Illegal immigration to Europe is a well-known phenomenon whose numbers are being steadily increasing in recent years. Most of the immigrants in Italy come from war zones, and many of them submit an asylum application supported by the complaint to have been victims of persecutory acts in their home countries. Material and methods: One hundred ninety-six medicolegal reports are analyzed considering the different country of origin, the type of the lesions claimed, tools used, evidenced effects, location of the perpetration of the physical abuses, and the possible motivation of the alleged torture. Results: Greater than 80% of the assessed asylum seekers are over 18-year males coming from African countries. Fifty-eight percent of migrants were tortured or abused in countries of transit, 95% in Libya. Economic, familial, politic, and ethnic reasons prevail in some countries of origin, while tortures or abuses perpetrated in transit countries are mainly linked to forced labor and detention. In the 42.2% of cases, no physical evidence of tortures was detected. The Istanbul Protocol resulted to have been only partly applicable and about 40% of the medicolegal reports are “inconclusive” about the compatibility of physical evidence with the alleged tortures. Conclusions: The medicolegal and forensic experts involved in torture and ill-treatment cases should seek specific education and training to lower the risks of underestimation and the rate of inconclusive reports. More extensive implementation of the Istanbul Protocol in daily practice should be pursued by the authorities in charge of asylum or protection releasement

Tortures alleged by migrants in Italy: compatibility and other medicolegal challenges / Ilenia Bianchi, Martina Focardi, Valentina Bugelli, Francesco Pradella, Carlo Giolli, Francesca Friani, Vilma Pinchi. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE. - ISSN 0937-9827. - STAMPA. - 135:(2021), pp. 2489-2499.

Tortures alleged by migrants in Italy: compatibility and other medicolegal challenges

Ilenia Bianchi;Martina Focardi;Francesco Pradella;Vilma Pinchi
2021

Abstract

Illegal immigration to Europe is a well-known phenomenon whose numbers are being steadily increasing in recent years. Most of the immigrants in Italy come from war zones, and many of them submit an asylum application supported by the complaint to have been victims of persecutory acts in their home countries. Material and methods: One hundred ninety-six medicolegal reports are analyzed considering the different country of origin, the type of the lesions claimed, tools used, evidenced effects, location of the perpetration of the physical abuses, and the possible motivation of the alleged torture. Results: Greater than 80% of the assessed asylum seekers are over 18-year males coming from African countries. Fifty-eight percent of migrants were tortured or abused in countries of transit, 95% in Libya. Economic, familial, politic, and ethnic reasons prevail in some countries of origin, while tortures or abuses perpetrated in transit countries are mainly linked to forced labor and detention. In the 42.2% of cases, no physical evidence of tortures was detected. The Istanbul Protocol resulted to have been only partly applicable and about 40% of the medicolegal reports are “inconclusive” about the compatibility of physical evidence with the alleged tortures. Conclusions: The medicolegal and forensic experts involved in torture and ill-treatment cases should seek specific education and training to lower the risks of underestimation and the rate of inconclusive reports. More extensive implementation of the Istanbul Protocol in daily practice should be pursued by the authorities in charge of asylum or protection releasement
2021
135
2489
2499
Ilenia Bianchi, Martina Focardi, Valentina Bugelli, Francesco Pradella, Carlo Giolli, Francesca Friani, Vilma Pinchi
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Bianchi2021_Article_TorturesAllegedByMigrantsInIta.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Pdf editoriale (Version of record)
Licenza: Open Access
Dimensione 1.16 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1.16 MB Adobe PDF

I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1257059
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 7
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 8
social impact