Shqipëria Posted on 2025-03-24 10:03:00

England, a center for asylum seekers in Albania? - Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, also part of the plan. Payment for host countries

From Ledina Elezi

England, a center for asylum seekers in Albania? - Serbia and Bosnia and

The British government is considering sending all those people whose asylum applications in the United Kingdom have been rejected to special centers to be built in Albania.

British officials are discussing the creation of "return centers" abroad to house asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and all appeals have been exhausted.

The proposals, which are still at a "very early stage", according to a government source, would include payments to host countries for every person removed from the UK.

The British media outlet BBC writes that the overseas centers would enable the government to remove asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and who come from countries considered unsafe for them to return to, such as Iran and Somalia.

Earlier this month, the European Commission presented a proposal for EU member states to use return centers as an “innovative” solution for “migration management.” It said families with children and unaccompanied children would be excluded from the scheme. Any return center scheme would require officials to reach agreements with the countries hosting the centers.

The current proposals are focused on Western Balkan countries, including Albania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Labour believes the scheme could save money by speeding up the relocation process and increasing the number of asylum seekers included in the scheme.

Officials believe it could also help ease the pressure on local authority budgets from homeless asylum seekers whose asylum claims have been rejected and whom they are legally obliged to support.

However, any scheme involving overseas centres for migrants is likely to face legal challenges, as well as opposition from refugee organisations.

The BBC also reports on the case of Italy, which has built two detention centers for illegal immigrants in Shëngjin and Gjadra, Albania. Italy has sought to process the applications of immigrants in these two detention centers, but has been blocked by Italian courts.

A British government source said the issue was "a shared challenge across the world and we have always said that this international problem needs an international solution".

Enver Solomon of the Refugee Council criticized the government's proposal, stressing that their work with people and supporting them to return to the countries they came from is much more successful than sending them somewhere like Albania, where they will inevitably be held in prison-like conditions.

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Shqipëria 2025-03-24 Edel Strazimiri

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