the conditions, that is, in adult men in good health from safe countries,” says Di Giacomo.

Of the 85 migrants rescued, only 16 were found suitable for transfer to Albania and once they arrived there, they were subjected to a second trial at the Shengjin centre, where asylum seekers are identified, before being transferred to the Gjedor detention centre. Yes, the number was reduced by 12.

In a thorough assessment on the ground, it was found that two were minors who had not said so before and two were vulnerable people who could be victims of torture and violence, and were returned to Italy.

“This shows two things: the vulnerability assessment was thoroughly conducted by qualified IOM staff, who, it must be said, were given the necessary time by the authorities, and 90% of people arriving from Libya are vulnerable,” explains . Spokesperson.

“This is why – he emphasizes – why we have decided to intervene: knowing that these border extrapolation systems do not have the appropriate tools to guarantee the protection of vulnerable people, we did not evaluate this system without , have decided to stay here for the sake of safety, prevent migrants and vulnerable people from going to Albania.”

Although “IOM does not consider this to be the best option, as we generally do not support outsourcing processes, we feel that sovereign states have the freedom to implement migration policies of their choice, as long as they comply with international law and We do this while respecting European laws, of course.”

There have been no security problems with the first migrants transferred to Albania, although “we have to see whether instead of stopping 85, it will be 200, 300 or 500,” he says and adds that OIMC will remain in operation. For 3 months, evaluation period and then we will see what happens.

“We still don’t know what will happen, the judges will have to decide in 48 hours whether to validate the detention or not, we will see, and then the accelerated processing process will begin” in their countries in case asylum is refused. Before he can be deported, in one passage, he admits, there are “many legal doubts” that have to be looked into.

And he insists: “We have only thought about preventing migrants with non-obvious vulnerabilities from being sent to Albania. The government asked us to participate and we decided to do yes, because without us the migrants would not have received the same protection.”

Marta Rulan