Potenza, Italy - Contribution of the Italian Team

LICEO SCIENTIFICO “ GALILEO GALILEI” , POTENZA -ITALY

Comenius Project - “ Cross Perspectives on exile”

Potenza 24-30 October 2010

STAGES OF THE WORK

1. Books on the migration question in Italy

2. Reception and integration

3. Media in Italy

4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights :

Human Dignity

5. Conclusion

BOOKS ON THE MIGRATION QUESTION IN ITALY

“ ALL OF THEM MUST GO BACK : the policy of reject” by Laura Boldrini

Laura Boldrini has been working in UN agencies for over twenty years .

Since 1998 she has been the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In recent years she has carried out numerous missions in key areas of crisis, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, the Caucasus, Rwanda and Angola. This work deals with the problems of refugees .

Sayed is twenty years old. When he was eleven, he had to flee from Afghanistan, leaving his mother and his home, to escape those who wanted to force him to fight with the Talibans. He arrived in Italy after a nine-year journey, including times of hardship and imprisonment, treated in an inhumane way. Sayed's story is just one of many stories gathered by Laura Boldrini in his long experience at the forefront. Today the public debate tends to treat immigrants and refugees equally, without distinction, presenting them as a threat to security. Refugees, as victims of schemes and conflicts, are described as dangerous. The author tells about the injustices committed by European governments against immigrants and about the “policy of reject” by the Italian government, but also describes Italy's solidarity, often obscured by the media, the men who threaten their lives to save shipwrecked at sea from the coast of Africa. 

Ostrava, Czech Republic : Impact of migration [Part 3] - Contribution of the Italian Team

Italy

IMMIGRATION IN ITALY TODAY : SOCIAL ISSUES

Italy is a country of immigration as well as emigration.
Italy has seen an important immigration flow during the past 20 years. Given its position in the centre of the Mediterranean, with over 8,000 kilometers of coastline, Italy is considered the most accessible entrance to Europe by many migrants.

Immigration law

New legislation to regulate immigration into Italy came into force in August 2002, and a decree on procedures for regularising the situation of illegal immigrants already in the country was adopted in September by the centre-right government.
Law No. 189 of 30 July 2002, known as the 'Bossi-Fini law' after the names of the politicians who proposed it, introduces new clauses. The most significant aspects of the law are as follows:

• each year, before 30 November, the Prime Minister will lay down the number of non-EU workers who can be admitted into Italy in the following year;
• there are no limitations to entry into Italy for highly-skilled workers (university lecturers and professors, professional nurses etc);

Manisa, Turkey : Causes of migration [Part 2] - Contribution of the Romanian Team, Contribution of the Italian Team, Contribution of the Czech Team

ROMANIAN TEAM



Causes of migration in Romania

During the 20th Century the migration process developed significantly. The causes were mainly political. In this period, Romania was predominantly a country of emigration. A large number of people decided to head for the United States, mostly the population of Transylvania. Because of major political change, the Hungarian population in this area emigrated back to their country. In spite of the large number of Hungarians who leaved (approx. 200000 ethnics), they remained the most important minority in Romania.
During the Second World War, the bulk of the Jewish population living on Romania‘s present territory was deported. Following the Second World War, approximately 70.000 ethnic Germans were deported to the Soviet Union, and many more were forcibly relocated within Romanian territory. This happened because of the war and for ethnical and religious reasons.

Targoviste, Romania : Italian Migration - Contribution of the Italian Team

HISTORY OF ITALIAN MIGRATION FROM 1900 TO TODAY

At the beginning the XX century Italy underwent a wide emigration flow. The feelings of the migrants landing in the new countries were mixed. On the one hand there was a desire to succeed and make a fortune to contrast poverty, unemployment, disasters caused by the war, by the persecutions of the dictatorship suffered in Italy; on the other hand there was a longing for everything belonging to life in their country.

The migrants remained abroad for the time they needed to earn some 'extra money’ to live a better life once back to Italy. During the century the total number of emigrants was approximately 29 000000, about half of the population in Italy at that time. The contemporary generations choose a more relaxed way to emigrate and this detachment from home is less traumatic.

Italian migration can be divided into five main phases: