Close to 27,000 asylum requests were filed in Italy in 2020 – 39% fewer than in 2019, according to the Italian Refugee Council. Roughly three in four asylum requests examined by Italian authorities were rejected.
Five new shelters that will house migrant and refugee families and minors are to open in Ventimiglia, in northern Italy. The centers will also host Italians who are in need.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) and the Italian housing union SUNIA have published a guide in Italy to help refugees find housing and inform them about their rights and obligations in relation to rentals and contracts.
Eight Syrian refugees arrived in Rome from Lebanon on Monday through the humanitarian corridors organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, the Federation of Protestant Churches and the Italian government.
In Italy, the number of residents and places at CAS migrant reception centers decreased significantly following the enactment of the 'migration and security decree' championed by former interior minister Matteo Salvini, according to a new report by two NGOs.
The Italian Court of Cassation on March 5 upheld an appeal filed by a young Nigerian woman who had fled her homeland after being pressured by a relative to marry someone she did not want to. The court ruled that women migrants fleeing "forced marriages" can be granted a form of protection to enable them to remain in Italy.
Six Afghan citizens were discovered in a truck in northern Italy. They had reportedly paid €1,500 each to travel from Romania to Italy. A smuggler had allegedly hidden them in the bed of the truck without the driver's knowledge.
More than 5,300 migrants and refugees have arrived on Italy's coasts irregularly so far in 2021. That's more than twice the number of people who arrived during the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of migrants intercepted and returned to Libya reportedly also increased.
A group of scouts from the city of Taranto in southern Italy has met with asylum seekers to mark World Thinking Day. The scouts donated "tiles of peace", which will be installed in three symbolic locations of the city.
A dozen human rights associations have accused public prosecutors in Trieste, northeastern Italy, of not protecting the rights of asylum seekers. They say prosecutors failed to act when underage asylum seekers were housed in facilities for adults for months.
The number of migrants who arrived in Italy by sea increased significantly last year, inspite of the coronavirus emergency, according to the UN refugee agency. Nearly 40% of newly arrived migrants were Tunisians.
The risk of COVID-19 in their country of origin can be considered a reason to grant migrants humanitarian protection in Italy, a Milan court has ruled. Meanwhile, new data shows that more than 34,000 migrants and refugees arrived on Italian shores in 2020.