The first detention centre for asylum
seekers from so-called 'safe countries' is to be set up in the
southern Sicilian port city of Pozzallo starting from Sunday,
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on Saturday.
"As part of the implementation of a European directive, tomorrow
we will launch in Pozzallo, in the province of Ragusa, the first
facility for detaining asylum seekers from safe countries such
as Tunisia, to ensure that procedures to ascertain the existence
of the conditions for refugee status can be carried out quickly,
within a month," said Piantedosi.
Provisions for detaining asylum seekers from so-called safe
countries of origin for the duration of an accelerated asylum
procedure in order to facilitate their return in the event of a
negative outcome are set out in the Cutro decree, which was
converted into law by parliament in May.
Italy currently considers 16 countries to be safe: Albania,
Algeria, Bosnia and Erzegovina, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia,
Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Morocco, Montenegro,
Nigeria, Senegal, Serbia and Tunisia.
On the government plans to create new pre-removal detention
centres (CPR) for irregular migrants awaiting repatriation,
Piantedosi confirmed that the idea is to have a facility in
every region.
"For now, however, there are only some hypotheses" on specific
locations, the minister said.
Italy currently has 10 CPR with a total of around 1,100 places
in Bari, Brindisi, Caltanissetta, Gradisca d'Isonzo (GO),
Macomer (NU) Milan, Palazzo San Gervasio (PZ), Rome, Turin,
Trapani.
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