Turin's CIE - International University College of Turin

P A R T E : C O N C L U S I O N
XV. BETWIXED AND BETWEEN
“History shows that it is not only senseless and cruel, but also difficult to state who is a foreigner.”
- Claudio Magris
“Recognize yourself in he and she who are not like you and me.”
- Carlos Fuentes
This research report has been a long and emotionally draining task that has taken nine months
and hundreds of volunteer hours to research and produce. There were eight people directly
involved in collating and writing the report and between us there were representatives from
four continents and six countries. As might be expected from such a diverse group, we also had
distinct and strong opinions, styles and perspectives on our subject of study, differences which
we believe made this report stronger and more rigorous. Our report aims to be empirically
sound and thorough at covering different aspects of the situation concerning Turin’s CIE and we
believe that by interviewing a broad cross-section of people we have gone some way towards
achieving our goal. Our one regret is that we were unable to interview any of the CIE staff or the
State authorities.
Although these issues have already been extensively discussed over the course of our report we
believe it important to reiterate some of the most important points that our research uncovered.
Notwithstanding any problem we raise about conditions of detention, we would like to
emphasise that our examination of these contingent issues in no way derogates from our
overarching suggestion that the wider purpose and functioning of the administrative detention
system and the existence of immigration detention structures must necessarily be examined in
the most stringent and immediate manner possible. In particular, our investigation revealed the
following problems:
I. Detainees do not take part in all extension hearings, despite the Corte di Cassazione’s
rulings in cases number 4544/2010, 10290/2010, 13117/2011, 13767/2011,
9596/2012 and 10055/2012.
II.
III.
The current Italian legal aid guarantees do not include extra support for special
cases where external consultants such as doctors or psychologists are needed to
visit detainees or to write reports.
Full linguistic assistance is not granted as a matter of right throughout the whole
legal procedure. While there are interpreters during the hearings, in the pre-trial
stage the lack of professional interpretation can impede access to justice because it
infringes on the opportunity to seek legal advice and express informed instructions
to a lawyer.
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