Il re è morto. Lunga vita al re! Brevi note sull'abrogazione del permesso di soggiorno per motivi umanitari

In the belief that the Italian asylum system was facing a serious crisis because of the granting of a high number of permits of stay based on humanitarian grounds, Law decree No. 113/2018 repealed that form of protection, only keeping in force certain permits of stay granted on special needs included in an exhaustive list. The abrogation raises the question whether national courts may resort to the direct application of Article 10, section 3, of the Italian Constitution, which recognizes a right to asylum to those aliens who are denied in their countries of origin the effective exercise of the democratic liberties guaranteed by the Italian Constitution and international conventions. This remedy was open until 2012, when the Court of Cassation considered that legislation on humanitarian protection constituted an indirect implementation of the right to asylum under the Constitution, thus precluding the direct application of Article 10, section 3, of the Constitution. The abrogation of the granting of permits of stay based on humanitarian grounds may make direct application of the constitutional provision available again.