Rome
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European countries, who want to reflect the controversial practice of sending asylum seekers rescued at sea to deportation centres overseas, have handled set-folds with European top coats.
On Friday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that while Italy still uses the centre, the centres operating in the Albanian cities of Shengin and Gaeder, can be sent there, must be more scrutiny to ensure that asylum seekers are not sent to their country’s dangerous situations.
The court said that the country of origin could only be considered “safe” after being “object to effective judicial review,” and that the country must clearly be safe and secure for all populations, including vulnerable or marginalized groups.
The ECJ ruling almost certainly affects new EU asylum restrictions. It is expected to come into effect in June next year and is designed to allow member states to create their own “safe” country lists to speed up and outsource the asylum process.
The EU’s own list intended to be a guide includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia.
“The proposed list of EU’s ‘safe countries of origin’ is considered a specific country, with fewer than 20% of applicants deeming international protection in the EU,” Amnesty International said in a July statement. “However, the fact that up to 20% of those applying for international protection from these countries are perceived as refugees indicates that these places are actually not safe for everyone,” he added.
The ECJ’s ruling was based on two Bangladeshi asylum seekers who were detained in Albania but argued that it was not safe to return to Bangladesh, as several European countries have expressed interest in developing their own deportation schemes, such as the Italian-Albanian partnership.
The partnership is viewed by millions of euro investments and “return hubs” in detention centres and “return hubs” in non-EU countries as potential blueprints for success in some countries, but a recent study by the University of Bali found that the Italian scheme has so far costing over 742 million euros.
In this study, the scheme was called “the most costly, inhumane, and useless means in the history of Italian migration policy.”
Still, President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and then President Charles Michel of the Council of Europe praised Italy’s 2023 landmark agreement, and in May 2024 the EU established a series of reforms designed to streamline European approaches to managing immigration and asylum, particularly those from so-called “safe” countries.
Calling it “fair but solid,” the agreement sets out a wide range of reforms designed to ease the burden of the nation that has historically taken out of the 27 EU member states.
It remains to be seen whether this ECJ ruling will discourage the development of the detention hub.
Italian far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized the court’s decision for “to combat mass illegal immigration and undermine policies to protect borders.”
“This is a development that should be relevant to everyone, including political forces who jog over the verdict, as it further reduces the already limited scope for governments and Congress to regulate and manage migration,” she said.
Meanwhile, in Italian detention centres in Albania, the lives of almost 12 people in a country considered safe, including Egypt and Bangladesh, are balanced.
