ROME: The UN refugee agency, which has expressed serious concerns about Italy’s deal to process some migrants’ asylum requests at holding centers in Albania, has agreed to monitor the first three months of the agreement.
UNHCR recalled that it wasn’t a party to the Italy-Albania deal, had maintained reservations about it and requested clarification about how it would be implemented. But the agency said in a statement on Wednesday that it had agreed to monitor its execution to help “safeguard the rights and dignity of those subject to it.”
The agency said that it would counsel migrants about their right to seek asylum and ensure that the procedures used are “consistent with relevant international and regional human rights standards, are fair, and promote protection and solutions for those in need of international protection.”
The contentious five-year deal, inked last year, calls for Albania to house up to 3,000 male migrants at a time who have been rescued in international waters while Italy fast-tracks their asylum claims. It was supposed to have become operational this month, but construction delays at the two new detention centers in Albania put off the start date.
Italy’s right-wing government has held up the agreement as an important example of burden-sharing of Europe’s migrant responsibilities, while also serving as a deterrent to would-be refugees. The European Commission, which has long struggled with Europe’s migrant debate, has endorsed it.
But human rights groups have denounced what they call Italy’s outsourcing of its responsibilities under international law to process the asylum requests of Italy-bound migrants rescued at sea. The center-left opposition in Italy has called the centers Italy’s “Guantanamo.”
UNHCR said that its monitoring mission would be funded by sources other than Italy and Albania to ensure that it remains independent and said it would report back after three months with recommendations.
According to the agreement, migrants will be screened initially on board the ships that have rescued them, with vulnerable migrants taken to Italy while others are sent to Albania for additional screening.
UNHCR and other agencies have expressed concern both about the onboard screenings, and whether they will truly be able to identify vulnerable migrants, as well as migrants’ access to adequate legal counsel once in Albania.
In a January appearance at Italy’s lower chamber of parliament, UNHCR’s Italy director, Chiara Cardoletti, said that the issue of legal representation would be complicated by housing the migrants in Albania, especially establishing a relationship of trust and confidentiality.
She noted that none of the protocols to date had established how migrants who aren’t eligible for asylum would be sent home. And she also questioned the costs, and recommended regardless that more resources be spent reinforcing the migrant processing centers in Italy.
The two centers in Albania will cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years. The facilities will be fully run by Italy, and both centers are under Italian jurisdiction, while Albanian guards will provide external security.
UNHCR’s announcement of a monitoring mission came on the eve of an annual update by Italy’s interior minister about a host of security issues, including migration. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi noted that Italy had registered a 20 percent increase in the number of repatriations of migrants this year who aren’t eligible for asylum.
At the same time, the number of new migrants arriving in Italy is sharply down this year: As of Wednesday, 37,644 people had arrived by boat this year, compared to 100,419 over the same period last year, according to interior ministry statistics.
UNHCR to monitor implementation of Italy-Albania accord to ensure migrants’ asylum rights respected
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UNHCR to monitor implementation of Italy-Albania accord to ensure migrants’ asylum rights respected
- The center-left opposition in Italy has called the centers Italy’s “Guantanamo”
- UNHCR said that its monitoring mission would be funded by sources other than Italy and Albania to ensure that it remains independent
Germany brushes off Musk calling Scholz a ‘fool’
A tight-lipped Scholz simply called it “not very friendly“
BERLIN: German officials on Friday brushed off tech billionaire Elon Musk labelling Olaf Scholz a “fool” on his social media platform X after the dramatic collapse of the chancellor’s coalition government.
In a comment Thursday above a post about the implosion of Scholz’s long-troubled coalition, the world’s richest man tweeted in German: “Olaf ist ein Narr” — “Olaf is a fool.”
Asked about Musk’s comment, government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann took a playful dig at the US tycoon, saying that “on X, you have Narrenfreiheit,” which translates to the freedom to act like a fool.
The word refers to revellers during Germany’s traditional carnival season, which starts next week, having the freedom to act without inhibitions.
Historically, the term echoes the notion of the “jester’s privilege” — the right of a court jester to mock those in power without being punished by the king.
Asked later about the comment, a tight-lipped Scholz simply called it “not very friendly,” adding that Internet companies are “not organs of state so I did not even pay it any attention.”
Musk strongly supported US election winner Donald Trump, and is now positioned to take up a role in his administration as a deputy tasked with restructuring government operations.
It is not the first time the Tesla boss has had run-ins with German officials online.
Last year he said Berlin-funded migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean could be seen as an “invasion” of Italy, sparking a terse response from the German foreign ministry.
He has also expressed sympathy for some of the positions of Germany’s far-right AfD party, which has notched up a string of recent electoral successes and is riding high in the opinion polls.
First flight with Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam lands in Tel Aviv
- The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv had passengers evacuated from Amsterdam
TEL AVIV: The first flight carrying Israelis evacuated from Amsterdam after violent clashes following a football match there landed on Friday at Ben Gurion International Airport, the Israel Airports Authority said.
“The plane that arrived in Tel Aviv now has passengers evacuated from Amsterdam,” Liza Dvir, spokeswoman for the airport authority told AFP.
India’s Modi rejects calls to restore Kashmir’s partial autonomy
- Modi revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
- Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade this year, newly-elected lawmakers passed resolution this week seeking restoration
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed his government’s contentious 2019 decision to revoke the partial autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, days after the territory’s newly elected lawmakers sought its restoration.
“Only the constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar will operate in Kashmir... No power in the world can restore Article 370 (partial autonomy) in Kashmir,” Modi said, referring to one of the founding fathers of the Indian constitution.
Modi was speaking at a state election rally in the western state of Maharashtra, where Ambedkar was from.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government revoked partial autonomy in 2019 and split the state into the two federally administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh — a move that was opposed by many political groups in the Himalayan region.
Jammu and Kashmir held its first local election in a decade in September and October and the newly-elected lawmakers passed a resolution this week seeking the restoration.
Jammu and Kashmir’s ruling National Conference party had promised in its election manifesto that it would restore the partial autonomy, although the power to do so lies with Modi’s federal government.
Jammu and Kashmir’s new lawmakers can legislate on local issues like other Indian states, except matters regarding public order and policing. They will also need the approval of the federally-appointed administrator on all policy decisions that have financial implications.
Under the system of partial autonomy, Kashmir had its own constitution and the freedom to make laws on all issues except foreign affairs, defense and communications.
The troubled region, where separatist militants have fought security forces since 1989, is India’s only Muslim-majority territory.
It has been at the center of a territorial dispute with Pakistan since the neighbors gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over the region.
Kyiv says Russia has returned bodies of 563 soldiers
- The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation
- The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen
KYIV: Ukraine said on Friday it had received the bodies of 563 soldiers from Russian authorities, mainly troops that had died in combat in the eastern Donetsk region.
The exchange of prisoners and bodies of killed military personnel remains one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv since Russia invaded in 2022.
“The bodies of 563 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on social media.
The announcement represents one of the largest repatriations of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the war.
The statement said that 320 of the remains were returned from the Donetsk region and that 89 of the soldiers had been killed near Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May last year after a costly battle.
Another 154 of the bodies were returned from morgues inside Russia, the statement added.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine publicly disclose how many military personnel have been killed fighting.
Russia sentences soldiers who massacred Ukraine family to life in prison
- The court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred“
- The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine
MOSCOW: A Russian court sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for the massacre of a family of nine people in their home in occupied Ukraine, state media reported on Friday.
Russian prosecutors said in October 2023, the two Russian soldiers, Anton Sopov and Stanislav Rau, entered the home of the Kapkanets family in the city of Volnovakha with guns equipped with silencers.
They then shot all nine family members who lived there, including two children aged five and nine.
The southern district military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the two men to life in prison for mass murder “motivated by political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred,” the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement source.
The incident triggered uproar in Ukraine.
Kyiv alleged at the time that the Russian soldiers had murdered the family in their sleep after they refused to move out of their home to allow Russian soldiers to live there.
“The occupiers killed the Kapkanets family, who were celebrating a birthday and refused to give up their home,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said a day after the murder.
Russian forces seized the city of Volnovakha in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region at the start of their full-scale military offensive.
It was virtually destroyed by Russian artillery strikes.
Russian soldiers have been accused of multiple instances of killing civilians in Ukrainian towns and cities they have occupied since February 2022.
Moscow has always denied targeting civilians and tried to claim reports of atrocities at places like Bucha were fake, despite widespread evidence from multiple independent sources.
The arrest and sentencing in this case is a rare example of Russia admitting to a crime committed by its troops in Ukraine.
State media did not say what prosecutors determined the reason for the attack was.
TASS suggested it could have been a “domestic dispute,” while both the independent Radio Free Europe and Kommersant business outlets said it could have been linked to a dispute over obtaining vodka.
The trial was held in secret.
The independent Radio Free Europe outlet reported the Rau, 28, and Sopov, 21 were mercenaries for the Wagner paramilitary before joining Russia’s official army.
They had both received state awards a few months before the mass murder, it said.
