Left to ourselves. Facts amd stories from Italy's reception system for asylum seekers and refugees

Italy’s reception system for asylum seekers and refugees has been put under great strain in 2016 and 2017 due to the record arrivals recorded up to July 2017, and contro-versial reforms, like the Minniti-Orlandi Legislative Decree on Immigration and Asylum (L.D. 13/2017). The decree aims to simplify judicial procedures and lighten the burden on the reception system, but it leaves those seeking international protection with no chance to appeal the rejection of their asylum claims and no access to extensive protection provi-sions. Against this background, the inadequacies of Italy’s first reception system for asylum seekers, in particular, need to be investigated taking into account both the institutional model of governance that planned and regulated it, as well as the role played by civil society organisations operating as managing bodies in shaping it.This paper aims to shed light on the dysfunctionalities of the protection and assistance system in Italy, by presenting and discussing the critical situations faced daily by asylum seek-ers who have arrived in Italy after crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, and now live in temporary reception centres funded and coordinated by the Italian Government. These women, men and children, who experienced mistreatment and abuse on their journey to Europe, are often subjected once they arrive in Italy’s temporary reception centres to an inadequate response, which jeopardises their chance of inclusion in Italy. This analysis will focus on the following research objectives: assessing the procedures and challenges of the first reception of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the involvement of NGOs acting as managing bodies in the first reception of migrants; collecting some best practices and assessing their potential transferability.