ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday brushed aside criticism of a controversial deal to send migrants for processing in Albania, a European first which other European leaders are watching closely.
Italy on Monday began transferring the first migrants to the centers — 16 men from Egypt and Bangladesh — who are due to arrive Wednesday.
“It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit and has everything it takes to be followed also with other non-EU nations,” Meloni said.
The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table.
In a letter to member states ahead of the talks, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would “be able to draw lessons from this (Albania) experience in practice.”
Italy’s two processing centers in Albania will be operated under Italian law, with Italian security and staff, and judges hearing cases by video from Rome.
But human rights groups question whether there will be enough protection for asylum seekers.
“The first people to arrive in Italy’s new detention centers deserve better than to be subject to this dangerous political experiment,” said Susanna Zanfrini, Italy director for the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organization.
“Even as the doors open on these new facilities, some huge questions remain unanswered about how Italy will ensure that people’s rights are safeguarded outside of the EU’s jurisdiction.”
Italy’s Mediterranean coast has long been a target for migrants hoping to reach Europe.
Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party promised to halt the arrivals during 2022 national elections.
She agreed with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in November 2023 to open the asylum centers.
Addressing the Senate in Rome, Meloni said her government was setting a “good example” to other countries on how to tackle irregular migration.
She added that Italy would organize an informal meeting at the EU summit ” between the member states most interested in the migration issue.”
At talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday on Albania’s negotiations to eventually join the EU, Rama said, however, that his deal with Italy may not be easily replicated by other countries.
“We have been asked by others and we have said no,” he told reporters, pointing to the long history of close Italy-Albania ties.
The five-year deal, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) annually, covers certain adult male migrants intercepted on Italian boats in international waters, but within Italy’s search and rescue area.
Those sent to Albania will be from countries deemed “safe” — a debated criterion but one that allows for a more simplified repatriation process.
Critics say the numbers that can be processed in Albania at any one time — initially put at around 3,000 by Rome, but now reported to be much lower — will have little impact on overall numbers.
“In the last three days, more than 1,600 migrants have landed in Italy. An Italian ship is transporting 16 of them to Albania,” noted Matteo Villa, a researcher at the ISPI think tank.
Almost 160,000 migrants landed on Italian shores last year, up from 105,000 the year before, according to interior ministry data.
Numbers have sharply fallen in 2024, with 54,000 arrivals recorded so far, compared to almost 140,000 in the same period in 2023.
However, the government hopes that intercepting people at sea and sending them to Albania before they reach Italy will act as a deterrent.
Rome has also moved to limit the activities of charity ships that rescue migrants in the Central Mediterranean.
Under the new scheme, migrants will first arrive at a center in the northern Albanian port of Shengjin for registration and health checks. They will then go to a center in nearby Gjader to await processing of their asylum claims.
The Gjader facility — a maze of prefabricated buildings surrounded by high walls and police guards — includes a section for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, as well as a small jail.
Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal
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Italian PM hails ‘courageous’ Albania migrant deal
- “It is a new, courageous, unprecedented path, but one that perfectly reflects the European spirit,” Meloni said
- The scheme comes ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels this week, where migration is on the table
Russia releases man whose daughter’s drawing opposed Ukraine fighting
The post came to authorities’ attention after his daughter, then age 13, made a drawing in school opposing the military operation
MOSCOW: A Russian man convicted of discrediting the military after his daughter made a drawing criticizing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine was released from prison after serving 22 months, a group that monitors political detentions said Tuesday.
Alexei Moskalyov was convicted in March 2023 on the basis of posts that he made on a social media site. The post came to authorities’ attention after his daughter, then age 13, made a drawing in school opposing the military operation.
Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison, but he fled. He was arrested in Belarus a day later and extradited to Russia. A court later reduced his sentence to a year and 10 months.
The OVD-Info group, which reported his release, said that Moskalyov told it that agents of the Federal Security Service questioned other inmates in his unit before he was released and suggested they were looking for cause to file new charges against him.
Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has cracked down harshly on criticism of the military and the operation in Ukraine. Several prominent opponents of the fighting who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms — one of them to 25 years — were freed and sent out of the country in August in a widescale prisoner exchange with the West.
Canada lists pro-Palestinian group Samidoun as a ‘terrorist’ entity
- “Canada will not tolerate this type of activity,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said
OTTAWA: Canada, in coordination with the United States, on Tuesday designated the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun as a “terrorist entity” alleging that it had links with another terrorist-designated group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
“The listing of Samidoun as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code sends a strong message that Canada will not tolerate this type of activity, and will do everything in its power to counter the ongoing threat to Canada’s national security and all people in Canada,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement.
Indonesia displays ancient Bali artifacts looted by Dutch during colonial rule
- In less than 2 years, the Netherlands has returned 760 stolen artifacts to Indonesia
- ‘Repatriation’ exhibit is on display at the National Museum in Jakarta until Dec. 31
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s National Museum put on display on Tuesday hundreds of artifacts recently returned from the Netherlands, the bulk of which were looted by the Dutch during the bloody colonial conquest of Bali in the early 20th century.
Titled “Repatriation,” the exhibit features 300 items from a collection of over 1,700 stolen under colonial rule that the Netherlands has returned to Indonesia since 1978. It will run until Dec. 31.
Most of the artifacts on display comprise weapons, coins, jewelry, and textiles that the Netherlands had taken in the aftermath of wars in southern Bali between 1906 and 1908, when the Dutch military attacked the region’s kingdoms and killed at least 1,000 people.
It also includes large-scale Hindu-Buddhist sculptures, such as one of a likeness of the god Ganesha, which the Netherlands looted in the mid-19th century from a 13th-century Singhasari Kingdom’s temple complex in East Java.
“We hope that the public will learn that in the past, our country wasn’t an empty land that another nation chose to settle on. There were civilizations, kingdoms, and cultures, and all these artifacts are proof of those civilizations,” Bonnie Triyana, a historian and a member of the Indonesian Repatriation Committee, told Arab News.
“As such, people can learn from our history, the origins of our country, and how diverse we are, and how much we sacrificed to gain our independence.”
Indonesia declared independence in 1945, after a long colonial history under Dutch rule that began at the end of the 16th century.
Jakarta started to campaign for the Dutch government to return stolen Indonesian artifacts in 1951, but the Netherlands only started to return them in the 1970s in small numbers. The Indonesian Repatriation Committee has made big strides since last year with the repatriation of 472 artifacts, followed by 288 such items in September.
The repatriation process has been met with criticism, as some questioned how poorer countries like Indonesia will care for the returned artifacts. But Marieke van Bommel, director-general of the Netherlands’ National Museum of World Cultures, told the New York Times last month that “the thief cannot tell the rightful owners what to do with their property.”
For Triyana, who has served as secretary of the Indonesian Repatriation Committee since 2021, the National Museum exhibit is both a “gateway” and a “bridge” to connect Indonesians with their past.
“Colonialism came to our land and committed exploitation through conquest. Not only did they exploit our wealth and resources, but they also committed violence. It is a lesson for the current generation, both that colonialism was here and its character is still around,” he said.
“We must do decolonization to scrape off the remnants of colonialism, and one way to do this is by learning history … So, this exhibit is very important because repatriation isn’t solely about returning objects taken by our colonizers, but we also want to slowly collect pieces of knowledge about our civilization.”
UK planned to sanction ‘extremist’ Israeli ministers before election: Cameron
- Ex-FM: Asset freezes, travel bans were prepared against Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben-Gvir
- Urges new Labour government to press ahead with plan but opposes arms export bans
LONDON: Former UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he planned to sanction “extremist” Israeli ministers, including asset freezes and travel bans.
Cameron, who served as foreign secretary to former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak until July, told the BBC that he had been “working up” plans to sanction Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir when Sunak called a general election, which his Conservative Party lost.
Cameron urged the UK’s new Labour government to follow through with sanctions to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government’s conduct “is not good enough and has to stop.”
Cameron told the BBC’s “Today” program that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “said things like encouraging people to stop aid convoys going into Gaza — they have encouraged extreme settlers in the West Bank with the appalling things they’ve been carrying out.”
Ben-Gvir had also claimed it was “justified and moral” to starve people in Gaza, and has called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land to “make the desert bloom,” Cameron said, adding that sanctioning them would let Netanyahu know that “when (you have) ministers in your government who are extremists and behave in this way, we are prepared to use our sanctions regime.”
Cameron said the plans to sanction the pair did not proceed as it would have been “too much of a political act” for a government entering an election.
Sources in Whitehall told the BBC that the plans were “well advanced” and “ready to go,” but there were suggestions that the move could have inflamed tensions in the UK and that the US opposed sanctioning Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.
David Lammy, the UK’s current foreign secretary, has since described the duo’s rhetoric as “entirely unacceptable,” adding: “We’re very worried about escalatory behavior, about inflamed tensions.”
On the subject of sanctions, he said: “I’m absolutely clear, if we have to act, we’ll act. I’m in discussions with G7 partners, particularly European partners, on that. I’m not announcing further sanctions today but that’s kept under close review.”
Since entering office, Lammy has ordered a review into UK arms sale licenses to Israel, which led to the suspension of 30 export licenses over concerns that the equipment would be used to break international law — a move Cameron opposed.
The government also ended its opposition to the issuing of arrest warrants for prominent Israeli politicians, including Netanyahu, by the International Criminal Court.
Cameron warned that arms export bans could hinder Israel’s ability to defend itself against Iran and Hezbollah.
“I thought the government made a mistake over the arms embargo because, fundamentally, if you’re … helping to protect Israel from a state-on-state attack by Iran, but at the same time you’re withholding the export of weapons, that policy makes no sense.”
He told the BBC: “There were other things we could do to put pressure on Netanyahu and say, ‘Of course we respect your right to self-defense but we do want you to act within the law.’”
Cameron added: “We all want this conflict to end, but it has to end in a way that’s sustainable so that it doesn’t restart. That’s why it’s right to back Israel’s right of self-defense.
“But it’s not a blank check, it’s not unconditional. We do want to see aid get through to Gaza, and we do want the role of the UN in Lebanon to be respected.”
Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute, told the BBC that sanctioning Smotrich and Ben-Gvir would send a “major political message” to the Israeli government.
Keatinge said there is no precedent for Britain sanctioning politicians of an allied nation, and it would lead to “practical issues” given that other UK allies are not in agreement on the stance.
Violence-hit Pakistan locks down the capital for an Asian security meeting
- The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through
- Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes
ISLAMABAD: Shaken by multiple militant attacks, Pakistani authorities have locked down the capital in a major security move as senior officials from several nations arrive for an Asian security group meeting.
A three-day holiday started Monday in normally bustling Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through. Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tuesday with leaders and officials attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.
The main event of the meeting is on Wednesday, when leaders and officials discuss how to boost security cooperation and economic ties. The group was founded in 2001 by China and Russia to counter Western alliances. Other members include Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Militants in recent weeks have killed dozens of people in multiple attacks in restive northwestern and southwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Security experts say militants have limited capacity to strike in Islamabad.
Pakistan often blames the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, who have sanctuaries in neighboring Afghanistan, for the violence. Afghanistan’s Taliban government says it does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against any country.
Two Chinese engineers were killed on Oct. 6 in a suicide bombing outside the airport in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. A separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the past, Pakistanis used to line up along the main roads to welcome any dignitaries visiting the country, but authorities said they had to take harsh security measures this time because of fears of militant attacks. Only state media are allowed to cover the meetings.
Among those attending are Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia.
Although Jaishankar is visiting the country for the first time in more than a decade, he is not expected to hold separate bilateral meetings with Pakistani officials.
The two South Asian neighbors have a history of bitter relations, and former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also did not hold any bilateral meetings with Indian officials when he visited New Delhi last year to attend an SCO summit.
Chinese Premier Li met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday, according to a government statement. It said they reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation in areas such as the economy, investment and regional connectivity, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Chinese infrastructure project under construction in Pakistan.
Zardari offered his condolences over the killing of the two Chinese engineers. He said the enemies of Pakistan-China friendship were trying to undermine bilateral relations by targeting Chinese citizens and attempting to disrupt CPEC projects, the statement said.
