Camplessness and the (non-)reception system: the emerging of migrant informality in northern Italy from a human rights perspective

Abstract

<p>Despite the decrease of arrivals, the routes of migration to Europe are still open and hundreds arrive every month. Italy is overstrained with the migratory influx and informal settlements are emerging as alternative shelters. While boat crossings attract attention, silence prevails over what happens in northern Italy. This article sheds light into informality in northern Italian regions and analyses the living realities from a human rights perspective. For that, an ethnographic research was conducted on the Austrian and French borders. Migrants drop and step-out of the reception system due to the congestion and the deplorable living conditions. They are exposed to violence, criminality, repression and natural hazards; they are highly mobile and suffering increasing marginalization and vulnerability. The institutional answer consists in forced evictions and transfers, leading into a vicious circle of informality. The living realities migrants encounter in Italy are not in line with fundamental human rights and contradict international law.</p><p><strong>Received</strong>: 02 January 2020<br /><strong>Accepted</strong>: 09 May 2020<br /><strong>Published online</strong>: 26 June 2020</p>

Contested Appropriations: Informal Migrant Settlements as Ambiguous Spaces Beyond Temporal Borders

“…The number could be much higher now after the strategic downsizing of the Italian asylum system during the last years. Legislative developments regulating access to protection and reception after the infamous Salvini Decree have irregularized thousands of migrants and created a mobile and disenfranchised population outside official housing structures, making "camplessness" (Benedikt, 2020) a pervasive phenomenon (Della Puppa & Sanò, 2021b;Tazzioli, 2018a, p. 29;Tondo & Giuffrida, 2018;Uzureau et al, 2022). With the recent passing of the so-called Cutro Decree that shrinks access to protection even more, the situation is estimated to further worsen (ECRE, 2023).…”

“…Despite their ubiquity, informal migrant settlements in Europe have not received much attention in camp and mobility studies and have mostly been implicitly considered (Aris Escarcena, 2018;Aru, 2021;Dembour & Martin, 2011;Fontanari, 2019;Martin et al, 2020;Menghi, 2018;Minca, 2015;Picozza, 2017;Queirolo Palmas, 2017;Tazzioli & Garelli, 2018;Tazzioli, 2018b). The existing research focusing on informality has highlighted the living conditions or the lack of shelter, but without exploring the temporal dimensions associated with the phenomenon (Alarcon et al, 2016;Benedikt, 2019Benedikt, , 2020Davies & Isakjee, 2015;Davies et al, 2019;Mendola & Busetta, 2018;Pasquetti & Picker, 2017;Sanyal, 2017).…”