European Reintegration Networking

Country report: Italy

ICS- Italian Consortium of Solidarity
Via Salaria , 89
00198 Roma
+39/(0)685355081 phone
+39/(0)685355083 fax
icsuffroma@tin.it 
lelli.ics@tin.it 
www.mir.it/ics 

Verfasser/in:  Anna Lisa Lelli

The Italian situation is characterized by a substantial absence of a national policy or guideline for return and reintegration programs.

At the institutional level (Public organisations) active subjects of migratory policies are

1. Ministry of Interior (Immigration Section) – Manages all issues related to the status of refugees, asylum seekers, and temporary humanitarian protection.
2. Department of Social Policies and Social Security (associated with Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs) – Coordinates social integration policies regarding immigrants, manages resources assigned to migration policies, and maps the organizations dealing with immigrants.
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Deals with issues regarding development policies, humanitarian aid, and relief.

Those same  authorities in charge of controlling migratory policies are also funding projects related to assistance, integration  and re integration. Projects are implemented by several associations  and non governmental organisations operating both a national and local level.

At the non-governmental level in Italy there are many NGOs working in local programs with refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

Some of them are: ICS-Italian Consortium of Solidarity ,Lunaria, Comunità di Sant’ Egidio, Migrantes, ASGI, Caritas, ARCI, Italian Council for Refugees, Jesuit Refugee Service and Centre Astalli.

In Italy, there are only some non-coordinated activities/programs of return financed by the Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs for specific beneficiary groups.

Target groups of returnees

The beneficiaries of the programs of return and reintegration are denied asylum seekers who are without a legal status or possibilities of integration in Italy, refugees,  victims of trafficking ( especially women ) and also a very big group of unaccompanied minors.

---With  regard to the activities concerning repatriation  and reintegration of  asylum seekers, refugees andvictims of trafficking the IOM-International Organization for Migration has  an almost exclusive role in dealing with returnees  and their integration within the origin country.

This intergovernmental agency can be considered as the exclusive partner of the Italian Government with regard to supervised returns, voluntary repatriations ( voluntary return programmes) of all those who are legally  present on the Italian territory and desire to go back to their country of origin or are forced to do that because they cannot be considered as legal sojourners.

Despite every years thousands of people arrive in Italy seeking asylum , Italy  is the only EU member State without a law on the right of asylum and humanitarian protection. According to this situation , the National Programme for Asylum was created in July 2001. Promoted by the Ministry of Interior , UNHCR and ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities), this programme constituted a main passage for the construction of a national system of shelter and tutelage for refugees and asylum seekers. The National Programme for Asylum has three main objectives:

1. Creation and management of a national system of shelter, assistance and tutelage of displaced persons, asylum seekers and refugees;
2. Adoption of special measures direct to the integration of refugees and displaced persons;
3. Arrangement of a national mechanism for the voluntary repatriation and reintegration in the country of origin.

Within this last context the co-operation between the Italian NGOs and the IOM acts on three particular levels:

1. voluntary repatriation cases are reported by the IOM (in this phase local authorities, individuals, police stations etc. are active too);
2. data collection of all reception activities, integration measures and assistance to repatriation and re-integration of the Displaced Persons national level and in the countries of origin (Balkan area).
3. IOM is assisted by the Italian NGOs whereby those ones have already started development programmes in the countries of origin of the migrants.

Briefly, the return activity for asylum seekers and refugees is directly managed by IOM while sometimes the reintegration activities and those related to the monitoring are implemented in collaboration with local or international NGO’s already working in the area.

--- With regard to the situation of  unaccompanied foreign minors in Italy, we can easily underline that this phenomenon, now increasing at national level, is characterized by particular aspects which do not seem to be confirmed in any other European Countries. At the end of the 2001 about 14.000 minors have been signalled to The Committee for Foreign Minors ( a specific Committee  for the protection of foreign minors created by the Department of Social Affairs in 1999); most of them come from Albania, Morocco, Romania and an increasing number  from Moldova.

The Committee is supported (since the beginning) by the International Social Service in the repatriation and reintegration activities of unaccompanied foreign minors.

ICS-Italian Consortium of Solidarity is currently working ( since April 2001)  in a project “ For the assistance to unaccompanied  foreign minors coming from the Balkans and the possible voluntary assisted repatriation aimed at their social reintegration in the context of origin” Ics in order to support the Committee, is in charge of:

1. Family enquires management: ICS has the role to verify the  personal data of any minor and his parents -  analyse  the social context of the family- represent their real  situation- try to  understand the reasons of the minor's emigration-  screen the real chances of repatriation as regards  as the objective condition of their life;
2. Repatriation management: after the family enquires  and  as the Committee requires, ICS has to manage the minor reunion with his family  in the country of origin. From this point , ICS has  to  create  and manage a  micro project for the minor :local assistance activities   which  can  lead the minor towards a positive and profitable reintegration in his country ( training course, job opportunities, education grants, apprenticeship and so on). The reintegration project is measured and calibrate on the minor, on his aptitudes, capacities and expectations.

The repatriation  covers any useful activities for obtaining documents and authorizations from  the authorities( Italian and origin country authorities)  for the  return of the minor (an Italian operator also accompanies the minor from Italy to his Country , to his family)

 Difficulties, faced in the implementation of the repatriation projects, have underlined a great mistrust against the reintegration projects. In particular minors are so biased against the chance to return, and this feeling has  led them to see this chance as a imposition. They are mistrustful with regard to their own countries:  they totally misunderstand the idea of a profitable return into their own countries: they do not understand that a  return could be a chance to contribute to the development of their own countries. Therefore the reaction to the projects  is usually  refusal and escape.

The ICS view has been influenced by:

1. how much  individual reintegration projects could be sustainable;
2. the need of making different chances of reintegration clear and known by minors and operators of reception centres;
3. the need of bringing  out and improving the local existing resources;
4. the awareness that first phases of the return and reintegration project must be valuated with the minor while he’s in Italy  and he ‘s still hosted in the centre.

So some new activities have been included in the project as:

1. a pilot project in Valona ( Albania).  Briefly the activities:
   • list of the existing resources in  Valona and surroundings;
   • identifying and implementation of a valid technical tool suitable for the start-up and the consolidation of  a micro-enterprise
   • setting up of a  micro enterprise
2. Beside the pilot project:
3. Training course for the local operator concerned
4. Capacity building of local institutions
5. Measures of prevention – through the Youth Centres in Albania: information services in the school , seminars  with families, teachers and children; production , promotion and diffusion of videos and any other material on the minor migration phenomenon, the Italian legislation, ICS activities and so on.
6. Training course and seminars for the staff of the Italian municipalities concerned and for the social assistants and educators of the reception centres.

Relations with the last category  have shown the need of a tighter linkage between the Italian and country of origin situation. There’s a big gap  between the activities implemented in Italy , in the reception centres , and the activities of who manages return and reintegration projects. Quite often the repatriation is seen as an expulsion from the  social assistant and from the staff of the reception centres. Quite often they do not know that after a repatriation there’s a social and economic reintegration program calibrated on the minor, on his aptitudes, capacities and expectations. Quite often they do not completely know the situation of the countries of origin and the reasons for which a minor decides to emigrate.

Currently, there are other five NGOs trying to work with the social and economic reintegration of unaccompanied minors. They are: AiBi, Cefa, Lva, Vis and Engim.

Difficulties to work with return programs.

Previously, Italy is still the only country in the EU without an organic law on asylum. The new Immigration law ( Bossi - Fini law) which has come into effect last September does not provide an organic rules and regulations  on asylum.

• Italian law does not provide for any national reintegration policy and measures.
• Large increase of unaccompanied minors entering Italy (beginning early 90s).
• Severe difficulties and discord between the civil society, NGOs and government in relation to the return and reintegration of unaccompanied minors.
• Lack of coordination between the activities implemented in Italy and those implemented in the countries of origin in relation to unaccompanied minors (There’s a big gap  between the activities implemented in Italy , in the reception centres , and the activities of who manages return and reintegration projects). It  would be necessary a mechanism which makes the minor tutelage as it was a double and parallel process; only in this way- involving both origin and destination countries, Italy can guarantees an effective protection.