Introduction

The Gjader Detention Center in Albania is a prime example of the growing outsourcing of migration control in Europe. This approach, which involves collaborating with third countries to manage migration flows and repatriations, has raised crucial questions about respect for human rights and international law. The ActionAid-University of Bari (UniBA) report documents how detention conditions in Gjader are seriously inadequate and do not meet international standards, with documented violations of the fundamental rights of detained migrants, particularly with regard to the right to asylum and protection against return to countries where they may face persecution.

The Gjader model as a tool for outsourcing migration policies

The Gjader model is a prime example of Italy's growing trend towards outsourcing migration policies. The Italian government is working with the Albanian government to manage the treatment of migrants bound for Italy on Albanian territory. This practice, which involves entrusting the management of European borders to countries outside the European Union (EU), has raised serious concerns both legally and in terms of migrants' human rights.

The Gjader detention center was created as part of a bilateral agreement between Italy and Albania aimed at decongesting the Centri di Permanenza per il Rimpatrio (CPR, or Repatriation Centers) in Italy, where migrants awaiting expulsion are held in often critical conditions. The decision to transfer migrants present or bound for Italy to a detention center in Albania has raised concerns about the legitimacy of such agreements, as they may violate key principles of international law, including the right to asylum and the principle of non-refoulement, enshrined in the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. According to the ActionAid-UniBA report, the detention of migrants in Albania significantly reduces their access to the protections provided by European law, in particular the asylum procedure. In Italy, migrants have the opportunity to apply for asylum and benefit from the protections provided for in Directive 2013/32/EU on asylum procedures and the Dublin Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013), which establishes the criteria for determining which EU Member State is responsible for examining asylum applications. These provisions ensure that migrants are not exposed to persecution or treatment contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), in particular Article 3, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

In Albania, a non-EU member state, migrants transferred to the Gjader detention center do not have the same access to legal protection as they do in Italy. Although Albania is a signatory to the Geneva Convention and the ECHR, it has limited capacity to offer asylum procedures that comply with European standards. The Italy-Albania agreement provides that Italian law applies in full to migrants in the center, but this provision is not considered a sufficient guarantee.

Violation of the principle of non-refoulement

Another crucial issue concerns the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of migrants to countries where they risk torture or inhuman treatment. In the case of Gjader, migrants detained in the Albanian center could be returned to countries such as Syria or Egypt, where their lives and physical integrity are at risk. Violations of this fundamental principle have also been documented in Italy's externalization operations with Libya, as reported, among others, in the 2024 Report by Mediterranea Saving Humans, which highlighted the risk of torture and abuse in Libyan detention centers.

Criticism of the Gjader model focuses mainly on the fact that, by transferring migrants to a third country such as Albania, Italy evades legal scrutiny by European institutions, reducing transparency and monitoring of detention conditions. In this context, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has repeatedly emphasized that the lack of access to an adequate legal protection system exposes migrants to violations of their fundamental rights, including the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (CPT, 2023).

Systemic violations and gaps in protection in the context of outsourcing

The ActionAid – University of Bari report on the Gjadër Detention Center analyzes the facility as an emblematic case of outsourcing migration control, highlighting how the management of the center, established through a bilateral agreement and entrusted to the external entity Medihospes, reflects the Italian dynamics of outsourcing border policies (ActionAid, 2023). The document is divided into an initial summary, a legal and historical overview, a methodological section based on monitoring missions, FOIA requests, and field interviews, an analysis of data on flows and costs, and chapters dedicated to structural and health issues and fundamental rights (University of Bari, Department of Political Science, 2023). The report was produced by a team of university researchers and ActionAid analysts through archival work, direct visits to the center, and systematic collection of testimonies, and was presented as part of the initiatives of the Asylum and Immigration Roundtable (TAI, 2023).

The ActionAid report documented serious human rights violations in Gjader, describing living conditions in the center as inhumane and degrading. Detained migrants face shortages of food and drinking water, and insufficient access to medical care, including psychiatric care (Mediterranea Saving Humans, 2024).

Human rights organizations such as Melting Pot Europa and Mediterranea Saving Humans have repeatedly denounced these practices, considering the lack of adequate legal protections for migrants detained in Albania (Melting Pot, 2024).

Comparison with other models of externalization of migration policies in Europe

The Gjader model is not unique in Europe. Other countries have undertaken similar policies of externalization of migration policies, focused on transferring the management of migrants to third countries.

Italy and Libya: Italy has signed an agreement with Libya to stop migrants before they reach the Italian coast, transferring them to Libyan detention centers.

Human rights violations in Libyan centers have been repeatedly documented, with thousands of migrants facing torture, physical violence, and human trafficking. The United Nations has repeatedly denounced Libya as an “unsafe country” for the return of migrants.

Spain and Morocco: Spain has signed agreements with Morocco to prevent migrants from reaching the Canary Islands and the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Migrants detained in Morocco are frequently victims of abuse by the Moroccan police, as reported by Melting Pot Europa, among others.

United Kingdom and Rwanda: The UK has entered into a controversial agreement with Rwanda to deport asylum seekers to the African country, which is supposed to process their applications. Human rights organizations have raised concerns about whether Rwanda can guarantee adequate legal protections for migrants, raising doubts about the international protection offered in the country. Ultimately, the agreement did not become operational, but there have been repeated proposals to reinstate it.

These examples highlight how the externalization of migration policies can seriously compromise the human rights of migrants and raise concerns about compliance with international standards on asylum and refugee protection.

Conclusions

The Gjader Detention Center poses a threat to human rights and international law. As an example of the externalization of migration control, its existence and management raise serious doubts about compliance with international standards. It is essential that the international community intervene to ensure that migrants are not traded in negotiations between countries on migration policies, but that their right to live in dignity, safety, and respect for fundamental human rights is protected.