Resettlement of Syrian Refugees to Italy: Durable Solution or Protracted Temporary Situation?

Resettlement of Syrian Refugees to Italy: Durable Solution or Protracted Temporary Situation? The increased number of displaced persons worldwide – more than 65 millions in 2015 – has shed light on the international protection dilemma. In particular, to respond to the so-called “refugee crisis”, UNHCR implemented the resettlement scheme in Europe. In Italy, resettlement involves mostly Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Turkey. Nonetheless, the programme has several limits in this country because Syrians do not perceive Italy as a desirable country of resettlement (Brekke and Brochman, 2014). On the one hand, there is little knowledge of Italy as a country of resettlement and refugees do not particularly trust the country for its potential to create labour market inclusion and to deal with refugees’ issues. On the other hand, there is a divide between refugees’ expectations and the opportunities the country has to offer. Apparently, the Italian migration and asylum regime does not seem to be able to decrease refugees vulnerability nor to improve their empowerment due to the lack of follow-up measures from the asylum system to the integration. Findings show that when conditions applied by Europe are not in line with refugees’ expectations and they do not match with their hopes and outlooks, insecurity towards the future prevails and refugees undertake secondary migration movements within a framework of insecurity. In this sense, the flows in the protection system challenge the purpose of resettlement as durable solution protracting refugees’ conditions of vulnerability.