Italy / Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers occupy the former Olympic Village in Turin

After the 'Emergenza Nord Africa', a governmental project aimed at providing adequate funding for the reception of migrants reaching Italy from North Africa and especially from Libya, came to an end on 31 December 2012 (see PICUM Bulletin, 6 February 2013), refused asylum seekers and refugees are no longer provided with shelter or accommodation by the Italian Government. On 30 March 2013, a group of around 200 refused asylum seekers and refugees occupied the abandoned buildings of the former 'Olympic Village' in Turin in order to protest against the Italian Government’s decision to shut down asylum seekers and refugees’ shelters, and to call for effective access to their right to housing (photographs of the abandoned Olympic Village are available here). Various civil society organisations have supported the action and around 300 undocumented migrants, refused asylum seekers and refugees, together with civil society representatives, have created the Committee of solidarity with migrants and refugees (Comitato di solidarietà con i rifugiati e i migranti) in order to advocate for undocumented migrants’ and refused asylum seekers’ right to housing.
Source: Corriere Immigrazione, 8 April 2013