Italy and Migration

Abstract

In July 2008, following reports of violent anti-Roma protests and indications that the Italian government intended to bring forward new legislative measures for stricter migration controls, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, published an alarming report on the ‘social stigmatisation and marginalisation’ of migrants in Italy (Council of Europe, 2008). The Commissioner warned that ‘concern about security cannot be the only basis for immigration policy’ (Council of Europe, 2008). Above all, he condemned the measures being taken in Italy, which lacked ‘human rights and humanitarian principles’ and could ‘spur further xenopohobia’ (Council of Europe, 2008). By some reckonings, Italy has adopted increasingly restrictive policies to address undocumented migration. In this context, the purpose of this chapter is to search beyond the complex matrix of Italian migration discourses and practices and reflect on the concurrence of seclusive and inclusive border policies. Given the vast literature on the issue, I limit this discussion to an illustration, based mainly on secondary resources, of two interrelated aspects of the Italian response to migration. First, I consider the linkage between migration and security in the Italian discourses — as defined in the introduction — and practices, and, second, the role of migration in Italy’s foreign policy agenda.