SOS Humanity criticises disembarkation of survivors in Albania

Überlebender auf der Humanity 1 ist eine graue Decke gehüllt und blickt auf das stürmische Mittelmeer.
Alessio Cassaro / SOS Humanity

Berlin, 15 October 2024. Since yesterday, a ship of the Italian navy has been bringing refugees who had departed from Libya and were rescued from distress at sea to newly built reception centres in Albania, according to Italian press reports. These are the first protection seekers brought to Albania for their asylum procedures to be processed on Albanian territory under Italian law. SOS Humanity strongly criticises the fact that their asylum applications will be dealt with in a fast-track procedure outside the EU, posing a significant threat to their human rights.

“As an organisation that recues people from distress at sea in strict adherence to international law, we strongly oppose Italy’s relocation of survivors to Albania,” emphasises Mirka Schäfer, political expert at SOS Humanity. “The Italy-Albania agreement violates international maritime law and risks further eroding fundamental rights of refugees. Italy de facto detains people seeking protection on Albanian territory without judicial examination, which is deeply inhumane and violates their fundamental rights. These are refugees who have been subjected to violence, human trafficking, or torture during their journey and their time spent in Libya or Tunisia. The agreement is yet another strategy by an EU member state to outsource migration management and thereby shift away responsibility for the human rights of refugees.”

SOS Humanity is not alone in the assessment that the agreement between Albania and Italy of 6 November 2023 poses a significant threat to the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants. This view is shared by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights as well as human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.[1] The UN refugee agency UNHCR also voiced serious concerns about the procedure and will monitor the implementation of the protocol.[2]

“From a search and rescue organisation’s perspective, it is highly problematic that the agreement leads to delays in the disembarkation of people rescued from distress at sea,” explains Mirka Schäfer. “The deal violates the international obligation to disembark survivors at the nearest place of safety. The Albanian port of Shengjin is around 1,000 kilometres away from the rescue area, which means several additional days of transit compared to a disembarkation in Lampedusa or Sicily. This represents an extra risk for the health and well-being of survivors.”

SOS Humanity demands that the agreement should be terminated as it endangers the fundamental and human rights of refugees and undermines the right to asylum. Furthermore, SOS Humanity calls on the European Commission to examine in detail and transparently whether this new form of outsourcing asylum procedures by Italy is a violation of EU law and international obligations of EU member states.

[1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur30/7587/2024/en/ 

[2] https://www.coe.int/de/web/commissioner/-/italy-albania-agreement-adds-to-worrying-european-trend-towards-externalising-asylum-procedures, Italy-Albania Protocol – UNHCR to undertake monitoring activities to safeguard and promote fundamental human rights | UNHCR Europe

Over 30 people on a small rubber boat in the middle of the central Med.
Leon Salner / SOS Humanity
Background

Also have a look at our recently published report “Humanity Overboard” with analyses, surveys on board the Humanity 1 as well as numerous facts and figures about the humanitarian disaster in the Mediterranean.

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Please address questions and interview requests to Petra Krischok: press@sos-humanity.org, +49 (0) 176 552 506 54 

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of the Humanity 1 search and rescue operations from 2022 till today can be found under this link .

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