Reception measures for asylum seekers and refugees in Italy: policies and evolutionary dynamics

The right to asylum is a “border right” (Sciurba 2017). Indeed, refugees are forced to cross borders to flee their own country and seek protection in another. Moreover, in order to be enjoyed, this right requires recognition by the State where asylum is sought, which decides whether a specific migration phenomenon is voluntary, or political and forced. Recognition of refugee status is, therefore, the result of a process of bureaucratic “fractioning” (Zetter 2007, 174), in which persons in need of protection are distinguished from other categories of migrants. In this contribution I will explore how, in Italy, in recent years, this bureaucratic “fractioning” seems to have become more exclusionary, especially with reference to the category of “asylum seekers”. In detail, the analyses that follow will reconstruct the evolution of the “Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees” (Italian acronym: SPRAR) into the progressively weaker “Reception and Integration System” (Italian acronym: SAI), alongside the expansion and institutionalization of the “extraordinary reception centres” (Italian acronym: CAS) as the “ordinary” place to host asylum seekers.