Emanuela Roman | FIERI - International and European Forum of Research on Migration (original) (raw)
Papers by Emanuela Roman
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Mar 28, 2023
Forced Migration Review, 2021
Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is n... more Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of 'limbo'. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary, both in their everyday lives and over time, they experience 'constrained mobility' at different scales and in pursuit of different goals. While heavily constrained by a complex and constantly evolving combination of legal and socioeconomic factors, these mobility patterns are a crucial form of 'agency under duress'. Here, Roman et al use the cases of Greece and Italy to explore what protracted displacement looks like in reality. These countries share at least three common structural features. First, both are 'first entry' countries in the European Union (EU), where asylum seekers' mobility is constrained by Dublin Regulation rules. Second, both countries have comparatively low...
IEMed: Mediterranean yearbook, 2015
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Within the European Union (EU), Italy is one of the main countries of transit and destination for... more Within the European Union (EU), Italy is one of the main countries of transit and destination for migrants coming from Africa and Asia, including a significant component of forced migrants and protection seekers. In particular, Italy is the first European country of arrival for many migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa (mainly but not exclusively from Libya and Tunisia). Along with maritime migration flows, Italy has been receiving growing numbers of (forced) migrants entering the country through its Eastern land borders, mainly coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and transiting through Greece and the Balkans. These persons often find themselves in situations of protracted precariousness, vulnerability and marginalisation, both in terms of their legal status, attached rights and socio-economic conditions. Such situations of protracted displacement are largely (although not exclusively) determined by the legal and policy structures governing migr...
Coping with Migrants and Refugees, 2022
The chapter analyses the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception policy in Italy since the mi... more The chapter analyses the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception policy in Italy since the migration crisis of 2011 following the collapse of the Tunisian and Libyan regimes. By using multilevel governance (MLG) as an analytical concept, this chapter explores the evolution of the Italian reception system focusing on the relationship between the national and local levels of reception governance. The chapter compares and contrasts two local case studies in Italy – Torino in the Piedmont region and Treviso in the Veneto region. These two localities have different political backgrounds and legacies and they both experienced a change in the political affiliation of the local administration.
Although on paper the Italian reception system is characterised by the existence of various MLG mechanisms, in practice there is a large variance, both over time and across the country, in the way MLG arrangements and instances are deployed and work. Drawing upon interviews carried out with stakeholders involved in reception of asylum seekers at the national, regional and local levels, this chapter aims to show that, among the factors explaining this variance, major roles are played by politics (both at the national and regional/local level), socio-political legacies and the strength of civil society organisations (at the regional and local level).
Revue europeenne des migrations internationales, 2020
Coping with Migrants and Refugees, 2022
This paper investigates how European institutional and civil society actors frame and assess EU m... more This paper investigates how European institutional and civil society actors frame and assess EU migration policies in the Mediterranean area. Based on extensive in-depth interviews, the report analyses how European actors describe the overall EU approach to cooperation with Mediterranean third countries in the field of migration; how they evaluate the most recent and relevant EU policies in this field; and which are the actors that they identify as key players in this policy area. European civil society actors proved to share the critical views expressed by their civil society counterparts in Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. They described the EU's discourse as securitizing and Eurocentric, highlighting that it also translates into securitizing, Eurocentric and conditionality-based policies and practices. They lamented the lack of legal migration opportunities, but at the same time they praised the European Commission for its efforts in this field. They also claimed the lac...
L'obiettivo del presente studio è quello di analizzare in quale misura i diritti fondamentali... more L'obiettivo del presente studio è quello di analizzare in quale misura i diritti fondamentali e la legislazione italiana, europea ed internazionale sull'immigrazione trovino applicazione all'interno del Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione (CIE) di Torino. Il rapporto nasce in seguito alle gravi preoccupazioni manifestate da istituzioni ed organizzazioni a livello locale, nazionale ed internazionale in merito alle esperienze di detenzione amministrativa dei migranti irregolari in Italia. Le discordanze tra gli scopi espliciti ed impliciti dei centri per il trattenimento degli stranieri possono infatti rappresentare un terreno fertile per abusi, inefficienze e violazioni dei diritti umani. Il progetto di ricerca sul CIE di Torino ha analizzato, in chiave individuale e in una prospettiva di sistema, i problemi affrontati quotidianamente dai trattenuti, dalle loro famiglie e dalle persone che hanno un contatto diretto con il centro, professionisti e volontari. In partico...
This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 ... more This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 report Betwixt and Between: Turin's CIE. A human rights investigation into Turin's immigration detention centre, which considered the findings of an interview-based study of Turin's immigration detention centre in terms of international, European and Italian human rights and migration law. The Betwixt and Between report examined Turin's Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione (Turin's CIE) by considering both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with Turin's CIE in a professional or voluntary capacity. On 12 November 2012 the researchers met with the Director of Turin's CIE (Italian Red Cross – Military Section) and senior representatives from the Questura di Torino – Ufficio Immigrazione (Immigration Office) and Prefettura di Torino in order to conduct a lengthy interview about issues raised in...
The International University College of Turin (IUC) in cooperation with the Faculties of Law of t... more The International University College of Turin (IUC) in cooperation with the Faculties of Law of the University of Turin and the Eastern Piedmont University in Alessandria and in partnership with the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione (ASGI) is conducting a study on the detention conditions of migrants in the Centre for Identification and Expulsion (CIE) of Turin. The CIE Research Project is part of a clinical legal training program (Human Rights and Migration Law Clinic) and is currently involving six graduate and undergraduate students of the IUC, the University of Turin and the Eastern Piedmont University under the supervision of IUC faculty staff and ASGI lawyers. The research began in January 2012 and is limited to experiences of detention that occurred between January 2011 and April 2012. The objective is to investigate and analyse whether the treatment of immigration detainees in Turin's CIE meets Italian, European and international human rights standards. ...
The information contained in this document was produced to introduce university students to Itali... more The information contained in this document was produced to introduce university students to Italian and European migration law. Part I. Italian law on immigration detention. Part II. European Union law on immigration detention. Part III: International and Council of Europe human rights law. Glossary. Useful websites and articles on migration and immigration detention in Europe.
The report provides an overview of the Italian reception system. After describing the initial des... more The report provides an overview of the Italian reception system. After describing the initial design of the national governance of asylum seekers’ reception, it focuses on transformations of the reception system since 2011, when the Arab Spring started, paying specific attention to the decision-making process. After examining the formal organisation of reception policies in the country, the report explores the actual functioning of the reception system at the national and local levels (in the provinces of Turin and Treviso). Finally, policy outcomes are discussed with particular regard to trends of convergence and divergence in the implementation of reception policies and the contribution of monitoring activities to these processes. The report highlights the complexity of the Italian reception system, despite the repeated attempts of rationalisation and harmonisation. Concerning decision-making, three main periods are identified: 2011-2013, when an emergency approach prevailed; 2014...
Around the world, political policies about immigration detention are controversial topics, which ... more Around the world, political policies about immigration detention are controversial topics, which are often linked to the political and economic environment of the day. Contributing to this debate, the present report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and migration law is applied in Turin's Centre of Identification and Expulsion (CIE) - an immigration detention centre in northern Italy - while situating its significance in terms of the wider economic, social and political context of migration policy. This study was motivated by the fact that a number of institutions and organisations at local, national and international level have expressed concern about the current praxis of administrative detention of irregular migrants in Italy. The inconsistency between the explicit and implicit aims of immigration detention centres is of particular concern, because it gives rise to a situation that is a fertile ground for abuse, inefficiencies a...
This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 ... more This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 report 'Betwixt and Between: Turin's CIE - A Human Rights Iinvestigation into Turin's Immigration Detention Centre' (IUC Research Commons, paper no. 1-12), which considered the findings of an interview-based study of Turin's immigration detention centre in terms of international, European and Italian human rights and migration law. The 'Betwixt and Between' report examined Turin's Centre for Identification and Expulsion (Turin's CIE) by considering both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with Turin's CIE in a professional or voluntary capacity. On 12 November 2012, the researchers met with the Director of Turin's CIE (Italian Red Cross–Military Section) and senior representatives from the 'Questura di Torino – Ufficio Immigrazione'(Police Immigration Office) and Pre...
AmeriQuests, 2014
This article analyses the evolution in Italian migration law relating to immigration detention wi... more This article analyses the evolution in Italian migration law relating to immigration detention with the purpose of demonstrating the incompatibility of administrative detention with the European human rights framework and the fundamental principles of the Italian constitutional and administrative law. The authors make reference to first-hand testimonies from their own prior interview-based research into Turin’s immigration detention centre; a case study which is symptomatic of systemic issues found throughout the Italian administrative detention system. By reflecting upon the practical application of the law, the article demonstrates that immigration detention intentionally ignores many of the philosophical underpinnings of the Italian administrative law system. Moreover, immigration detention illustrates the discrepancies between the administrative and criminal judicial systems, as third-country nationals who risk losing their liberty due to administrative detention do not have acc...
This report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and... more This report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and migration law is applied in Turin's centro di identificazione ed espulsione (Turin's CIE) - an immigration detention centre in northern Italy. This study was motivated by the fact that a number of institutions and organisations at local, national and international level have expressed concern about the current praxis of administrative detention of irregular migrants in Italy. The inconsistency between the explicit and implicit aims of immigration detention centers is of particular concern because it gives rise to a situation that is a fertile ground for abuse, inefficiencies and shocking human rights violations. In order to evaluate the application of human rights law in Turin's CIE, the CIE Research Project considers both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with the centre in a professional or voluntary capa...
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Mar 28, 2023
Forced Migration Review, 2021
Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is n... more Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of 'limbo'. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary, both in their everyday lives and over time, they experience 'constrained mobility' at different scales and in pursuit of different goals. While heavily constrained by a complex and constantly evolving combination of legal and socioeconomic factors, these mobility patterns are a crucial form of 'agency under duress'. Here, Roman et al use the cases of Greece and Italy to explore what protracted displacement looks like in reality. These countries share at least three common structural features. First, both are 'first entry' countries in the European Union (EU), where asylum seekers' mobility is constrained by Dublin Regulation rules. Second, both countries have comparatively low...
IEMed: Mediterranean yearbook, 2015
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Within the European Union (EU), Italy is one of the main countries of transit and destination for... more Within the European Union (EU), Italy is one of the main countries of transit and destination for migrants coming from Africa and Asia, including a significant component of forced migrants and protection seekers. In particular, Italy is the first European country of arrival for many migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa (mainly but not exclusively from Libya and Tunisia). Along with maritime migration flows, Italy has been receiving growing numbers of (forced) migrants entering the country through its Eastern land borders, mainly coming from Pakistan and Afghanistan, and transiting through Greece and the Balkans. These persons often find themselves in situations of protracted precariousness, vulnerability and marginalisation, both in terms of their legal status, attached rights and socio-economic conditions. Such situations of protracted displacement are largely (although not exclusively) determined by the legal and policy structures governing migr...
Coping with Migrants and Refugees, 2022
The chapter analyses the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception policy in Italy since the mi... more The chapter analyses the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception policy in Italy since the migration crisis of 2011 following the collapse of the Tunisian and Libyan regimes. By using multilevel governance (MLG) as an analytical concept, this chapter explores the evolution of the Italian reception system focusing on the relationship between the national and local levels of reception governance. The chapter compares and contrasts two local case studies in Italy – Torino in the Piedmont region and Treviso in the Veneto region. These two localities have different political backgrounds and legacies and they both experienced a change in the political affiliation of the local administration.
Although on paper the Italian reception system is characterised by the existence of various MLG mechanisms, in practice there is a large variance, both over time and across the country, in the way MLG arrangements and instances are deployed and work. Drawing upon interviews carried out with stakeholders involved in reception of asylum seekers at the national, regional and local levels, this chapter aims to show that, among the factors explaining this variance, major roles are played by politics (both at the national and regional/local level), socio-political legacies and the strength of civil society organisations (at the regional and local level).
Revue europeenne des migrations internationales, 2020
Coping with Migrants and Refugees, 2022
This paper investigates how European institutional and civil society actors frame and assess EU m... more This paper investigates how European institutional and civil society actors frame and assess EU migration policies in the Mediterranean area. Based on extensive in-depth interviews, the report analyses how European actors describe the overall EU approach to cooperation with Mediterranean third countries in the field of migration; how they evaluate the most recent and relevant EU policies in this field; and which are the actors that they identify as key players in this policy area. European civil society actors proved to share the critical views expressed by their civil society counterparts in Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. They described the EU's discourse as securitizing and Eurocentric, highlighting that it also translates into securitizing, Eurocentric and conditionality-based policies and practices. They lamented the lack of legal migration opportunities, but at the same time they praised the European Commission for its efforts in this field. They also claimed the lac...
L'obiettivo del presente studio è quello di analizzare in quale misura i diritti fondamentali... more L'obiettivo del presente studio è quello di analizzare in quale misura i diritti fondamentali e la legislazione italiana, europea ed internazionale sull'immigrazione trovino applicazione all'interno del Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione (CIE) di Torino. Il rapporto nasce in seguito alle gravi preoccupazioni manifestate da istituzioni ed organizzazioni a livello locale, nazionale ed internazionale in merito alle esperienze di detenzione amministrativa dei migranti irregolari in Italia. Le discordanze tra gli scopi espliciti ed impliciti dei centri per il trattenimento degli stranieri possono infatti rappresentare un terreno fertile per abusi, inefficienze e violazioni dei diritti umani. Il progetto di ricerca sul CIE di Torino ha analizzato, in chiave individuale e in una prospettiva di sistema, i problemi affrontati quotidianamente dai trattenuti, dalle loro famiglie e dalle persone che hanno un contatto diretto con il centro, professionisti e volontari. In partico...
This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 ... more This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 report Betwixt and Between: Turin's CIE. A human rights investigation into Turin's immigration detention centre, which considered the findings of an interview-based study of Turin's immigration detention centre in terms of international, European and Italian human rights and migration law. The Betwixt and Between report examined Turin's Centro di Identificazione ed Espulsione (Turin's CIE) by considering both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with Turin's CIE in a professional or voluntary capacity. On 12 November 2012 the researchers met with the Director of Turin's CIE (Italian Red Cross – Military Section) and senior representatives from the Questura di Torino – Ufficio Immigrazione (Immigration Office) and Prefettura di Torino in order to conduct a lengthy interview about issues raised in...
The International University College of Turin (IUC) in cooperation with the Faculties of Law of t... more The International University College of Turin (IUC) in cooperation with the Faculties of Law of the University of Turin and the Eastern Piedmont University in Alessandria and in partnership with the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione (ASGI) is conducting a study on the detention conditions of migrants in the Centre for Identification and Expulsion (CIE) of Turin. The CIE Research Project is part of a clinical legal training program (Human Rights and Migration Law Clinic) and is currently involving six graduate and undergraduate students of the IUC, the University of Turin and the Eastern Piedmont University under the supervision of IUC faculty staff and ASGI lawyers. The research began in January 2012 and is limited to experiences of detention that occurred between January 2011 and April 2012. The objective is to investigate and analyse whether the treatment of immigration detainees in Turin's CIE meets Italian, European and international human rights standards. ...
The information contained in this document was produced to introduce university students to Itali... more The information contained in this document was produced to introduce university students to Italian and European migration law. Part I. Italian law on immigration detention. Part II. European Union law on immigration detention. Part III: International and Council of Europe human rights law. Glossary. Useful websites and articles on migration and immigration detention in Europe.
The report provides an overview of the Italian reception system. After describing the initial des... more The report provides an overview of the Italian reception system. After describing the initial design of the national governance of asylum seekers’ reception, it focuses on transformations of the reception system since 2011, when the Arab Spring started, paying specific attention to the decision-making process. After examining the formal organisation of reception policies in the country, the report explores the actual functioning of the reception system at the national and local levels (in the provinces of Turin and Treviso). Finally, policy outcomes are discussed with particular regard to trends of convergence and divergence in the implementation of reception policies and the contribution of monitoring activities to these processes. The report highlights the complexity of the Italian reception system, despite the repeated attempts of rationalisation and harmonisation. Concerning decision-making, three main periods are identified: 2011-2013, when an emergency approach prevailed; 2014...
Around the world, political policies about immigration detention are controversial topics, which ... more Around the world, political policies about immigration detention are controversial topics, which are often linked to the political and economic environment of the day. Contributing to this debate, the present report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and migration law is applied in Turin's Centre of Identification and Expulsion (CIE) - an immigration detention centre in northern Italy - while situating its significance in terms of the wider economic, social and political context of migration policy. This study was motivated by the fact that a number of institutions and organisations at local, national and international level have expressed concern about the current praxis of administrative detention of irregular migrants in Italy. The inconsistency between the explicit and implicit aims of immigration detention centres is of particular concern, because it gives rise to a situation that is a fertile ground for abuse, inefficiencies a...
This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 ... more This paper is a supplement to the International University College of Turin's September 2012 report 'Betwixt and Between: Turin's CIE - A Human Rights Iinvestigation into Turin's Immigration Detention Centre' (IUC Research Commons, paper no. 1-12), which considered the findings of an interview-based study of Turin's immigration detention centre in terms of international, European and Italian human rights and migration law. The 'Betwixt and Between' report examined Turin's Centre for Identification and Expulsion (Turin's CIE) by considering both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with Turin's CIE in a professional or voluntary capacity. On 12 November 2012, the researchers met with the Director of Turin's CIE (Italian Red Cross–Military Section) and senior representatives from the 'Questura di Torino – Ufficio Immigrazione'(Police Immigration Office) and Pre...
AmeriQuests, 2014
This article analyses the evolution in Italian migration law relating to immigration detention wi... more This article analyses the evolution in Italian migration law relating to immigration detention with the purpose of demonstrating the incompatibility of administrative detention with the European human rights framework and the fundamental principles of the Italian constitutional and administrative law. The authors make reference to first-hand testimonies from their own prior interview-based research into Turin’s immigration detention centre; a case study which is symptomatic of systemic issues found throughout the Italian administrative detention system. By reflecting upon the practical application of the law, the article demonstrates that immigration detention intentionally ignores many of the philosophical underpinnings of the Italian administrative law system. Moreover, immigration detention illustrates the discrepancies between the administrative and criminal judicial systems, as third-country nationals who risk losing their liberty due to administrative detention do not have acc...
This report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and... more This report investigates the extent to which Italian, European and international human rights and migration law is applied in Turin's centro di identificazione ed espulsione (Turin's CIE) - an immigration detention centre in northern Italy. This study was motivated by the fact that a number of institutions and organisations at local, national and international level have expressed concern about the current praxis of administrative detention of irregular migrants in Italy. The inconsistency between the explicit and implicit aims of immigration detention centers is of particular concern because it gives rise to a situation that is a fertile ground for abuse, inefficiencies and shocking human rights violations. In order to evaluate the application of human rights law in Turin's CIE, the CIE Research Project considers both individual and systemic problems faced by detainees, their families and people who have direct contact with the centre in a professional or voluntary capa...