THE UNAMENDABLE, IDEOLOGICAL, DANGEROUS AND LITTLE INTELLIGENT THINKING OF SALVINI

Doctors for Human Rights (Medu) evaluate the Salvini law on security and immigration in an extremely negative way. An ideological and dangerous provision but above all not very smart because it will hinder integration and increase insecurity.

Many critical points, among which we want to highlight some more directly related to Medu's medical humanitarian action.

1) Restriction of the reception system. Asylum seekers will be excluded from the Sprar system for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees, which will be restricted only to those already in possession of international protection or to unaccompanied foreign minors. In this way, a system recognized at international level has been reduced, which has guaranteed in these years virtuous welcome and integration paths in favor of emergency reception centers (such as the Cass) characterized in many cases by inadequate services and by poorly transparent management. In other words, what works in favor of what does not work is dismantled. Aspect of extreme gravity, all vulnerable categories of asylum seekers such as victims of trafficking or torture or people with mental health problems will remain excluded from the reception in the Sprar centers. According to data collected on thousands of migrants from Medu in the last four years (see the Exodus webmap http://esodi.mediciperidirittiumani.org/), 90% of those who disembark in Italy from the coasts of North Africa survived traumas extremes in the country of origin and along the migratory route (especially in Libya): torture, forced labor and very serious abuse. It is shown that precisely the timely identification of people with physical and mental problems caused by torture allows effective rehabilitation paths. Outside of the Sprar and in the emergency centers this will be increasingly difficult with negative consequences from the point of view of individual and public health, health expenditure and integration.

2) Exclusion from the registry of asylum seekers. Article 13 of the decree provides that asylum seekers can not be registered at the registry office and can not therefore access the residence. A further punitive measure against asylum seekers and that seems to have an exclusive ideological matrix: since most of the asylum seekers are not "real" refugees they do not deserve rights.

3) Abolition of humanitarian protection. The "humanitarian reasons" disappeared, replaced by the granting of the residence permit for some "special cases" such as "exceptionally serious health conditions" or "situation of contingency or exceptional calamity of the country where the foreigner should return". This provision also aimed at eroding the rights of one of the most vulnerable parts of our society and fueling irregularities and social hardship.

4) Extension of detention in the CPRs The maximum time for detention of foreigners within the repatriation residence centers (CPR), ex Cie, is doubled from 90 days to 180 days. It has been amply demonstrated (see the Archipelago Cie report of Doctors for Human Rights, 2013 http://www.mediciperidirittiumani.org/pdf/ARCIPELAGOCIEsintesi.pdf) that the extension of the maximum time of detention in the CIE (which was even brought to 18 months from 2011 to 2014) did not lead to any significant improvement in the percentage of returnees. As also recognized by those who managed the CIE, if the identification and repatriation of a foreigner do not take place in the first 3 months of detention it is then extremely difficult to happen later. The provision then assumes a purely punitive purpose against the foreigner, a purpose completely unrelated to the administrative detention which is the detention within a CPR. It has also been shown that detention within the CIE (of which the CPRs are the mere prosecution under another name), especially for such prolonged periods, does not guarantee respect for the dignity and fundamental rights of persons interned.

Due to the serious distortions that it introduces in the management of a complex phenomenon like that of migration, the Salvini decree appears to be inexhaustible. Doctors for Human Rights therefore appeals to the political forces and to all the parliamentarians who care about the civil progress of our country so that this DL on security and immigration is not converted into the law of the Italian Republic.