VOA: Albania, part of the transit route of migrants to Europe

2023-08-11 20:02:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Central Mediterranean accounts for more than half of irregular migrant crossings in the European Union, the European Border Guard Agency, FRONTEX, announced on Friday.

According to the report, the number of irregular border crossings at the EU's external borders rose 13% in the first seven months of 2023 to around 176,100, the highest figure for the January-July period since 2016.

According to FRONTEX, the increase was entirely driven by the number of arrivals via the Central Mediterranean, which remains the main migration route to the European Union and accounts for more than half of all detections at EU borders.

The Central Mediterranean had 89,000 irregular migrant crossings reported by national authorities in the first seven months of 2023, the highest total on this route for this period since 2017, an increase of over 115%.

" The increase in the number of migrants on this route may continue in the coming months with smugglers offering lower prices to migrants departing from Libya and Tunisia amid fierce competition between criminal groups," the FRONTEX report estimates . .

Unfortunately, sea crossings remain extremely dangerous, the report says.

The report refers to data from the World Organization for Migration IOM, which states that more than 2,060 migrants disappeared in the Mediterranean between January and July, with the vast majority on the Central Mediterranean route.

Migrant arrivals on all other migratory routes fell from the previous year, ranging from 2% in the Western Mediterranean to 29% in the Eastern Mediterranean route.

Between January and July, the Western Balkans route, the second most active route with more than 52,200 irregular migrant crossings, saw a 26% drop, mainly due to tighter visa policies, FRONTEX says.

According to the FRONTEX report, around 2,800 infantry officers and staff are involved in various operations supporting member states and neighboring countries in protecting the external borders of the European Union and fighting cross-border crime.

Albania continues to recognize the flow of irregular migrants from Greece

Albania, as part of the Balkan Route for the passage of irregular migrants, continues to see inflows, especially from the Greek border.

During the January-June period of this year, according to the Albanian border police, around 3,600 irregular migrants have been identified on the territory of Albania, of which over 1,500 have entered the Greek-Albanian border through the Qafë Botë border point.

In July, the authorities put into service the Registration and Temporary Accommodation Center for migrants at the border point, seeing the need for accommodation from the increased flow of irregular migrants entering Albania through the green border from Greece.

This is the third temporary center to be set up in Albania for irregular migrants, after the one opened in Grehot, Gjirokastra in 2017 and the one at the border point of Kapshtica in 2019.

This year there have been more incidents with migrant smugglers where, according to police data, around 68 operations have been conducted with the blocking of hundreds of irregular migrants and the detention of dozens of smugglers.

The network of the organization of the transport of migrants from the police investigations results that they operate on both sides of the Albanian-Greek border.

Against large financial sums ranging from 500 to 1000 dollars for each migrant, these networks carry out the passage of migrants from the southern and south-eastern Albanian border with Greece to the northern borders of Albania with Montenegro and Kosovo, where the migrants follow the path to European countries. VOA