|
More attention to respect for emigrants rights
16.08.2007
With a view to protecting,
educating, and sensitizing about emigrants
rights, AHC realized a monitoring mission at the
Kakavijė border crossing, in the district of
Gjirokastėr. The goal of the observation mission
was to monitor the situation of respect for
Albanian emigrants rights by both local and
foreign police, as well as to highlight the main
problems encountered at this border crossing.
The methodology pursued to observe the emigrants
rights situation consisted of direct meetings
with senior police officers, border police
members, and the close observation of the
infrastructure of receiving facilities and other
surrounding premises. The monitoring group also
met with Albanian emigrants detained for illegal
border crossing.
Some of the conclusions
that emerged from the monitoring mission
conducted at the Kakavijė border crossing are:
-
Due to the influx of
Albanian emigrants to spend their summer
holidays with their families, the flow of
movement at the Kakavijė border crossing had
increased considerably. During the weekend,
the influx of citizens doubled, leading to
long queues and numerous difficulties. At
present, there were 5 processing windows.
Their number was expected to increase in
order to facilitate the quick movement of
citizens.
-
No special treatment
was provided for returned juveniles compared
to other adult persons. Due to the lack of
necessary facilities, juveniles were kept in
the same facility with adults. Women were
kept in a separate facility from male
returnees. In most cases, this was one of
the border crossing personnel offices.
-
We noticed a marked
lack of information and sensitization of
citizens on rules of legal border crossing.
Citizens were not aware of rules for
equipping their children with regular
passports and visas, starting from 0 years
old. This led to obstacles and numerous
difficulties, particularly for citizens
coming from remote cities of the country.
Another highlighted concern was the lack of
respect by Albanian emigrants for the
limitation on only one entry and exit with
the Blue Veveos document.
-
Almost the entire
Police Directory and border police
administration of the Gjirokastėr District
was new and had just been assigned. Frequent
reshuffling of police officers, changes, and
assignment of new and untrained police
officer to important positions, particularly
during a period with a large flow of
emigrants, could lead to difficulties and
problems.
At the conclusion of the
monitoring mission, in order to encourage the
taking of concrete measures, AHC presented
responsible state bodies with conclusions of the
observation, some recommendations and
suggestions, in order to improve respect for the
rights of Albanian emigrants and foreigners
going through the Kakavijė border crossing.
|
