Italian-Albanian Migration Agreement Violates Medical Ethics: MSF
Migrants taken by Italy to Albania, Oct. 2024. X/ @MSF_Sea
November 15, 2024 Hour: 8:50 am
The detention centers in Albania are a risk factor for physical and mental health.
On Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and other humanitarian organizations denounced the agreement under which Italy sends migrants to detention centers in Albania, stating that it “violates medical ethics, human rights, and endangers the physical and psychological health of individuals.”
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According to the procedures established by the agreement, the military ship Libra, which is tasked with transferring rescued migrants from the Mediterranean to Albania, lacks the necessary conditions to adequately assess a person’s health.
“In fact, there is no medical office or dedicated facilities to ensure adequate privacy and an appropriate perception of safety, nor are there tools capable of diagnosing certain clinical conditions and pathologies, whether acute or chronic,” MSF stated.
The detention centers established by Italy in the Albanian towns of Shengjin and Gjader are, “according to the World Health Organization (WHO), a risk factor for physical and mental health, particularly due to the potential spread of infectious diseases and the low standards of care, as well as for non-communicable diseases.”
Regarding the system of selecting which migrants may be transferred to Albania (adult men in good health), humanitarian NGOs argue that everyone is vulnerable. They call on healthcare workers “not to become involved in this discriminatory and degrading system for human beings. Our profession must be carried out in compliance with the Code of Ethics and human rights.”
Currently, there are no migrants in the Albanian centers, as both attempts by the Italian government to transfer them have failed due to judicial rulings.
In the second attempt, in November, eight migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt were sent to Albania, but a ruling by the Rome Tribunal suspended their detention and referred the case to European courts, leading to their return to Italy. The same occurred on October 16, when the Rome Tribunal directly decided not to allow the detention of an initial group of 12 migrants sent to these centers, deeming the countries of repatriation unsafe.
At the Shengjin port center, migrants undergo an expedited process to determine if they qualify for asylum, while the Gjader center is intended to house those rejected for eventual repatriation. However, women, children, families, or vulnerable individuals cannot be sent to the centers in Albania, nor can migrants who demonstrate that they are fleeing from countries deemed “unsafe.”
The far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded to these rulings by issuing a decree bolstering the list of “safe countries,” maintaining both Egypt and Bangladesh on the list in an attempt to facilitate the expulsion of the many migrants from those countries arriving via the Mediterranean. However, the government faced yet another judicial setback.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
