Situation of refugees and migrants in Italy

Here you will find information and updates about the situation of refugees and migrants in Italy. 

The "Scirocco" is our brief info from Italy, inspired by the southeasterly wind that regularly blows across the Mediterranean to the north, our Scirocco brings the latest news from the south. Every two weeks we report around the topics of migration & sea rescue and the latest political and social developments in Italy.

Scirocco - News in brief 2023

Scirocco Part 1 | Scirocco Part 2 | Scirocco Part 3 | Scirocco Part 4 | Scirocco Part 5 | Scirocco Part 6 | Scirocco Part 7 | Scirocco Part 8 | Scirocco Part 9

Publications in the year 2022/23

  • La Sicilia non dimentica - La situazione dei migranti e dei rifugiati alle frontiere esterne dell’Europa”, Rapporto sul progetto 2022 (Italian)
  • Joint Press release: Landmark court ruling shows Italian coast guard and navy responsible for deaths of 268 refugees, January 2023
  • Reporting on the local elections in Sicily - June 2022: Sicily's local political line is experiencing a significant shift to the right. The election is marked by various inconsistencies and a record low election turnout.
  • Basta navi quarantena! - Marzo 2022 (Italian): March 2022: Two years after the establishment of the quarantine ships, we call on the government to put an end to the system of quarantine ships and to put in place procedures that guarantee security, the right to asylum, personal freedom and a dignified reception of persons arriving on Italian territory.
  • Privato invece di stato: L'efficacia dell’assistenza a richiedenti asilo e beneficiari di protezione in Italia

Our publications of the past years can be found here.

For any further information, please contact us via: italia@borderline-europe.de

Current projects

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Situation of refugees and migrants in Italy

Here you can find our bi-weekly Update on the situation in Italy "Scirocco - News in Brief" and further information on the situation of refugees and migrants in Italy.

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Sicily - Tunisia: monitoring, research, identification

In 2023, borderline-europe is involved in two very different MONITORING projects: "Invisible" is about the situation of refugees in Sicily. Mem.Med, on the other hand, is a cooperation project between many entities that carefully focus on the people who have not made it through the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. borderline-europe supports the project through volunteers.

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Central Mediterranean Info 2.0

borderline-europe started in March 2019 to put together information about the situation in the Central Mediterranean Sea for internal research reasons. In 2021 we decided to publish parts of the data via Social Media and on our website.

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#DayofSmuggling

With our campaign we want to intervene in the dominant criminalizing discourse about smuggling, which is pushed by EU politicians, and largely internalized by society. As long as the border regime exists, smuggling is necessary. Let's take a critical look at the politican narrativ around smuggling, and shift the focus back to the actual problem: the EU border regime. Fight borders, not smugglers!

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Criminalization of Migration & Solidarity in Italy

In the course of the collective attempt to shut down its borders, the EU uses numerous means of deterrence to prevent people from seeking safety in Europe. The criminalisation of people on the move and those who are in solidarity with them has been a widespread strategy for years. In Italy, too, people are prosecuted under the charge of "aiding and abetting unauthorised entry".

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Criminalisation of migration and solidarity

Migration and solidarity with people on the move is being increasingly criminalised. Resisting this criminalisation is a central part of our work. We research and document socio-political developments and cases of criminalisation. In doing so, we provide concrete support for those affected and inform and sensitize a broad public in the form of information materials, public events and campaigns.

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