Turin's CIE - International University College of Turin

"1(A)(2) A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of
race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to
avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being
outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable
or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
While the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees offers a broad range of rights, what
is sought to be examined in this section is the condition of those detainees inside Turin’s CIE
who are asylum seekers and have not yet qualified for the level of protection guaranteed to a
refugee, or those who have applied for a subsidiary protection status. The best practice
standards for the procedure of determining a refugee application have been articulated in the
UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 140 and the Council of
Europe’s Guidelines on Human Rights Protection in the Context of Accelerated Asylum
Procedures 141 .
International law permits the detention of asylum seekers but restricts such actions by way of
Article 31(1) of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which disallows the State
from imposition of penalties on irregular entrants in cases where they have come directly from
a State where they claim to have been persecuted if “[…] they present themselves without delay
to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence”. Article 31(2) further
restricts unnecessary prohibitions on movement:
“31(2) The Contracting States shall not apply to the movements of such refugees
restrictions other than those which are necessary and such restrictions shall only be
applied until their status in the country is regularized or they obtain admission into
another country. The Contracting States shall allow such refugees a reasonable period
and all the necessary facilities to obtain admission into another country.”
Furthermore, the UNHCR Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the
Detention of Asylum-Seekers 142 and relevant Conclusions 143 together militate against detention
and require the State to justify each individual detention decision as being necessary and for a
specific purpose and to be as brief as possible. Detention is to be permitted only where it is
necessary and lawful in order to verify identity, to determine the truth of the basis for an asylum
claim, to deal with cases of destroyed or fraudulent identity documents or for national security
or public order 144 .
Moreover, the UNHCR Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the
Detention of Asylum-Seekers state that “conditions of detention for asylum-seekers should be
140 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining
Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees
HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1 Reedited, Geneva, January 1992, UNHCR 1979.
141 Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Guidelines on human rights protection in the context of
accelerated asylum procedures, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 1 July 2009
at the 1062nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.
142 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards
relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers, UNHCR, 26 February 1999, Guidelines 2 and 3.
143 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Conclusion No. 44 (XXXVII) Detention of Refugees and
Asylum-Seekers, ExCom, UNHCR, 37th Session, 1986, para. B.
144 Id.; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Conclusion No. 85 (XLIX) International Protection,
ExCom, UNHCR, 49th Session, 1998, para. (w); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Revised
Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers, Guideline 3.
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