TIRANA, Sept. 27 – Migration is one of Europe’s biggest challenges in a generation, and there are historic lessons in Albania about how to best address these challenges, the acting head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Robert Wilton, said this week.
In his address at the opening of International Human Rights Film Festival in Albania on Monday evening, Wilton underlined the importance of all countries addressing human rights issues.
The central theme of the festival was the current migration crisis, and Wilton, who acts as the Chair of the Board of the 11th edition of the International Human Rights Film Festival, said that humanity is being challenged by the increasing number of refugees.
“Migrants and refugees include people who leave their home countries due to fear of war and persecution, victims of human trafficking or forced labour. The question for us, as citizens of the world, is this: How do we respond to the knock at the door? Does it sound like a threat, or does it sound like the appeal of fellow-humanity?” – Wilton said.
Wilton explained that Albania knows migration too well, and the country has made its answer to migrants and refugees very clear.
“This is a question that Albania knows very well, and repeatedly in history, Albania’s answer has been clear: In ancient tradition, and in the 1940s, and in the 1990s, Albania has opened the door, with bread and with salt,” Wilton said in his remarks.
He argued that countries must balance the proper defence of their borders with the “the essential defence of our values, our civilization.”
The 11th edition of the Human Rights Film Festival began on Monday and will take place until Oct. 1. The Italian documentary film “Fire at Sea” was the first to be screened at the festival. The documentary was directed by Gianfranco Rosi, winner of the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film.
