This past weekend, students had long weekends. Some used these weekends to go out of town, to Venice, Cinqueterre etc. Others did intense tours of Rome, including climbing the 500 plus steps of St. Peter's and others relaxing after weeks of travel.
Today we were back with a tour de force visit to Save the Children where Angela Oriti spoke about minors' rights and what was happening in detention centers all over Italy, especially in Lampedusa. So currently, all immigrants who come in an undocumented way are put into detention centers even if they are unaccompanied minors. A number of them are asked and given different tests to ascertain their age. Angela spoke of the terrible accomodations they are provided, as well as the lack of information many of them have. This is the first year that NGOs have been allowed to come into these detention centers. Unaccompanied minors are then transferred to other centers in Southern Italy where there are very few resources and efforts are made to provide them with guardians. If these guardians are not found and when they are 18, they are repatriated. In fact, the EU now does not allow for undocumented immigrants from one EU nation to go to another (even those that are denied asylum status in one country) and they are forced to go back home. Angela, like Jami last week, spoke about the very small number of people who seek asylum in Italy and the even smaller number that are granted asylum. After talking to us about the detention centers and minors' rights at these centers, she showed us a very sombering video shot by Doctors without Borders in the agricultural lands of the South where a number of immigrants are being exploited and the squalid living conditions they are living in, for many of them worse than their experiences in their own countries. It is very difficult to come to terms with Italy's laws around immigration. Now, immigrants according to the legal framework, need to show that they are offered jobs even before them come into the country - Angela was pointing how ridiculous this was since employers in any country would not hire people before meeting them. This has become a way of exploiting people since now even a larger number are here as undocumented - this has allowed different industries, especially the agricultural industry, to take advantage of these people and offer them extremely low wages.
On a personal level, this has been a great learning experience for me but very depressing since I see the conditions in Italy as deteriorating for immigrants. A number of people who are dedicated to their rights and we are meeting along the way give us some home but overall it is a difficult time with the current political situation.
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