MILAN (AP) — An Italian navy ship carrying migrants was headed to Albania Wednesday to have asylum claims processed under a five-year deal to process asylum claims outside the borders of the European Union that has already hit a legal roadblock .
A spokesman for Italy’s Interior Ministry confirmed that the navy ship Libra was headed to the Balkan country, but declined to say how many migrants were on board and when it would arrive.
Italian daily La Repubblica reported that of 1,200 migrants who arrived on Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa over the past two days, only eight male adults traveling without families met the criteria to be screened in Albania, including being come from countries considered ‘safe’. for repatriation.
The ship, which can carry 200 people in addition to the crew, is expected in the Albanian port of Shengjin early Friday.
It is only the second transfer since two centers started operating last month. The first batch of migrants had to be sent back to Italy after a court in Rome ruled that their countries of origin – Bangladesh and Egypt – were not safe enough to be sent back.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni envisioned the two centers that could accommodate up to 3,000 migrants a month as a way to help Italy manage migrant arrivals on its southern coasts, but human rights activists have criticized the deal as setting a dangerous precedent.
Meloni, who heads Italy’s first far-right government since the end of World War II, denounced the Rome court ruling, saying that deeming countries like Bangladesh and Egypt unsafe meant virtually all migrants would be excluded of the Albania programme. making it unworkable.
