Italian MEP suggests government wants to ‘hide truth’ about Albania migrant centre

The detention centre in Gjadër, Albania, is operated by the Italian government under a five-year deal. Photograph: Florion Goga/Reuters View image in fullscreen The detention centre in Gjadër, Albania, is operated by the Italian government under a five-year deal. Photograph: Florion Goga/Reuters Italian MEP suggests government wants to ‘hide truth’ about Albania migrant centre Cristina Guarda says delegation was denied access to cells in offshore detention facility, at which six people have attempted suicide An Italian MEP has questioned whether the Italian government is trying to “hide the truth” about conditions at an offshore migrant detention centre in Albania after a delegation she was part of said they were prevented from conducting a full inspection. Cristina Guarda, from Italy’s Greens and Left Alliance (AVS), said staff at the Italian-run facility in Gjadër had refused to give MEPs from the Greens/EFA group key information, such as how many people were being held at the centre, and that they had not been allowed to access their cells. Guarda said that testimony gathered from those they were able to speak to depicted a daily existence defined by “limbo and alienation”. Citing an official register of “critical events”, she said there had been six attempts by people held at the centre to kill themselves since mid-May, as well as other acts of self-harm. “Whether they want to hide the truth about the conditions of life inside the detention centre, something is not clear,” said Guarda, who also described “sweltering” heat at the facility. Rome’s prefect office, which has overall responsibility for Italy’s offshore migrant processing centres in Albania, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. Neither did Medihospes, the Italian cooperative that manages the facilities. View image in fullscreen People intercepted in Italian waters disembark at the Albanian port of Shëngjin in November 2023. Photograph: Adnan Beci/AFP/Getty Images Italy opened two centres in Albania – one in Gjadër and the other in Shëngjin – in 2024 as part of a controversial pact aimed at processing the asylum applications of adult men intercepted at sea by Italian government vessels and detaining refused asylum seekers pending their deportation. The five-year deal, which is costing Italy an estimated €130-140m (£112-120m) a year, has faced numerous legal challenges. Citing European law, Italian judges have rejected many transfers on the grounds that migrants’ countries of origin were unsafe to be repatriated to if their asylum requests were rejected. Several people are believed to have arrived at the facilities since the European parliament adopted a plan this month enabling the creation of offshore “return hubs” – centres outside the EU where undocumented people can be held for unspecified periods while waiting to be sent back to their home country. Although there are no official figures, the facility in Gjadër, which is primarily used to detai