Italy sends 49 refugees to Albania in bid to resume disputed scheme
Italy sends 49 refugees to Albania in bid to resume disputed scheme
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Latest push to process migrants in Balkan country despite court challenge comes amid increase in boat arrivals. Italy has transported 49 people to Albania, in the latest push by Giorgia Meloni’s government to enforce a legally disputed plan to have asylum claims processed in the Balkan country as part of a hardline policy critics have called “disgraceful”.
![[Officials and refugees at port]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/04e590e487a9ad134ba5161942cb4382f81a7a4a/0_75_2241_1344/master/2241.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Italian navy ship Cassiopeia arrived at Shëngjin port on Tuesday morning carrying passengers intercepted on Saturday in the Mediterranean south of the island of Lampedusa. They will be identified and have a health check before being transferred to a detention centre in Gjadër, about 12 miles away.
The development comes amid an increase in the number of refugees arriving in southern Italy by boat. According to data from the interior ministry, 3,312 people arrived in January, more than double arrivals in the same month last year. Almost half landed over the weekend; of the 421 people screened by Italian patrols, 49 were sent to Albania.
The interior ministry has not provided their nationalities, although Ansa news agency reported they were from Bangladesh, Egypt, the Gambia and Ivory Coast, countries Italy considers safe. Italy’s latest push to process asylum claims in Albania comes after two failed attempts in the autumn, when a court in Rome ruled the detention of a small group of people was unlawful because their countries of origin, which included Bangladesh and Egypt, were unsafe to be repatriated to if their asylum requests were rejected.
