WHAT RESPONSES TO PROTECTION SEEKERS? THE ITALIAN WAY (BETWEEN FALLS AND ASCENDS)
RESPOND Policy Brief [2020/9]
Authors: Prof. Dr. Veronica Federico, Dr Paola Pannia - University of Florence
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
After decades of emigration, Italy has become the gateway to the European Union and a destination country itself. However, Italian government’s attempts to manage sizeable migration flows did not result in an efficient national system of migration governance. Conversely, mirroring a broader European trend, the Italian response has increasingly followed a security-based and regressive approach, culminated in 2018 with the Salvini Decree (No. 113/2018).
The Decree introduced a number of restrictions, further narrowing down the legal entry channels in the country. Amongst those restrictions, the abrogation of the “humanitarian permit and the exclusion of asylum seekers from the national reception system (the so-called SPRAR) where the measures most strongly affecting people’s lives.
The “humanitarian protection” was a national protection status granted to those who were not eligible for international protection but endangered by “serious reasons of humanitarian nature” (art. 5, Legislative Decree No. 286/1998). The Salvini Decree replaced the humanitarian protection (which had a quite broad spectrum of application) with a set of temporary, more restrictive, legal statuses: a) “special protection” grounded on the principle of non-refoulement; b) severe medical issues; c) environmental disasters; d) acts of particular civil value; e) “special cases” targeting victims of trafficking, labour exploitation and domestic violence.
With reference to the second measure, the System of Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (SPRAR), managed by local authorities in cooperation with the third sector, used to offer asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection accommodation in small housing units, care and a range of services from “day one”, such as cultural mediation, Italian language courses, vocational training, internship and job placement programmes, provided by trained staff. It was considered a best practice: immigrants’ reception in small centres, decentralised in local communities spread across the countries, and monitored at central level, proved opportune in favouring the integration process while also benefitting the “hosting society”. The Salvini Decree, in renaming the system into SIPROIMI and cutting its funds with obvious implications for the quality and quantity of services provided, excluded asylum seekers form the beneficiaries. From the entering into force of the new law, pending the refugee status determination process, asylum seekers had to be accommodated in large reception centres (so-called CAS – “extraordinary reception centres”), where often poor standard of care and inadequate services were provided.
These measures were juxtaposed to a “closed port” policy and the criminalization of the search and rescues operations at sea carried out by non-governmental actors, which was institutionalized in 2019, when a second Salvini Decree imposed hefty fines on ships involved in search and rescue which entered the Italian ports without the ministerial permission.
Display the entire Policy Brief by clicking the button below