Centro Astalli report highlights challenges to asylum in Italy

Rome: Migrants are ever more discriminated against and the right to asylum is “disappearing” for refugees, according to a report issued on April 18 in Rome by Centro Astalli, the Jesuit service for refugees in Italy.

In a report, the Centro Asalli noted that migrants in Italy are increasingly subjected to discrimination, facing “restrictive, dissuasive, and punitive policies regarding departures [towards the EU], culminating in the deportation agreement with Albania.”

The Jesuit association also highlighted 2023 as the deadliest year on record for migrants attempting to reach the EU via Mediterranean routes. In 2023 alone, 8,541 individuals lost their lives worldwide, with 3,105 dying or disappearing in the Mediterranean Sea during attempted crossings.

These findings were presented in the annual report released on April 18 in Rome by Centro Astalli, the Jesuit service for refugees in Italy.

The report condemns policies that seriously jeopardize human rights. It criticizes political responses to tragedies, such as increased efforts to counter humanitarian rescue missions, economic agreements aimed at deterring arrivals, and stricter access rules for asylum seekers in Europe, which endanger the rights of those fleeing persecution and violence.

“The burdensome strategy of the outsourcing of [control of] borders, combined with the practice of pushbacks and illegal expulsions, alongside brutal and coercive methods used along European routes, have as their consequence that hundreds of thousands of people are imprisoned in between,” the report added.

To this is added, the report said, the “disappearing of the right to asylum” due to “bureaucratic procedures” and “administrative measures” made ever more complex over the years, bona fide “labyrinths” that effectively prevent or excessively burden asylum seekers.

According to the report, “reception is being transformed from a right to a concession,” exacerbated by a lack of investment in inclusion initiatives.

Camillo Ripamonti, the priest and chairman of Centro Astalli, criticized the prevalence of urgent decrees in 2023, which he described as a simplistic approach that fails to address the needs of individuals.

In describing the difficulties, traumas, and vulnerabilities faced. by migrants and refugees at all levels, from healthcare to housing, Ripamonti noted that “out of a total of 235 people received by Centro Astalli in Rome, one out of every six has been the victim of torture and violence and one out of every five suffers from health problems.”