Italy: Concerns over impact on asylum of new immigration measures

UNHCR is following very closely developments in Italy relating to the new provisions approved by the Italian Council of Ministers on Wednesday in Naples, according to which as part of a draft 'security package' illegal immigration would become a crime. We are looking forward to receiving the full text of the new provisions to examine them in detail. While we understand that states face considerable challenges in dealing with illegal immigration we are concerned about the potentially prejudicial impact of these new measures on asylum in Italy. In the package, rejected asylum seekers could find themselves having to leave the country without having their appeals heard, and asylum seekers, who usually have no other option than to arrive irregularly in a country, could be charged with committing a crime.