Data provided by the Italian government showed that in 2021 only one in two migrants held at Italian repatriation centers was actually repatriated. Italy's National Guarantor for the Rights of Detained Persons has criticized the data.
New data released by Italy's department for public security has shown that only 49.7% of migrants detained in Italian repatriation centers in 2021 were actually repatriated, the National Guarantor for the Rights of Detained Persons said on Thursday, December 2.
The figures examined by the Guarantor showed that, from January 1 until November 15, out of a total of 4,489 foreigners who passed through Permanent Centers for Repatriation (CPR) only 2,231 were repatriated.
The figures confirmed a trend recorded over the previous two years. A reported 49% were repatriated in 2019 and 51% in 2020.
The deprivation of freedom appears "unjustified and an end in itself," the Guarantor denounced, questioning the legitimacy of a detention aimed at fulfilling an objective that is only reached in half of the reported cases.
Causes of failed repatriation
The reasons for failed repatriation were different, the Guarantor said. They included: arbitrary departures and arrests inside the CPR, both of which made up around 1%.
Also, 17% of people in CPRs were let go because they had not been identified by the end of their detention period while in 16% of cases the detention was not upheld by judicial authorities.
In addition, 84 people (nearly 2% of the total) requested international protection and 624 (14%) were released "for other reasons".
Data varied from CPR to CPR.
Percentages ranged from 88% of repatriations carried out from the center in Caltanissetta Pian del Lago or 77.7% from the one in Trapani -- both in Sicily -- to 18.9% of repatriations carried out from the CPR in Macomer, Sardinia, and 18.1% from the one in Turin, in Piedmont.
Over half of those who went through repatriation centers (55%) were from Tunisia, 10.5% from Egypt, 7.3% from Morocco, 4.3% from Albania, 3.7% from Nigeria.
Out of 2,231 repatriations this year, the majority (72%) were carried out towards Tunisia, 259 towards Egypt, 142 towards Albania, 53 to Romania, 30 to Georgia.