Italy has two migration centers in Albania, including one in the village of Gjadër that was set up in 2024. Initially built as a detention center for migrants intercepted in international waters, the government decided in 2025 to use it to house male asylum seekers who had been ordered to leave Italy and were awaiting deportation. According to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, more than 500 people have been sent there.
According to the Amnesty report, 42 “critical” incidents were recorded between April 11 and May 16, 2025, in the Gjadër center, which it said included self-harm, at least two suicide attempts by hanging, and a violent protest.
The report also raised concerns about “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during transfers to the hub, and it warned that detention in Albania “significantly undermines” people’s right to seek asylum and justice, as they have limited access to lawyers and courts. The NGO also said that the selection process for transfers to Albania isn’t transparent, raising concerns that it could be “discriminatory or punitive.”
What happens in the centers is “largely shrouded in mystery,” Amnesty also said, as the “Italian government has obstructed independent monitoring of the agreement’s implementation, including by restricting parliamentary oversight and bypassing ordinary legislative processes.”
The Italian government did not respond to a request for comment.
Amnesty said it had been denied access to the detention centers, and therefore based its research on correspondence with the ministry of the interior, reviews of court documents, information shared by civil society networks, reports by MPs and watchdogs, and interviews with U.N. agencies and lawyers.
