Psychosocial Notebook - IOM Publications - International ...

Psychosocial Notebook, Volume 2, October 2001
Here again, these migrants are being forced into a nomadic life, created by
difficulties of integration, lack of employment, racism, and imposed upon
people who had been sedentary their entire lives.
In southern Italy, and more precisely in the Regina Pacis Reception
Centre, people spoke openly about the constraints and restrictions on their
liberty, even describing a sense of imprisonment.
No… we don’t have relationship with Italians because we’re shut in here.
[Ardita]
What else can I tell you? I can only say that I am nervous and that’s all.
When you’re at home you eat, but if you don’t want you don’t eat, you
only eat when you feel like it, sleep when you want… here you’re not
free. It’s not that I don’t like it here, but I’m not free, I can’t do what I
want. [Elidon G.]
I only asked to go back to Kosovo because here is like being in jail, I’m
shut inside, isolated… Yes, I feel like I’m in jail because I’m in here all
the time and that’s it… I can’t go out. [Gentiam]
The shelter is perceived as sort of merciful prison. Those who do not have
residence permits cannot leave the precinct, whereas those who do possess
these documents usually enjoy little socialization outside Regina Pacis.
There are many reasons for their situation, the first of these being the
region’s economic poverty, which does not allow for the easy integration
of these immigrants. Another reason for the restriction is local immigration
law, according to which someone with political refugee status cannot
work, which also hinders the immigrant’s entrance into the local community.
Question: Can you leave the Centre?
Elidon G.: Yes, I can go out but I want to find a job and I can’t because
my documents are for political asylum…
Yes… we can go out when we want, they gave us permission, we also
have the residence permit, but I don’t feel the need anyway. [Ardita]
The few Kosovar Albanians interviewed in southern Italy held residence
permits that they had obtained through a Government Decree. Issued
before the end of the NATO bombings, these permits granted the recipients
the right to “Humanitarian asylum”. Individuals entitled to this status cannot
work, and yet there is no welfare system to help them survive. Their
situation is entirely different from that of the Kosovars living in northern
Italy, who have been able to secure work permits. The difference arises
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