In these days marked by this global medical emergency, the most vulnerable people get into difficulties independently from their living conditions or nationality. Some are even more subject to precariousness, often because of the lack of care from the government. In Italy, this is the case of foreigners, especially asylum seekers, refugees and people who don’t live in a reception centre or are homeless: they are in danger because of a reception system that has become more and more rigid and centralized.
For these reasons, the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull’Immigrazione (Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration; ASGI) launched an appeal, subscribed by many associations that defend migrants and asylum seekers rights, to governmental institutions. The appeal asks to treat with dignity foreign people in Italy awaiting judgement from asylum commissions or judges and homeless. Living in the enormous facilities wanted by the last governmental measures or being homeless, their sanitary, living and social conditions expose these people to a greater risk of infection. This danger increases obviously for people who get in touch or work with them.
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Ensure safety and dignity
Almost one hundred Italian associations, including Il Grande Colibrì, signed the document to demand the closure of all the medium and large reception centres and the enhancement of the decentralised reception system that in recent years gave better results and guaranteed greater security. They also demand the restoration of freedom of movement for work, given that many facilities denied it without a valid reason.
Moreover, they demand reception even for those who have a residence permit but are currently excluded from reception centres, and for homeless people who live in unsafe conditions. Following the instructions given by the Ministry of Health last July, it is necessary to guarantee these people’s sanitary rights, that are often denied or delegated to the good heart of healthcare professionals or voluntary associations.
It is also necessary to suspend the expulsion procedures, to stop for at least six months or one year the yet decided expulsions from the reception centres and to extend residency permits that are about to expire or already expired in last weeks. It’s also essential to suspend any further entry to the medium and large reception centres, that, in addition to the critical issues already reported in the past, could be a source of sanitary risk for who lives and works there. Lastly, the associations demand a safe harbour where asylum seekers rescued at sea will be allowed to disembark, even in the absence of an agreement for their redistribution within Europe.
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New immigration laws
The appeal concerns also the post-emergency period. The associations demand to the revision of the current rules: “It is important to remember that foreign citizens, organizations and movements that defend human rights have been long waiting for two fundamental interventions by the legislator. As we know, the so-called “Security Decrees”, issued by the former government, have drastically worsened the legal discipline of immigration policies: many foreign citizens and supportive organizations have mobilized to their repeal.
“Additionally, the Commission for Constitutional Affairs is considering a reform, awaited for almost thirty years, of the rules for the acquisition of Italian citizenship. In these days, the interventions of the legislator and the executive aim at containing the effects of the epidemic: as soon as we will overcome this crisis and the parliamentary work will come to normality, it is necessary to discuss the reform of the immigration discipline.”
Michele Benini
translation by Alessandra Desiderio
©2020 Il Grande Colibrì
images: elaboration from 1680898 (CC0) / Il Grande Colibrì
