The British Home Office has launched a new advertising campaign across Albanian social media platforms to deter Albanians from migrating to the UK after 2022 saw record numbers seeking asylum in the country, but it has been dubbed as pointless by critics.

According to the Home Office, the adverts will run on Instagram and Facebook in Albanian and English, warning people against the repercussions of entering the country illegally.

“If you come to the UK illegally, you face being DETAINED and REMOVED,” one of the adverts reads, featuring a photo of a police officer.

But an expert in refugee law and Director of Stand For All, Daniel Sohege, said, “PR stunt policies may help the government detract from reality in the short term, but they don’t achieve anything other than wasting more money.”

He added, “That reality is that Albanians seeking asylum in the UK often have very good reasons for doing, and an advert isn’t going to change that fact. Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, which is something which fuels trafficking. Pretending otherwise is nonsensical.”

The government has refused to divulge how much is being spent on the campaign but said it aims to “make clear the perils” migrants may encounter when crossing The Channel in small boats.

According to the Home Office, Albania is a “safe and prosperous country”, and many nationals “are travelling through multiple countries to make the journey to the UK” before making “spurious asylum claims when they arrive”.

However, the problem with this statement is that in 2022, around half of pending asylum applications from Albanians were approved, with more approved on appeal. Most of those approved were women and included cases linked to sex trafficking and domestic violence and others involved with loan sharks, revenge killings, or pressure from organised crime.

A total of 13,741 applications were filed by Albanians during that year, with almost 10,000 being filed by those who arrived on boats.

Many Albanians purchased trips to the UK via small boat, from adverts on Facebook and Instagram placed by people smugglers.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “We are determined to stop the boats, and the campaign, launching in Albania this week, is just one component of the Home Office’s work upstream to help dispel myths about illegal travel to the UK, explain the realities and combat the lies peddled by evil people smugglers who profit from this vile trade.”

The action by the Conservative government has been condemned by the opposition Labour Party who said it “beggars belief”, while others have called it pointless. This is because similar campaigns were run last year but did nothing to deter the number of people making the journey.

Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said the Conservative Party have failed at every turn to tackle the migrant crisis with their so-called solutions.

“It beggars belief that as Channel crossings continue to rise and the asylum system is in chaos, all the Conservatives can come up with to stop the criminal gangs is an ad campaign,” she said.

“At every turn, the Tories’ so-called solutions fail to meet the scale of the crisis. All they are doing is tinkering at the edges.”

Refugee NGOs have also been up in arms as they say just repeat the myth that refugee migration is illegal when it is actually protected by the Refugee Convention that the UK was involved in drafting.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has also not minced his words on the rhetoric and tactics used by the British government against Albanians. In March, he called the singling out of Albanian migrants a “disgraceful” moment for British politics.

“Unfortunately, we have seen ourselves and our community being singled out in this country for politics. It has been a very, very disgraceful moment for British politics,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)

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