Abstract
PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the role that Italian third sector organizations have in the process of social and administrative categorization of newly arrived migrants living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/Aids) or hepatitis b. In Italy, free access to health is provided to all migrants and residence permits for medical treatment is granted for migrants living with a “serious illness” since the 1990s. The case of HIV/Aids and hepatitis b shows how this political openness, however, clashes with the tightening of migration policies.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2016 within an associative centre that deals with the socio-health care of newly arrived migrants in Rome. In addition to the participant observations, the study is based in semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 health-care providers (nurses, health-care assistants and socio-cultural mediators) and doctors and with 22 migrants coming from Sub-Saharan Africa and living with HIV/AIDS (10) and hepatitis b (12).FindingsIn Italy, the two infections have been identified as top diseases among migrant populations in the country but if HIV/Aids is always considered as a “serious illness”, hepatitis b is considered as a public health priority only in the case of a treatment prescription. These aspects have an important impact on the interactions between medical and social professionals and migrants affected by HIV/AIDS and hepatitis b, contributing differently to the creation of legal categories assigned to migrants.Originality/valueThe case of HIV/Aids and hepatitis b shows how the political openness of the public health system, clashes with the tightening of migration policies and analyse the role of the third sector has in this issue.
Highlights
Since the 1990s, the tightening of migration policies in Europe is increasingly based on the difference between “legal” and “illegal” migrant or in the case of asylum seekers, between “true” refugees and “false” refugees (De Genova, 2002; d’Halluin, 2012)
As highlighted by Maurizio Ambrosini and Joanne Van Der Leun, “civil society’s role with respect to service provision has not yet been adequately explored at the local level” (2015, p. 104). With these insights in mind, the article investigates the role that Italian third sector organizations may have in the process of social and administrative categorization of newly arrived migrants living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/Aids) or hepatitis b through an analysis of the daily practices of health and social professionals working within an associative centre that deals with the socio-health care of newly arrived migrants in Rome called Samifo
The Italian migration policy has always been characterized by an “amalgamation between immigration and asylum” (Morroi, 2012: 76) and both public debates and migration policy have since the 1980s been constantly dominated by the terms of “emergency” and “exceptionality” (Santilli, 2017; Dal Lago, 2004; Ravenda, 2011; Zincone, 2011)
Summary
Since the 1990s, the tightening of migration policies in Europe is increasingly based on the difference between “legal” and “illegal” migrant or in the case of asylum seekers, between “true” refugees and “false” refugees (De Genova, 2002; d’Halluin, 2012). These public notions are used to select deserving migrants and are part of a political context where the suspicion towards migrants and the perception of “limited resources” dominate. According to Lipsky and Smith (1993, p. 3), non-profit actors “play a new political role in representing the welfare state to its citizens, providing a buffer between state policy and service delivery” and for that reason, they may be even more legitimate to select migrants than public institutions
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