Author
The Italian reception system for asylum applicants and beneficiaries of national/international protection is governed by Legislative Decree 142/2015 (from now on “Reception Decree”), which transposed into national law the recast Reception Directive. The model the Reception Decree initially outlined created a common reception system, articulated in different phases but centred on the Reception and Integration System (SAI) as the standard form of reception of asylum applicants. Since 2015, the regulatory text has undergone several reforms, the latest of which through law 50/2023, which inter alia once again excluded most asylum applicants from the SAI system (see Criteria and restrictions to access reception conditions) and introduces a new type of “provisional centres” (see Types of accommodation) and law 187/2024, which introduced a priority of access to reception for people rescued at sea and excluded from reception measures those who seek asylum 90 days after their irregular entry into the national territory.
The picture that emerges now is one of a reception system fragmented into different “reception” places with different reception measures to which foreign nationals are sent according to the stage of access to the asylum procedure, or to the way they enter the territory, or to their psychophysical conditions.
The reception system is therefore now composed, on the one hand, of structures intended for those seeking international protection, i.e. centres for identification and aid purposes (hotspots), government reception centres, temporary centres (CAS) and provisional temporary centres (CASP) and, on the other hand, of structures of the SAI system, where only holders of international or national protection will be able to access, in addition to unaccompanied foreign minors, asylum seekers identified as vulnerable and asylum seekers who entered Italy legally through government resettlements or humanitarian corridors.
It should be noted that the Government extended the state of emergency “as a consequence of the exceptional increase in the flows of migrant people entering the national territory via the Mediterranean migratory routes” from October 2024 to April 2025.[1]
Accommodation for people escaping the Ukrainian conflict
See Annex on Temporary Protection.
Financing, coordination and monitoring
Financing
Research carried out by Openpolis showed that reception funds belong to the “mission no. 27” of expenditure, dedicated to “immigration, reception and guarantee of rights”.[2]
This mission is divided into three programs, each assigned to a different Ministry. The program including funds for reception is no. 2, attributed to the Ministry of the Interior and entitled “Migratory flows, interventions for the development of social cohesion, guarantee of rights, relations with religious denominations”. The program is allocated 1.9 billion euros, which represents almost two thirds of the entire mission (60.7%). Out of these, around 95% (or 1.8 billion) is used for activities related to asylum applicants, but the items of expenditure are very different, and not all are related to reception.
The expenditure forecast for 2021 was a total of 1.75 billion, out of which 1.068,59 million for CAS and first accommodation facilities. For 2022, the expenditure was 1,834.20 million and for 2023 it was 1,807.38 million.[3] As reported by the Senate, the MOI expenditure addressed to migrants (chapter 2351, program no. 2) provides an allocation of approximately 1,022 million euros for 2025 and 995 million for each of the years 2026 and 2027. For SAI, the resources allocated to the relevant chapter of the Ministry of the Interior’s (Chapter 2352) amount to €705.6 million for 2025.[4]
In attributing responsibility for the creation of reception centres, hotspots and CPR to the Ministry of Defence, Decree Law 124/2023 (converted into L. 162/2023) also established a specific fund, with an allocation of 20 million euros to the Ministry of Defence[5] for 2023 and authorised the expenditure of 1,000,000 euros per year[6] starting from 2024 as a contribution to the functioning of the reception and repatriation structures and of 400,000 euros for the year 2023 for the costs deriving from the establishment and functioning of the related technical structures to the preliminary stages of construction (preparation of areas, security and surveillance).
DL 133/2023 introduced a financial measure to support municipalities affected by significant and close in time arrivals of migrants on their territory providing that the waste collection connected to the activities of government centres, hotspots and to the transit of migrants in border municipalities located near the border with other EU states can be insured by the territorially competent Prefect until 31 December 2025. For this activity, the DL 133/2023 has foreseen a maximum expenditure of 500,000.00 euros for 2023 and 2,000,000.00 for each of the years 2024 and 2025.[7]
DL 145 of 18 October 2023, converted in L. 191/2023, provided for the establishment of a Ministry of the Interior fund for the reception of migrants and minors of 46,859 million euros for the year 2023[8] and authorised, for extraordinary first aid emergencies, a 1,000,000 euros expenditure for 2023.[9]
Later, the 2024 Budget Law stated that the Fund is refinanced in the amount of 172,739,236 euros for the year 2024, of 269,179,697 euros for the year 2025 and of 185,000,000 euros for the year 2026.[10]
The 2025 Budget Law[11] has provided for an increase of 200 million euros for 2025 of the MOI resources for expenses relating to migrant reception centres.
Albania
As regards the preparation of the project in Albania, the Government has estimated, for the reception provided there, an annual fee to the managing body of approximately €34 million.[12]
Furthermore, in the technical report, the estimated cost for the operation over 5 years is of approximately 653 million euros.[13]
Responding to a question time in the Chamber of Deputies on 16 October 2024, the Minister of the Interior confirmed that the funding allocation for Albanian centres consists of 134 million per year for a period of 5 years but also added that the necessary costs could prove to be higher depending on the trend of migration flows.[14]
Funding for the reception system expansion due to the Ukrainian and Afghan crisis
For the activation of 3,000 additional SAI places, initially programmed for asylum applicants from Afghanistan and later also for people fleeing from Ukraine, DL no. 139 of 8 October 2021 established an increase in the funds allocated to the National Fund for Asylum,[15] of 11,335.320 euros for 2021 and of 44,971,650 euros for each year in 2022 and 2023,[16] taken from the MOI resources relating, for the respective years, to the activation, rental and management of detention and reception centres for migrants.
Then, to face the need to accommodate Afghan nationals evacuated after the Taliban’s takeover of the country – and later similar needs for people fleeing from the Ukrainian conflict[17] – and allow for the opening of 2,000 additional SAI places, the budget Law of 30 December 2021 no 234[18] provided for an increase in the endowment of the National Fund for Asylum of 29,981.100 euros for each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024.[19]
To cover the costs for the creation of 3,000 new S.A.I. places, to be granted to people escaped from Ukraine, L 28/2022 provides for the use of a portion of the National Fund for asylum,[20] precisely: € 37,702,260 for the year 2022 and € 44,971,650 for each of the years 2023 and 2024.[21]
To cover the € 54,162,000 needed for activating new CAS and first governmental reception facilities the Fund for economic policy interventions is to be reduced.[22]
Article 44 (3) of DL 50 of 17 May 2022 converted by L. 91 of 15 July 2022, allocated € 112,749.000 for the response to displacement from Ukraine in 2022.
Moreover, the same DL authorised an expenditure of 40 million to be distributed to municipalities whose social services were most affected by the presence of temporary protection holders.[23]
To cover the former expenditure and the one related to the empowerment of the reception measures for people fleeing from Ukraine the LD states to increase the resources of the National Emergency Fund.[24]
Article 31 (4) LD 21 of 21 March 2022 provides that, until 31 December 2022, MOI resources allocated to the activation, rental and management of the reception centres are increased by an additional 7,533,750 euros, also to be allocated to the activation of new first reception centres and CAS facilities.[25]
The law also provides not to apply, for the year 2022, the provision according to which savings achieved in accommodation of migrants have to be allocated to the international cooperation fund and to the repatriation fund,[26] and authorises changes among the funds assigned to the single budget chapters under the MOI program “Migratory flows, interventions for the development of social cohesion, guarantee of rights, relations with religious confessions”.[27]
DL 145/2023, converted by L 191/2023[28] authorised the expenditure of 180 million euros for the year 2023, while L. 213 of 30 December 2023[29] (Budget Law) provided for further 274 million euros for the year 2024 dedicated to assistance activities in the national territory for the Ukrainian population.
Article 1, par. 388 of L. 213/2023 also allocated the amount of 7,650,000 euro to ensure the extension of the hosting programs already in place.
Funding for alternative forms of assistance for Ukrainian asking for temporary protection
To face the assistance measures within the total limit of 348 million euros for the year 2022, LD 21 of 21 March 2022, at Article 31, provides the possibility to draw additional resources from the National Fund for emergencies,[30] that is consequently increased.
To cover these costs, LD 21/2022 provides an increase of 40 million for 2022 and of 80 million for 2023 the fund of the Ministry of Economy and Finance fed with share of tax and contribution revenues and aimed at equalising tax measures.[31]
LD 21/2022 foresees that the expenses, including those for reception of people fleeing from Ukraine, will be covered for 2022 by the higher revenues deriving from the contributions paid by the subjects who exercise, in Italy, for the subsequent sale, the activity of production of electricity, methane gas or extraction of natural gas, and of the subjects who carry out the production activity, distribution and trade of petroleum products.[32]
Management and Coordination
The Ministry of Interior is responsible for the overall management of the national reception system,[34] while its peripheral administrations, Prefectures or Local Government Bureaus, oversee reception at the provincial level.
The law provides for a National Coordination Table to be set up at the Ministry of the Interior (Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration) and for Regional Coordination Tables to be established at every Prefecture of the regional capitals.[35] The National Table is responsible, among others, for defining the guidelines and planning the interventions aimed at optimising the reception system. This includes the criteria for regional allocation of posts to be allocated to reception. The Table develops, on a yearly basis, a national reception plan that identifies national reception needs, based on projections for new arrivals.[36]
Guidelines and programming prepared by the Table are then to be implemented at territorial level through the Regional coordination tables, which identify the location criteria for CARA and CAS facilities as well as the distribution criteria within the Region of the places to be allocated to reception purposes, taking into account the places already activated, in the territory of reference, within the SAI system. In the perspective of national coordination and multi-level governance of reception, several institutional acts have also been taken, beginning with the approval of a National Operational Plan by the Unified Conference[37] of 10 July 2014,[38] which represented a first attempt to develop a system of planning, organisation and national management of the reception of migrants and refugees. The fundamental aspect on which the implementation of the Plan was based was the progressive overcoming of the emergency-focused management that had characterised the Italian reception system until then.
In practice, at least as regards the reception of applicants and protection holders, Italian Governments have often shown both a chronic lack of foresight in terms of contingency planning on reception, as well as a tendency to centralise choices on the reception system, reducing to the minimum concertation and co-decision with other stakeholders. Proof of this is the fact that, still in 2023, not only was the Government reception system once again unprepared for the growing numbers of asylum applicants to be received – with the consequence that new centres had to be opened in a rush, while an incalculable number of people was left homeless without any assistance –[39], but also most decisions in this sense were taken by the central government, without consultation with other relevant actors.[40] These two levels influence each other: if proper multiannual planning is not carried out, coordinating with local realities, the reception system as a whole cannot be stabilised, let alone enhanced. Conversely, as the Government frequently finds itself in urgent and unforeseen need for thousands of new places, which cannot wait for the lengthy process of consulting and involving local actors.[41] The most recent example of a proposed solution to this problem is the declaration of the state of emergency of 11 April 2023 which was then extended each six months, last time from October 2024 to April 2025.[42]
According to the national Government, such measure was necessary to ensure the proper management of reception needs following disembarkations, but the Italian regions were not involved in the decision-making process. However, far from providing for a better organization of the reception system, the state of emergency allows to proceed with streamlined procedures to direct awards without all the guarantees provided for public tenders.
On 30 December 2024, the Council of State (the Italian upper Administrative Court), rejected the appeal submitted by a lawyer member of ASGI to obtain access to the documents justifying the declaration of the state of emergency.[43]
Monitoring
The legislation provides that the Ministry of Interior (Department of Civil Liberties and Immigration) is responsible for supervising and monitoring the management of reception facilities, both directly and via local Prefectures. As far as they are concerned, Prefectures may also avail themselves of the services of the social services of the relevant Municipality.[44] Monitoring activities concern the verification of the quality of the services provided, as well as the procedures for the award of reception services. While the Ministry is obliged to present the results of said monitoring activity in the comprehensive report on reception it must submit to Parliament at the latest by 30 June every year, there have been major delays recently, so much so that the 2020 report was only presented in October 2022, while the 2021 report was presented at the end of November 2022.[45]
From the most recent data available, it emerges that in 2021, 1,081 inspection controls were carried out in presence (which involved 950 facilities) and 2,224 (which involved 561 facilities) were carried out remotely. Said 3,305 controls would therefore have concerned 1,511 structures, out of a total of 4,225 structures active in 2021 (less than 36% of the total).[46] Remote monitoring was considered necessary, as was the case for 2020, as a result of distancing and isolation measures derived from the Covid-19 pandemic.[47]
Data on inspections carried out in 2022, 2023 and 2024 is not publicly available.
The issue of inspection checks on reception is characterised by a certain lack of transparency. Actionaid submitted in July 2020 a request for access to the documents concerning the inspections carried out by the Ministry of the Interior, which rejected the request on grounds of confidentiality and protection of managers. Following two appeals, only in June 2022 the Council of State ordered the Ministry of the Interior to make the 2019 data available.[48] Subsequent requests for access to the documents, relating to the years 2020 and 2021, were rejected by the Government, which denied the release of the aggregated detail of the data relating to inspections in the centres, which is necessary to be able to provide insights and analysis on the subject.
In addition to transparency issues, the subject of inspections presents at least two other important weaknesses, relating to whether the controls are actually performed and to the quality with which they are carried out.
The other key aspect regards the quality of the controls. While it is true that the specifications scheme is the common reference at national level for services, it remains an administrative tender document, which establishes only quantitative indications, and is therefore inadequate as a reference for a thorough inspection. Italian Prefectures have historically lacked a qualitative-quantitative tool aimed specifically at inspections, despite some attempts over the years,[49] as well as uniform standards of evaluation. This leads to many elements of variability and therefore of criticality. Some Prefectures have formalised the creation of permanent inspection units, while others recruit officials on a time to time availability basis. The inspection team may include only Prefecture staff, who have only administrative responsibilities, while in other occasions it is enlarged to include other responsibilities and other administrations, including for example: social workers, fire brigade, health authorities, reporting experts. Furthermore, the Prefectures’ staff is usually not trained before conducting inspections, nor are they familiar with the issues of forced migration, the right of asylum, and the handling of vulnerabilities. Finally, the presence of linguistic and cultural mediators in support of inspectors, who often do not even speak English, is extremely rare, and so it is not possible to interview the accommodated people and collect complaints, reports and needs. All this results in a very wide heterogeneity and discretion in the quality of the controls, a general inability to carry out a qualitative evaluation of the effectiveness of the services offered. Especially as Prefecture-managed centres account for almost three quarters of the total number of reception centres in Italy; this continues to be a strong limit for the entire reception system.
Decree-Law 20/2023 (Article 6) provides that, in cases where in government centres or in the CAS there is a serious breach of the obligations arising from the service contract, but concurrently said services cannot be interrupted for the protection of fundamental rights, the Prefect appoints a Commissioner for the extraordinary and temporary management of the enterprise. At the same time, the Prefect starts the procedures for the direct award of a new contract for the supply of goods and services.
As highlighted by ActionAid, the use of a generic formula such as “serious breaches” does not appear sufficiently clear in delimiting the perimeter of this intervention. Moreover, it is not clear why prefectural officials with no experience in managing social services should be better able to restore correct management nor why the law provides for the use of direct award to assign the contract again (Article 6 (3) Cutro Decree).[50]
However, as pointed out by a report by Openpolis and Actionaid published in March 2025, the information made available by the Ministry of the Interior on this point is quite limited. From the data received, the report shows that “in 2023, 13 CAS were placed under commission: 4 in the province of Verona, 7 in that of Prato and 2 in Ancona.”[51]
Among the tasks that the law assigns to the Central Service SAI, one of the most important is to carry out monitoring activities of SAI reception projects and to provide technical assistance to the local authorities sponsoring these projects.[52] Specifically, the Ministerial Decree that regulates the SAI system provides that the activities of the Central Service accompany the entire life cycle of local reception projects; among these, on-site visits to support local authorities in the application of the relevant legislation and operational instructions can be carried out, also identifying the most appropriate corrective actions to increase the quality of reception services.[53] In practice, the Central Service mainly provides technical support in the realisation and in the practical management of the reception project, providing the local authority and the managing body of the project with advice, helping in the management of the most complex cases, facilitation in interfacing with other local and national realities. This activity is very important, as it allows project staff to receive specialised support on an ongoing basis.
In addition to this, the monitoring unit of the Central Service periodically carries out on-site monitoring visits, to directly verify the progress of the reception project, the actual provision and quality of services, and the adequacy of the accommodation used. These activities are carried out by qualified and trained personnel, who deal with the qualitative monitoring of projects as their main activity. The agreement signed with the Ministry of the Interior provides that, during each year, at least one monitoring visit is to be carried out for each individual project. Officials specialised in reporting and administration, as well as officials from the Ministry of the Interior, the Prefecture, UNHCR, etc., can participate in these missions based on existing needs. The SAI monitoring visits are particularly thorough and often last several days; a typical visit includes a visit to the reception facilities involved, interviews with the hosted beneficiaries with the help of cultural-linguistic mediators, a meeting with the staff directly managing the project and a final meeting with representatives of the local authority responsible for the project. After the visit, a follow-up report is produced, containing a descriptive part of its outcome, recommendations and tips for the services’ improvement and mandatory requirements and requests for adjustment or correction, with respect to any findings on shortcomings detected during monitoring. Project managers are then given a date by which to submit their comments and provide evidence of the corrections that have been implemented. In this interlocution, which continues until a positive response is given by the Central Service, the Ministry of the Interior and the Prefecture responsible for the territory are involved. Data relating to monitoring visits carried out by the Central Service is not made public and no other information is available to the general public.
While existing legislation provides that the duty of conducting inspections regarding the entire reception system, including SAI projects, lies with the Ministry of Interior and its Prefectures,[54] in practice SAI monitoring has been carried out almost exclusively by the Central Service. In 2019, however, the Ministry gave orders to the Prefectures to carry out inspections in SAI projects (at that time SIPROIMI) pertaining to their territory of competence, “in coordination with the Central Service”.[55] Since then, however, only few Prefectures have carried out inspections in the SAI; additionally, these were often conducted in a heterogeneous manner, sometimes carrying out joint missions with the Central Service, sometimes without any contact nor coordination, while often not doing them at all, on the grounds of limited staff availability.
Civil registration
Decree Law 113/2018 repealed the rules governing civil registration (iscrizione anagrafica) of asylum applicants,[56] and stated that the residence permits issued to them were not valid titles for registration at the registry office.[57]
On 31 July 2020 the Constitutional Court declared the denial of civil registration for asylum applicants introduced by the legislative Decree 113/2018 contrary to the principle of equality enshrined in Article 3 of the Italian Constitution.[58] Subsequently, Decree Law 130/2020, amended by L 173/2020, re-introduced Article 5bis of the Reception Decree, expressly allowing asylum applicants to obtain civil registration.[59]
Civil registration is fundamental in order to obtain, after 10 years or 5 years in case refugee status is recognised, the Italian citizenship. It also gives access to some welfare measures and gives score for access to public housing.
In 2021, after the reform, not all municipalities agreed to retroactively recognise civil registration to asylum applicants who had requested it during the validity of the DL 113/2018. On this matter, in July 2023 the Civil Court of Trieste accepted the appeal submitted by an asylum applicant recognising his right to retroactively obtain civil registration.[60] The Municipality of Trieste appealed the decision the Court of Appeal of Trieste rejected its appeal, confirming the decision of the Civil Court.[61]
On the same matter, the Civil Court of Florence, on 27 July 2023, also recognise an asylum applicant the right to obtain civil registration for the period it was denied in force of the law ultimately declared contrary to the Constitution.[62]
According to the law, the applicant for international protection in possession of a residence permit for asylum request[63] or of the receipt certifying the request[64] is registered in the registry of the resident population.[65] For applicants accommodated in first reception centres, the person in charge of the centres must notify the municipality of the changes in cohabitation within twenty days from the date on which the facts occurred. Furthermore, the law states that communication of the withdrawal of reception measures or of the unjustified removal of the asylum applicant from the first reception centres and from the SAI centres constitutes a reason for immediate cancellation of the residence.[66]
As observed by some studies – even if limited to the exceptional cases of revocation of reception and unjustified removal – the provision still appears discriminatory with respect to asylum applicants, because it excludes only these categories of people from the application of the rule according to which only being unavailable for 12 months leads to cancellation. This provision can have particularly negative effects, because it is difficult for those who are removed from the reception system to immediately find other stable accommodation.[67]
After registration, asylum applicants obtain an identity card valid for three years.[68]
[1] Civil Protection Department, Note of the Council of Ministers, published on 11 November 2024, available in Italian here.
[2] Openpolis, Il ministero dell’interno e il bilancio dell’accoglienza, July 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3vP8gYP.
[3] See Senate report for the years 201-2023 available at: bit.ly/3JXhF7W.
[4] Senate, note on the 2025 Budget Law, available here.
[5] Article 21 (4) DL 124/2023 converted into L. 162/2023.
[6] Article 21 (6) DL 124/2023 converted into L. 162/2023.
[7] Article 8 DL 133/2023.
[8] Article 21 (1) DL 145/2023 converted in L 191/2023.
[9] Article 21 (7) DL 145/2023 converted in L 191/2023.
[10] Law 213/2023, Article 1 (361).
[11] Budget Law for 2025, Article 1(892) Fund for migration. See also the report from Senate, 20 December 2024, available in Italian here.
[12] See notice published on 21 March 2024 available at: bit.ly/4by66Q.
[13] Available at: bit.ly/3UWwLAM.
[14] Chamber of Deputies, question time, video available here.
[15] Article 1-septies of Legislative Decree 416/1989 converted into Law 39/1990.
[16] Article 7 DL 139/2021, as amended by Article 5 quarter DL 14/2022 converted with modification into L 28/2022.
[17] Article 5-quater (6) extended the provision also to people fleeing from Ukraine.
[18] Article 1 (390) L 234/2021 as amended by Article 5 quater (6) DL 14/2022 converted with modification into L 28/2022.
[19] Article 1-septies of Legislative Decree 416/1989 converted into Law 39/1990.
[20] Article 1-septies LD no. 416/1989.
[21] Article 5-quater (3) DL 14/2022 as modified by the conversion L 28/2022.
[22] Article 5-quater (9) DL 14/2022 as modified by the conversion L 28/2022.
[23] Article 44 (4) DL 50 of 17 May 2022 converted by L. 91 of 15 July 2022.
[24] LD 1/2018 Article 44.
[25] Article 31 (4) LD 21/2022.
[26] Article 5-quater (8) dl 14/2022 as modified by the conversion L 28/2022 which states not to apply the second sentence of Article 1(767) L 145/2018.
[27] Article 5-quater (8) dl 14/2022 as modified by L 28/2022 which refers to the budget of the Moi program belonging to the “Mission 27” “Immigration, reception and guarantee of rights”, to be adopted pursuant to article 33, paragraph 4, of the law 31 December 2009, n. 196. The Mission 27 expending has been reported by the Senate in the publication Una analisi per missioni, programmi e azioni: la pubblica amministrazione, l’ordine pubblico e l’immigrazione available at: https://bit.ly/3uYeQwG. More in general, regarding funds addressed to the reception system, see also Openpolis at: https://bit.ly/3vP8gYP.
[28] Article 21 (9) DL 145/2023 converted in L 191/2023.
[29] Article 1 (389) amending Article 21 (9) DL 145/2023.
[30] Article 31 (4) LD 21/2022, which refers to the fund ruled by Article 44 LD 1/ 2018.
[31] Article 38 LD 21/2022 which refers to the fund ruled by Article 1 quarter DL 137/ 2020 converted into L 176/2020.
[32] Article 38 (2) and Article 37 LD 21/2022.
[33] L. 213/2023, art. 1, par. 391, available at: https://bitly.cx/MRGtN.
[34] The management and supervision of the entirety of the reception system are entrusted in particular to the Central Directorate of Immigration and Asylum Civil Services.
[35] The National Coordination Table is established pursuant to Article 29(3) of Legislative Decree 251/2007 (transposition of the recast Qualification Directive). As regards the reception, its duties are regulated by Article 9(1) and 16 of the Reception Decree, by Ministerial Decree 16 October 2014 and by the National Agreement of the Unified Conference of 10 July 2014.
[36] This plan was developed only once, in 2016, and has been largely unapplied. Source: MoI, Piano Accoglienza 2016, available at: https://bit.ly/3UaCv81.
[37] The Unified Conference (Conferenza Unificata) is a permanent body where the Central Government, Regions, Provinces and Municipalities are represented. It participates in decision-making processes involving matters for the State and the Regions, in order to foster cooperation between the State activity and the system of autonomies, examining matters and tasks of common interest, also carrying out advisory functions.
[38] The text of the agreement is available at: https://bit.ly/3Kq3ZDx.
[39] See Altreconomia, Scarsa programmazione, posti vuoti e persone al freddo: così ai migranti è negata l’accoglienza, 8 February 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3ZFHJe5.
[40] Concerning the poor use of coordinating tables, see ANCI, Biffoni: “Ampliare capienza rete Sai per minori e riattivare tavolo di coordinamento”, available at: https://bit.ly/3Lk9gxc.
[41] On the topic, see: Campomori and Ambrosini, Multilevel governance in trouble: the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception in Italy as a battleground, in Comparative Migration Studies, (2020) 8:22, available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00178-1. Campomori, Asylum seekers reception policies in Italy: Weaknesses and contradictions, in Politiche Sociali, 2018, available at: https://doi.org/10.7389/91920.
[42] Civil Protection Departiment, Note of the Council of Ministers, published on 11 November 2024, available in Italian here. According to the Civil Protection Code, Law no. 1/2018, the state of emergency cannot be extended beyond 24 months (Article 24 (3) Law 1/2018).
[43] Council of State, Decision no. 10434/2024, appeal no. 05706/2024.
[44] Article 20(1) Reception Decree.
[45] The 2020 and 2021 reports available at: https://bit.ly/3y8bRCN.
[46] The information made public by the Ministry in its reports to Parliament does not reach such a level of detail that it is possible to determine which structures have been visited and how many inspections, if any, have been repeated on the same structures. Moreover, it is not possible to understand how many of them have been carried out directly by the Ministry, how many by the Prefectures and how many by the officials of the SAI Central Service. Furthermore, the Government’s report deals exclusively with the controls carried out under Article 20, while there is little to none evidence about any other kind of controls, e.g. by health authorities, EU/international organisations (UNHCR, IOM, EUAA…), or as part of court proceedings.
[47] See Circular Letter Ministry of Interior, n. 12498, 26 June 2020.
[48] For data about inspection controls in 2019, see ActionAid, Centri d’Italia, Report 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3Je6et6.
[49] The reference is to the AMIF funded M.I.Re.Co. project (Monitoring and Improvement of Reception Conditions). The project’s aim was to carry out a significant number of monitoring visits in reception centres of all kinds, throughout Italy, and to develop guidelines and standard qualitative-quantitative monitoring tools. The project took place between May 2017 and the end of 2019, but the Government has never made public neither the guidelines nor the results of the around 3,000 monitoring visits that have been supposedly carried out. Only a small part of this data has been made available in the Report on the operation of the reception system designed to meet extraordinary needs connected with the exceptional influx of foreigners into the country (year 2017), August 2018, available at: https://bit.ly/3MyqffW.
[50] Actionaid, “Il decreto Cutro e il commissariamento dei centri di accoglienza”, available at: bit.ly/3JZryBV.
[51] Centri d’Italia, accoglienza al collasso, Report 2024, Openpolis, Actionaid, March 2025, available here.
[52] Article 1-sexies (4 and 5) Decree Law 416/1989, converted with amendments into Law 39/1990, as last amended by Decree Law 130/2020, converted with amendments into Law 173/2020.
[53] Ministry of Interior Decree 18 November 2019.
[54] Article 20(1) Reception Decree.
[55] See Circular Letters from MoI DCLI no. 6021 of 23 May 2019 and no. 12246 of 12 July 2019.
[56] Article 5-bis Reception Decree was repealed by Article 13 Decree Law 113/2018 and L 132/2018.
[57] Article 4(1-bis) Reception Decree, inserted by Article 13 Decree Law 113/2018 and L 132/2018.
[58] Decision no. 186/2020 of 31 July 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2SCXDbl.
[59] Article 5 bis Reception Decree.
[60] Civil Court of Trieste, decision of 31 July 2023, available at: bit.ly/3wIdfyP.
[61] Court of Appeal of Trieste, decision of 25 June 2024.
[62] Civil Court of Florence, decision of 27 July 2023, case no. 476/2023.
[63] Article 4 (1) Reception Decree.
[64] Article 4 (3) Reception Decree.
[65] Article 5 bis (1) Reception Decree, re-introduced, with amendments, by Decree Law 130/2020 and L 173/2020.
[66] Article 5 bis (3) Reception Decree.
[67] See: L’Iscrizione anagrafica dei richiedenti asilo e dei protetti internazionali, Paolo Morozzo della Rocca, in Immigrazione, protezione internazionale e misure penali, Pacini Giuridica, 2021.
[68] Article 5 bis (4) introduced by Decree Law 130/2020.