Giorgia Meloni, in a speech given at the end of 2024, emphasized that "the centers in Albania will function."
Despite the security of Italian Prime Minister Meloni, the refugee camp in Gjadra, operational for two years now, does not seem to be functioning.
The camp, which is thought to have cost around 100 million euros and was expected to host around 3000 refugees per month, currently has around 20 people waiting to be deported,
But why didn't Gjadri meet the Italian government's expectations to solve the problem of illegal immigration once and for all?
CitizensExplains that civil society organizations were engaged against the camp, which they described as "human experiment", as well as the judicial system in Rome, which ruled several times against sending refugees from Italy to Gjadra and was later supported by the European Court of Justice.
The latter publicly stated on August 1, 2025 that not all countries that the Italian government considered safe, such as Bangladesh or Egypt, are actually so in vital aspects and that the return of refugees coming from there is unjust.
This led to the camp changing its function.
Initially, it was intended to receive any refugees stopped in the Mediterranean Sea heading towards Europe, but today it is being used to repatriate illegal immigrants who are already in Italian migrant reception centers.
Various figures from the Italian opposition have contested the Rama-Meloni agreement and have visited the camp in Albania up close. They have called Gjadri a failed and propagandistic project of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Similarly, civil society has come together to demand the closure of this camp.
Otherwise, Prime Minister Rama has never commented on the Gjadri issue, and has even stated that the camp does not concern him, as the construction and management of the centers does not belong to the Albanian government, as the agreement has given jurisdiction to the Italian side.
But what did all this serve for Albania?
Gjadri made us understand that "brotherhood" between the governments of two states is not always enough to advance "successful projects" at the level of policies and rights.
30 years ago, like refugees from Bangladesh, Egypt and other African countries, Albanians set off as refugees towards Italy in search of a safer life and a better future.
The camp that opened in Albania weighs heavily on the conscience of our society, for what we would not want to happen to our people, but in the meantime we allowed to happen to others on our shores.
Despite the large investment and the three thousand refugees it was expecting to receive each month, the Gjadri camp currently has around 20 people waiting to be deported. Two years after it began operating, Citizens explains that the camp has not only changed its original purpose, but has also become one of the most attacked camps for human rights violations and migration policies.
He completed his master's studies in the department of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the University of Tirana. She has been reporting for more than four years in Citizens.al on issues of culture, urban development, feminism, etc. She is also a contributor to other local and foreign online media, and has worked in the editing of various materials. She is the author of the podcast "Pezull" on Citizens.al and is engaged as a coordinator of projects related to the empowerment of young journalists and migration issues.
