CIVICUS discussed Italy’s restrictive immigration policies with a researcher from FIERI (Forum Internazionale ed Europeo di Researche sul’Immigratione), and member of the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration (ASGI), an Italian legal organization that protects the rights of migrants and asylum seekers through advocacy, public awareness and strategic litigation.
In late February, Italy’s migration debate intensified on two fronts. The government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni passed a bill tightening maritime border controls and expanding deportation powers. Meanwhile, a far-right petition calling for ’emigration’ – a concept associated with Austrian activist Martin Sellner who advocates mass deportation of minorities – collected enough signatures to force a parliamentary debate. Civil society has warned that both developments violate international refugee law.
What are the main objectives of the new migration bill?
The Bill introduces a 30-day naval blockade mechanism for ships deemed to pose a ‘serious threat to public order or national security’, which can be extended by up to six months, including on the grounds of ‘exceptional migratory pressure’. It goes beyond the European Union (EU) framework and is designed to restrict civil society organizations conducting search and rescue operations.
The blockade is actually a ban on entering Italian waters, and ships violating it will face fines of up to €50,000 (about US$57,000), with repeat violators facing confiscation. Since civil society rescue ships are the only ships that make multiple trips in and out of Italian waters, they are the primary target. It is not just a border management tool; This is a deliberate increase in state control over maritime arrivals.
More importantly, this bill will make Italy-Albania Protocol Permanent: Migrants intercepted at sea will be taken directly to Italian-run processing centers in Albania, completely bypassing Italian mainland ports. Their asylum claims will be determined outside Italy’s jurisdiction. Because they never reach Italian soil, they do not have access to Italian legal protection or independent judicial review. The Government is committed to using this mechanism. There were only 10 to 15 people in Albanian facilities due to adverse court rulings, but the government recently increased transfers to about 80.
How does the bill change asylum and border management practices?
The bill focuses on criminalization, deportation, and removal rather than asylum procedures. It introduces stricter rules for immigration detention centers (Centri di Permanenza per i Rempatri, CPR), expands the grounds for removal to include minor criminal convictions and increases criminal penalties for people facing removal. This effectively criminalizes the irregular situation itself.
Crucially, the bill eliminates special protection, a form of national protection that Italian courts often recognize for people who do not meet narrow refugee criteria but face serious risks if returned. This has been one of the few remaining meaningful paths to legal status. Strict eligibility criteria will reduce judicial discretion, leading to more people getting trapped in legal irregularities.
Finally, the bill implements the EU Treaty on Migration and Asylum, a package of EU laws overhauling asylum and border procedures across the bloc, which member states must transpose by June 12. It does this through legislative delegation, giving the government wide discretion to implement measures by decree. Italy’s approach is the most restrictive possible. The Albania externalization model is the primary mechanism, prioritizing rapid expulsion rather than thorough investigation. Changes to asylum procedures would be determined through executive action with limited parliamentary scrutiny.
What is migration and why is it related to civil society?
Immigration is a white supremacist concept that calls for the forced removal of immigrants, refugees, and their descendants, including legal residents and naturalized citizens, based on ethnicity, race, or perceived failure to ‘assimilate’. It targets people based on who they are, not what they have done, violating the non-discrimination principle that underpins human rights law and the rule of law.
What makes this dangerous is that migration has moved from the fringes to the mainstream political discourse. A far-right petition on migration recently collected enough signatures to force a parliamentary debate. When such concepts gain mainstream legitimacy, they push other parties toward increasingly restrictive policies. Italy’s current bills move in exactly the same direction.
From a legal perspective, migration violates international human rights conventions and the Constitution of Italy, which guarantees non-discrimination and solidarity. A policy based on ethnic or racial identity would also be incompatible with Italy’s international obligations.
Where do these measures conflict with international law?
These measures create serious tensions with several binding legal instruments: the 1951 Geneva Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and EU primary law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Extended administrative detention in Italy and Albania risks becoming arbitrary where the legal basis is insufficiently precise or subject to insufficient judicial review. The conditions documented in the Italian CPR and the conditions estimated in the Albanian centers expose people to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. The externalization model creates a direct risk of violating the non-return principle, leading to a complete ban on people returning to places where they face persecution.
The government will argue that these measures are consistent with EU treaties. But coordination with the Convention does not guarantee compatibility with the ECHR or the Geneva Conventions. ASGI will respond to litigation through individual cases and strategic cases targeting CPR detention and the Italy-Albania deal and documentation of the human costs of these policies.
What risks do these policies pose to the rights of migrants and asylum seekers?
Under the proposed law, Italy would stop boats and transfer rescued migrants to extraterritorial centers without assessing their health condition, protection needs or vulnerabilities. Victims of persecution, torture and trafficking may never have the opportunity to present their claims or be recognized as in need of protection.
The bill criminalizes irregular migrants by allowing both administrative detention in CPR and criminal confinement in prisons, a dual-track approach that multiplies the risk of fundamental rights violations and abusive conditions. Detention is already described as dangerous in the current CPR. Conditions in Albanian centers with minimal monitoring and no independent monitoring will predictably worsen.
The result is a system designed to act quickly on people rather than precisely. Trafficking victims, survivors of torture and people with serious mental health conditions – the people most in need of careful assessment and legal assistance – are less likely to be identified and protected. Compressed deadlines and limited access to lawyers amount to a serious restriction on the right to effective judicial protection.
CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in the interviews are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the views of Civicus. Publication does not imply endorsement of the interviewees or the organizations they represent.
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See also
Migration: cruelty as policy Civicus | 2026 State of Civil Society Report
Greece: ‘New migration and asylum policies challenge fundamental principles of refugee protection and the European legal order’ Civicus Lens | Interview with Minos Mouzourakis 26 September 2025
Italy: ‘No migration policy should be based on fear and punishment’ Civicus Lens | Interview with Valeria Carlini 17.November.2024
© Inter Press Service (20260402165043) – All rights reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service
