Italy’s far-right government forces migrants to leave shelters ahead of
Christmas. New law established by
Matteo Salvini abolishes ‘humanitarian protection’ status for
asylum seekers,
by Jon Stone, 12/5/18.
Migrants in Italy, including trafficking victims and
children, are being expelled from shelters in the run-up to Christmas under a
new law brought in by the country’s far-right government.
The “Salvini decree” – named after
interior minister Matteo Salvini – scraps “humanitarian protection”
status for asylum seekers and introduces new rules on who can be housed in
council-run migrant reception centres.
The new laws are part of the populist
government’s push to reduce the numbers of refugees and migrants in Italy – with other policies including
ordering the seizure of boats that rescue migrants, and restrictions on the
opening hours of “ethnic” shops.
Italian media reports that some migrants
given the now scrapped “humanitarian protection” status are being expelled from
centres across the country as the law starts to take affect.
About a quarter of those who sought
asylum in Italy in 2017 were given the designation, roughly 20,000 people, with
more than 100,000 people thought to hold it in total. It gives the right to
remain in Italy, and was usually bestowed on those who do not qualify for
refugee status but who were judged by the Italian authorities to not be safe in
their home country.
Reports of expulsions from centres
started last week. The Ansa news agency reports that 24 migrants staying at a
centre in the southeastern municipality Isola di Capo Rizzuto who had
humanitarian protection status were made to leave on Friday. About 200 others
are expected to be expelled from that centre over the coming week.
Those expelled were said to include
a young couple with a five-month-old daughter. Charities the Red Cross and
Caritas have arranged for accommodation to be provided for about 20 days for
some as a stop-gap, but the group’s future is uncertain – with most having
moved to a makeshift tent camp where about 100 migrants are living in precarious
conditions.
Under the system, new asylum seekers
will be excluded from these council-operated local receptions centres, known as
Sprar, which focus on integrating them into the community with language and job
training. There is expected to be an expansion of the use of larger,
centralised detention centres, which lack the focus on integration that the
Sprar have.
The government says the law is not
retroactive and should not affect those with an existing humanitarian
protection status. However, there have been numerous reports of expulsions of
those already in the Sprar centres – apparently those who were given
humanitarian status just before the law changed caught up in slow bureaucracy.
Mr Salvini said the changes would
lead to “more rights for the true refugees and less waste for those who are
refugees is not”. He has also said the new law means “the party is over” for
the migrants he claims are “sitting in hotels watching TV” at public expense.
The UN high commissioner’s office
has warned in a report that the law will “certainly” lead to violations of
international law. “The abolition of humanitarian protection status, the
exclusion of asylum seekers from access to reception centres focusing on social
inclusion, and the extended duration of detention in return centres and
hotspots fundamentally undermine international human rights principles, and
will certainly lead to violations of international human rights law,” the UN
office said in a statement.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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