Refugees’ Encampment in Italy

Abstract

In Italy, refugees tend to be ‘protected’ in the sense that the principle of non-refoulement is generally respected and access to the asylum procedure guaranteed. But we can hardly refer to protection in terms of emancipation. The biggest problem is not necessarily access to the asylum procedure but the following stage. Refugees are left unassisted in the sense that there is a general lack of opportunities for receiving socio-economic support and/or housing facilities even under conditions of homelessness and destitution. In full respect of the 1951 Refugee Convention, Italy accords to refugees the very same socio-economic rights guaranteed to its nationals. The problem is not simply which rights are guaranteed but how these rights are translated into practice. Many are those who find themselves under conditions of destitution, mostly because of the lack of answers, solutions or alternatives from public institutions, which tend to shift protection to private charity organizations. This situation has resulted in the emergence of a myriad of conditions of forced encampment, in the sense that a great number of refugees have resorted to their own survival strategies, including finding a place of shelter or making one by themselves.