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on the monitoring conducted at the cross-border
points
14.02.2007
In the context of the project
“Respecting the migrant and returnee rights”, on
the dates 7-9 February 2007, a monitoring tour
was arranged at the cross-border points of
Saranda, and respectively at the Cross-Border
Point of Qafë- Bllata, Livadhja and the Harbour
of Saranda.
At the point of GOS Livadhja, a
meeting was held with the commander of this
point. This unit served for guarding the border
line and has been located deeply within the
Albanian border. This unit was not authorized to
guard and check the cross-border point. The
border police officials of this point detained
citizens that attempted to cross the border to
Greece illegally. According to the statistics
300 people per month have been detained. These
were people whose origin was from very poor
areas of Albania. These people were registered
and later on they were interrogated from the
officials of this unit and then escorted to the
police station of Saranda. As regards the
transport, this unit didn’t possess sufficient
vehicles. There were problems related to the
staffing structure, that was not complete and
there was lack of the female staff as well.
At the Cross-Border Point of
Qafë-Bota, there were striking problems of
infrastructure. TIMS System was not installed at
this cross-border point and every border
procedure was made by handwriting. It was
expected that very soon computers would be
installed, the staff of this point was being
trained to use the computer systems. The
facilities were less than satisfactory, and this
point possessed only some containers donated
from different donors. Although this was a
significant border point connecting the entire
area with Greece, the road leading to Qafë- Botë
was not asphalted. It was expected that part of
the road would be constructed, through a
donation from the Greek government.
As regards the staff of the
police officials, it was complete with female
staff.
At this cross-border point about
20-30 people per day were returned for illegal
border crossing. These people were interviewed
under difficult conditions and after the
verifications were made they were released. Even
the minimal conditions and the toilets were
lacking. The police didn’t posses sufficient
vehicles to achieve the transportation of the
returnees to Saranda. They owned only one car
that served for the transporting of the
detainees from the police.
At the Harbour of Saranda a
meeting was held with the commander of the
border police of the harbour. At this point the
main problems were related to the insufficient
staff as well as the insufficient facilities
that the border police had at its availability.
Although the new terminal was contemporary and
newly restructured, there were only a few
facilities envisaged for the police.
The police staff was scarce and
they were overloaded with work in cases of
influxes. In cases of influxes of the returned
migrants they worked under the orders of the
Director General of Police for their treatment
and for the facilitation of the documents and
procedures for them. Three new desks were set up
at the harbor terminal.
The approximate number of the
returned people from the Greek police for the
year 2006 was about 600 people. There have been
no cases of ill-treatment on the part of Greek
police. The harbour police had assigned police
officials to fill in the forms with their main
data, in the conditions of the non-installment
of the computer system that was expected to be
installed soon. The main problem was creating
the adequate facilities, because actually these
people were kept in a small room together with
the police staff. In cases when only some people
were retuned in a day this situation was
manageable, but their normal treatment was
impossible in cases of the return of more
people.
As regards the female and
juvenile returnees, they were interviewed from
the female police staff or from the
anti-trafficking specialists of the police
station of Saranda.
In conclusion of this monitoring
the representatives of the Committee drew some
recommendations:
1. Considering the
possibility of creating a small emergency fund
for the cross-border points aiming at aiding the
returnees. The border police officials very
frequently helped with all they could from their
own earnings.
2. Speeding up the work for
the bettering of conditions at the cross-border
point of Qafë-Bllata as regards the road,
transportation and infrastructure.
3. Speeding up work in
hiring the right staff at the cross-border
points.
4. The infrastructure of the
harbour of Saranda is in good conditions thanks
to the investments made recently. AHC suggests
the extension of the facilities of the harbour
available for the border police with the aim of
improving the service from this police
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