Albanian children are being subject to racist bullying in UK schools because of the debate surrounding arrivals by small boats, the country s ambassador in London has said.
Qirjako Qirko spoke out after Albanians were singled out by ministers and sections of the media over the recent rise in the number of citizens travelling across the Channel to claim asylum in the UK.
He called for an end to the campaign of discrimination and warned against reinforcing negative stereotypes. His comments appear to be aimed at the UK government after Suella Braverman, the home secretary, singled out Albanian criminals during a debate on the crisis.
The government, encouraged by rightwing media outlets and MPs, is trying to stop Albanians from being able to claim asylum in the UK.
Qirko said more than 140,000 Albanians living in the UK had been negatively affected by the debate, which has been reinforcing negative stereotypes and racism. This campaign should stop against Albanians living here in the UK. There are people, especially children, who are bullied in their schools because they are Albanians. He said that everyone who is responsible for this activity should apologise.
He told MPs that Albanian doctors, lawyers, engineers, labourers of all kinds, pay taxes and contribute to the British society. Any other portrayal of Albanians in the UK is a demonstration of a lack of knowledge of this reality. Reinforcing negative stereotypes over a long time fosters only discrimination and racism. The UK government is planning to ban on anyone from a list of countries that claim asylum.
Plans supposedly being drawn up by No 10 have outlined legislation to make it easier to reject and remove asylum seekers from Albania. Under the proposed changes, claims would automatically be refused and a check that officials are currently expected to carry out would be removed.
The move is intended to target Albanians after more than 12,000 arrived from the Balkan country via small boats in the nine months to September, accounting for about a quarter of all Channel crossings. The number of Albanians arriving in the UK has fallen over the last two months, according to the Guardian.
More than half of adult Albanian asylum applicants were successful at the initial decision stage, according to the government's latest data.
According to the Oxford Migration Observatory last month, 86% of Albanians who received positive decisions on asylum applications in the year ending June 2022 were women whose leave to remain was granted on the basis that they were likely to have been trafficked and in need of protection.
The immigration minister Robert Jenrick has said that Albanians should not be allowed to apply for asylum because Albania is considered a safe country.
Qirko said that Albania was a safe country, and that many Albanians who came to the UK via small boats did so for economic reasons. He said that this country needs workers, there are vacancies, change British legislation so that people can come legally.
Other witnesses denied that Albania could be classified as a safe country.
Dr Andi Hoxhaj, a lecturer in law from University College London, said that a third of Albanians lived below the poverty line and there was 60% unemployment. He said honour killings under a code of conduct known as Kanun still held sway over many people's lives across the country, and that gang-related violence and corruption was widespread.
He said that there is a level of corruption, there is high unemployment.