A/HRC/20/24/Add.1 appeal and provisions on interpretation and legal representation – have improved the legal framework. Nevertheless, shortcomings in law and practice remain. 56. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that persons in need of international protection may not be adequately informed of their right to seek asylum as guaranteed by article 1 of the Law on Asylum. At border crossing points, foreigners are asked if they wish to seek asylum during the pre-screening procedure. Yet several border police officers who met with the Special Rapporteur were of the view that many undocumented foreigners were in Albania solely in transit in their quest to reach the European Union with no interest of staying in Albania, including through asylum. The Special Rapporteur is therefore concerned that many protection claims may go undocumented. 57. Additional challenges observed by the Special Rapporteur include a shortage of available interpreters, a lack of pre-screening forms in the relevant languages and an absence of legal expertise on migration and asylum matters among Albanian lawyers. The limited institutional capacity of the Department of Citizenship and Refugees – restricted by law to three staff members responsible for asylum applications (Law on Asylum, art. 17, para. 1) – to handle asylum claims was also brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention. These limitations have a direct negative impact on the right to seek and be granted asylum. He also learned that the time frame of 51 days for consideration of asylum claims is rarely met and that six months is the average period for refugee determination. 58. The Special Rapporteur visited the National Reception Centre for Asylum-seekers in Babrru, Tirana. While the centre is intended solely for asylum-seekers pending consideration of their requests, at the time of the visit half of the 40 residents were refugees. He learned that one asylum-seeker had lived in the centre since 2004, now with refugee status. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the right of refugees to housing and shelter 42 has not been adequately implemented. In this regard, he notes with concern that the project on housing and shelter (“Help for shelter” project) for refugees may be in jeopardy subsequent to the reduced funding by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, leaving the Government with sole responsibility for its implementation. The Special Rapporteur considers the review of the Law on Family Reunification and Integration offers a good opportunity to thoroughly revisit State support and assistance provided to refugees. B. Detention of migrants in an irregular situation 59. The law and practice in Albania relative to the detention of migrants in an irregular situation is a matter of serious concern to the Special Rapporteur. Articles 79, paragraph 1, and 80 of the Law on Foreigners stipulate detention in a closed centre – as an administrative measure – for foreigners with orders of removal, removal by force or expulsion and for foreigners readmitted on the basis of international agreements. The law also sets out that State authorities may, for reasons of public security, detain a foreigner whose identity or reasons for the stay are not clear (art. 79, para. 3). In application of the law, the closed detention centre in Kareç – constructed primarily with funding from the European Union – opened in April 2010 and is keeping a growing number of detainees: 227 in 2011 compared to 32 in 2010.43 In order of numbers, detainees come primarily from Morocco, Afghanistan, Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia and Somalia – often after passing through Turkey and Greece. 42 43 See Law on Family Reunification and Integration and Law on Asylum, art. 12 (rights of refugees). Lista e personave te akomoduar be qendren e mbyllur per te huaj per vitin 2010, 2011, information provided to the Special Rapporteur by the Kareç Closed Detention Centre, 12 December 2011. 17