Search results for "Refugees"

Vulnerability in Migration: The Applicability of European Recommendations, International Reports and Guidelines to the Italian System of Reception an…

2018

The European Parliament’s Report focuses on the integration processes for a particular category of refugees, considered as belonging to “vulnerable groups”, namely women seeking international protection and female refugees. Women seeking international protection or refugees, in fact, are bearers of demands and needs which, in part, are specific to all those people who, often forced to abruptly abandon their countries of origin, seek protection in host countries, bringing with themselves a heavy burden of persecution, war, violence and poverty. The humanitarian response along the routes of the eastern Mediterranean and the western Balkans has set as a priority the introduction of measures to…

Pearls in Motion

2011

AYLAN E COLONIA. DALLA GUERRA AI MIGRANTI AL RESPINGIMENTO DEI REFUGEES

2017

This contribution aims to shed light on the specific mechanism of migrant categorization implemented by the so-called «Hotspot approach», which was launched by the EU Agenda on Migration in May 2015. This approach is here envisaged as a response to the current changes in the composition of migration towards Europe. Provisions contained in EU and Italian policy documents are compared with concrete practices enacted on the ground by investigating two case studies: the initial opening of the Hotspot at Milo, in Trapani, and the first months of functioning of the Hotspot on Lampedusa. The empirical research covers the period between the last months of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. The short-t…

Epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 cases in non-Italian nationals in Sicily: identifying vulnerable groups in the context of the COVID-19 pa…

2022

As in other parts of the world, undocumented migrants in Italy suffer worse health status due to their immigration enforcement situation and other vulnerabilities such as precarious illegal jobs, exploitation and abuse or barriers to higher education, with higher prevalence of chronic noncommunicable diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic, as other pandemics, has not affected everyone equally. The undocumented was one of the most affected groups with regard to hospitalization rates and mortality worldwide. Sicily is one of the gates of entrance to Europe for migrants and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia. Herein, we described the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 cases in Sicily to com…

Anti-Racism from the Margins: Welcoming Refugees at Schengen’s Northernmost Border

2018

Through events of solidarity with refugees that unfolded at the Arctic border between Norway and Russia in 2015, we critically address two common analyses of racism and humanitarianism. First, we argue that the often-claimed explanation that racism results from disenfranchised social class fails to identify solidarities across marginalized groups. Furthermore, as anti-Muslim racism has become more mainstream in the Nordic region, solidarity with refugees offers critical positions in relation to political centers. Second, the case demonstrates how humanitarian action and politicized refugee activism are not necessarily separate forms of action but more entangled forms of engagement. The case…

Introduction: Mediterranean Movements and the Reconfiguration of the Military-Humanitarian Border in 2015

2018

This article deals with the transformations occurred in the government of refugees in the Mediterranean since 2013, when the military-humanitarian operation Mare Nostrum was launched by the European Union. The paper analyses how military and humanitarian practices are entangled in governing refugees and develops the notion of military-humanitarianism. The Mediterranean borderzone has undergone radical reconfigurations over the last few years. Particularly, new technologies of control for strengthening the role of the Mediterranean Sea as a pre-frontier of Europe have been put in place. The production and the declaration of a "refugee crisis" in Europe has contributed to producing important …

Louseborne relapsing fever in young migrants, sicily, Italy, july-september 2015

2016

To the Editor: During the early 20th century, at the end of World War I, and during World War II, louseborne relapsing fever (LBRF) caused by Borrelia recurrentis was a major public health problem, especially in eastern Europe and northern Africa (1,2). Currently, poor living conditions, famine, war, and refugee camps are major risk factors for epidemics of LBRF in resource-poor countries, such as those in the Horn of Africa (3,4). Increased migration from resource-poor countries and war/violence create new routes for spread of vectorborne diseases. Recently, several cases of LBRF have been reported among asylum seekers from Eritrea in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany (5–8). All of…

Lessons learned from the facts on the ground and political demands for future agency

2021

Since the first “emergency migration” event in Italy (1990s), social work represented the interface and the filter between the Italian reception system and migrants, acting for initial assessment, orientation and “sorting" of migrants into the various local and national welfare agencies and in the network of public and private services within the reception system (Simone, 2020). Consequently, in addition to the more operational competences, social workers need to be supported by training, in-service training and supervision, in order to acquire, along with updated methods and knowledge, full awareness of the dictates of their deontological code; in accordance with this, there should be an a…

Newcomers as Agents for Social Change: Learning from the Italian Experience: A Recourse Book for Social Work and Social Work Education in the Field o…

2021

This publication is a resource book for Social Workers engaging in the field of migration. It aims to, on the one hand, display facts about the living realities on the ground migrants and Social Workers active in the field are facing, circumstances presented by experienced practitioners and researchers of this field. On the other hand, it presents methods and approaches, extracting them from these experiences and reflections insights, relevant for Social Work and consequently, also significant for Social Work educational practice. The new challenges of the 21st century ask Social Work education for a change, adapting curricula towards more experienced based teaching practices, intercultural…

Scrutinizing the situation on the ground in Sicily

2021

Conditions of refugees and migrants in Sicily are very difficult because there are a lot of implications, variations, observations, problems, difficulties. In recent years, migration has become one of the most debated issues in public opinion because of its political, economic, social, and cultural implications. In addition to defining problems, doubts, epistemological errors, conflicts that the categories used (e.g., regular/irregular, refugee/asylum seekers) trigger. The focus on migration has become the topic for the clashes among political forces and to justify the difficulties that the country complains about. In this frame there is a gap between “reality” and its “representation”: as …