Asylum in Italy between human rights and the Constitution : the abolition of the ‘humanitarian protection’ under Decree-Law n. 113/2018
Asylum in Italy between human rights and the Constitution : the abolition of the ‘humanitarian protection’ under Decree-Law n. 113/2018
Date
2019
Authors
Durante Viola, Lorenzo
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Abstract
Placed in the realm of human rights research, this thesis aims at assessing the abolition under Decree-
Law n. 113/2018 of the Italian ‘humanitarian protection’ formerly provided under art. 5(6) of the
Consolidated Immigration Act, on the basis of international human rights standards, EU law and
constitutional fundamental rights. In the first part, it provides an overview of the recent Italian history
of immigration and asylum, outlining the socio-political context in which the reform is inscribed. The
second part addresses the multi-level legal framework on international protection, taking into
consideration the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights and
EU law within a comparative legal assessment that identifies Italy’s core obligation related to the
protection of aliens, highlighting the distinctiveness of the ‘humanitarian protection’. The core of the
analysis, in the third part, grounds the ‘humanitarian protection’ within the right of asylum enshrined
in art. 10(3) of the Italian Constitution. After pointing at formal and procedural flaws of D.L. n.
113/2018 through the Constitutional Court’s case-law, the case-study focuses on the assessment of
art. 1 of the decree, assessing comparatively the former open-ended ‘humanitarian protection’ with
the new strict categorization of cases eligible for protection.
Keywords: human rights, D.L. n. 113/2018, humanitarian protection, Italian Constitution
Description
Second semester University: Maastricht University
Keywords
asylum,
Italy,
constitutional law,
humanitarian assistance,
migrations,
Convention Relating the Status of Refugees,
European Convention on Human Rights