Category Archives: Migration

Separation of Powers and National Sovereignty in the Government’s Migration Policy

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Migration policy has recently sparked an open conflict between the Italian Government and the judiciary, with the Government openly challenging the judiciary at all levels. Domestically, the focus is on the separation of powers; at the international level, on the tension between national sovereignty and the authority of international and regional courts.[1] In both cases, migration is treated as a security issue, and the Government, drawing on its democratic mandate, claims competence to protect its citizens, while non-elected courts are perceived as a potential obstacle to this aim.

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Italy’s Migration Policy in 2024: Pursuing the Externalisation Path

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In 2024, Italy’s migration policy continued to be heralded by the Italian Government and parliamentary majority as a success and a model for other countries, while being vehemently criticised by opposition parties as well as civil society organisations active in the area of the protection of migrants. Even though Italy’s policy in this field has been wide-ranging in its acts and effects, the externalisation of migration management is arguably one of its guiding principles. Albeit not a legal notion, externalisation – by referring to a multitude of practices of controlling and managing migration beyond a State’s borders – raises compelling legal issues.[1] Therefore, it is not surprising that the Italian Government aimed to justify its outward-looking approach, affecting virtually all phases of the migration process, on a variety of legal grounds.

Starting with the departure of migrants, references to a supposed “right not to migrate” were again abundant in the Italian diplomatic and parliamentary practice of 2024. This has been a leitmotiv of the current Italian Government and one of the theoretical premises and legal backbones of Piano Mattei, namely Italy’s flagship plan for investment in and cooperation with Africa. Among other instances, the Italian President of the Council of Ministers, Ms. Giorgia Meloni, referred to this right in her address before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the Summit of the Future, on 23 September 2024. In connection with Piano Mattei and its approach (“neither paternalistic nor charitable or predatory”), Ms. Meloni stated that “[Piano Mattei] is our recipe to promote the development of a continent too often undervalued, build its stability, and finally guarantee one right that until now has been denied to too many young people – the right not to have to emigrate”.

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Italy’s Migration Policy in 2023: Respect for or Empty References to International Law?

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In 2023, the Italian Government adopted several decrees-law with the aims of stemming migration flows, restricting the grounds for legal stay in Italy, and increasing expulsions from the territory. Italy also further pursued an externalization of migration management, by concluding a much-discussed bilateral agreement with Albania[1] and by playing a prominent role in the conclusion of “strategic partnerships” between the European Union (EU) and Mediterranean countries, namely Tunisia (in July 2023) and Egypt (in March 2024).[2] Additionally, the Italian Government was active in shaping the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum, whose adoption it hailed as a success, especially insofar as the “defence” of the external borders of the EU is concerned.[3]

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Of Castaways and Pirates: Migrants’ Rights from Departure to Arrival

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The victory of the right-wing coalition at the general elections of September 2022 brought the topic of migration back to the center of the Italian political debate. In the first half of the year the Parliament had discussed migration issues with a theretofore unknown positive attitude: the shock caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine nourished the sympathy for those displaced by the war and led to the welcoming of tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees and the financing of support initiatives. However, the steady rise in the number of migrants reaching the country’s shores, as compared to those arrived in the period immediately after the conclusion of the 2017 agreement between Italy and Libya, led the newly elected President of the Council of Ministers, Ms. Giorgia Meloni, and her center-right coalition to adopt a tighter approach.

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The Classification of Italy’s Ports as Places Unsafe for Migrants Rescued by Foreign Vessels Outside the Country’s SAR Area

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Even though greatly reduced compared to the peaks of the previous years, migratory flows across the Mediterranean Sea towards Italy’s coasts continued in 2020 – as did the tragic deaths of migrants, compounded by the inaction of Southern European States, in particular Italy and Malta.

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The Italian Policy on Migration as Expressed by the Government(s) in 2019

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Throughout 2019, the issue of migration made the headlines in Italy, constantly monopolizing the political debate. Besides such mediatization, the topic was discussed by the Italian Government in two main respects: on the one hand, in relation to its domestic facet – security needs underlying the measures restricting the protection status of migrants and the rescue activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – and, on the other hand, as regards its external projections – the relationship between Italy and Libya and the relocation of migrants among the States of the European Union (EU).

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Migration Policy and Management under the “Conte 1” Government

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The fight against “irregular” migration to Italy featured prominently in the election manifesto of the Lega (League – a right-wing political party) and was incorporated in the coalition agreement concluded between the two governing parties after the 4 March 2018 general election, namely the League and the Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Star Movement). Accordingly, on 5 June 2018, the President of the Council of Ministers, Mr Giuseppe Conte, outlined the approach on migration of the newly formed Italian Government during his first speech before the Senate of the Republic (9th Meeting, XVIII Legislature):

It is clear to everyone that the management of migratory flows as implemented to date has failed. Europe allowed – we must emphasize it – selfish positions by Member States, which ended up placing the burden, which should have been shared, on border States, first and foremost on Italy. That is why we will vigorously demand to go beyond the Dublin Regulation, so as to ensure actual compliance with the principle of equitable responsibility-sharing and implement automatic mechanisms for the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers. […]

We want asylum procedures to be well-established and swift, also with a view to more effectively ensuring that the rights [of asylum seekers] are guaranteed and that they do not live in uncertainty. […]

We must also re-organize the reception system and make it efficient with a view to ensuring the transparent use of public funds and preventing any infiltration by organized crime. Should there be no grounds for the stay [of migrants in Italy], we will take action to make repatriation procedures effective and, at the European level, to compel third States willing to conclude cooperation agreements with any EU Member States to ratify bilateral agreements for the management of migratory flows.

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Italy’s Involvement in Post-Conflict Lybia through the Lybian Coast Guard Training Mission

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Post-conflict Libya has been riven by internal conflict, institutional, political and social instability as well as a grave humanitarian crisis. The achievement of stability in Libya has been of concern to the international community, in particular in light of the serious consequences of internal conflict and fragmentation on, inter alia, the fight against terrorism and the Islamic State, as well as against human trafficking and migrant smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea[1].

Historically a prominent international actor in the country, Italy has strongly supported the Government of National Accord, formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, on 17 December 2015[2], and endorsed by the United Nations (UN) Security Council as the sole legitimate executive authority in Libya[3]. On 8 May 2017, during a briefing at the UN Security Council on the situation in Libya (7934th Meeting)[4], the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, declared:

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