MIGRATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Which are the migrants’ rights? How to define them to dignify the people who arrive in our country? How to protect them? This project focuses on the migrants’ human right, including the activities of the CRC Migrazioni e Dirittti umani, the research center that, from 2020, has been a reference point at national and international level for the research on topics related to migration and human rights.
TEAM
INIZIATIVE
MIGRATION: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPIC
Interview with Cecilia Siccardi, assistant professor of Constitutional LawÂ
Why did you develop the project “Migration and Human Rights”?
It was developed by the research center Migrations and Human Rights, founded in 2020 by Professor D’Amico with the aim to value the interdisciplinary skills of the Università degli Studi di Milano on the topic of migrations.
Why is an interdisciplinary approach necessary?
Because such a wide and complex topic cannot be studied only by one single discipline. It has to move from the understanding of the migration phenomenon to human rights and social inclusion. So, the contribution of different disciplines is necessary, such as: juridical, historical, sociological, psychological, and forensic.
What’s the value of Human Hall for the Research center?
The research center Migrations and Human Rights joined Human Hall because its activities and its approach are coherent with the ones of the Hub. It is an opportunity to widen and strengthen the interdisciplinarity: this also thanks to the chance to increase the number of partners.
Which are the goals of the project?
The project will move on two main areas: the first one, coordinated by Professor Osti, includes a course held in English about migrants’ constitutional rights from a comparative perspective. This course develops itself in the context of a new degree course in Migration studies, that will start next year. The second one, coordinated by Doctor Rossi, will study migration from an historical perspective. Sometimes we forget it, but we have been migrating since forever.Â
Why did you develop the project “Migration and Human Rights”?
It was developed by the research center Migrations and Human Rights, founded in 2020 by Professor D’Amico with the aim to value the interdisciplinary skills of the Università degli Studi di Milano on the topic of migrations.
Why is an interdisciplinary approach necessary?
Because such a wide and complex topic cannot be studied only by one single discipline. It has to move from the understanding of the migration phenomenon to human rights and social inclusion. So, the contribution of different disciplines is necessary, such as: juridical, historical, sociological, psychological, and forensic.
What’s the value of Human Hall for the Research center?
The research center Migrations and Human Rights joined Human Hall because its activities and its approach are coherent with the ones of the Hub. It is an opportunity to widen and strengthen the interdisciplinarity: this also thanks to the chance to increase the number of partners.
Which are the goals of the project?
The project will move on two main areas: the first one, coordinated by Professor Osti, includes a course held in English about migrants’ constitutional rights from a comparative perspective. This course develops itself in the context of a new degree course in Migration studies, that will start next year. The second one, coordinated by Doctor Rossi, will study migration from an historical perspective. Sometimes we forget it, but we have been migrating since forever.
Maurizio Ambrosini, Cecilia Siccardi, Filippo Rossi, Alessandra Osti, Cristina Cattaneo, lorenzo franceschetti
MIGRATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS;
AN ESSENTIAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Speaks Alessandra Osti, Associate Professor of Comparative Public Law, and Filippo Rossi, Assistant Professor of History of Medieval and Modern Law
Why to put together migrations and human rights?
Rossi – Migrations and human rights are fundamental elements in the development of the society. The topic of migrations is the one in which inclusivity – or better, non-inclusivity – manifests itself in an obvious way. In this context stands out the concept of “other”, as something more affected by intersectional discrimination and with less rights.
Migrations and Human Rights is one of the most transversal tasks. It involves legal, historical, forensic disciplines…
Rossi – The way in which today we look at disciplines is restrictive because it seems to be too taxonomic. The sector-specific perspectives turned out to be inadequate to understand and solve concrete problems. Human Hall project is changing this approach to develop a multidisciplinary system and create a synthesis of skills.
Osti – Often an overall picture is missing. To cope with different realities allow us to better understand the aim of our studies. In my case, for instance, it is important to know the historical origins of phenomenon and their evolution too.
How comparative law and history of law support each other?
Osti – Comparison is precious because knowledge depends not only on its own legal system, but also from a confrontation with the others. It allows to create models, identify best practices, or underline common problems. From this point of view having an historical perspective is fundamental. History is a teacher: migrations are not something of new.
Rossi – The Historian of Law starts from the real beginning and isolates continuity or discontinuity lines between yesterday and today; he must explain some dynamics thanks to the principles that the past reflects on the present. Among the continuity lines, there are migrations as a relation between the arrival or transit communities and the “other”, as a foreign element to the community.
How much is important for a project so focused on a multidisciplinary approach to be part of a hub such as Human Hall?
Rossi – It isn’t important, it is essential. A multidisciplinary approach is the methodological premise to Human Hall. Speaking with the supervision of rescue at sea, with operators in reception camps, with those who identify dead people: all of this allow us to overcome the traditional taxonomy and to open up to new disciplines, able to understand completely complex phenomenon.
Osti – To analyze problems from different perspectives is a richness. One thing is studying something just because you want to know it, another is studying something being aware of practical problems concerning other disciplines. Human Hall creates bonds. It represents a new way to do research. It will have concrete consequences.
IDENTIFYING TORTURES TO SPEED UP ASYLUM APPLICATIONS
SPEAKS CRISTINA CATTANEO, FULL PROFESSOR OF FORENSIC MEDICINE
The project “Migrations and Human Rights” will deal with marks of torture. How?
The project aims to create a link between law and forensic medicine to define better protocols, able to support asylum-seekers. This, also through the recognition of marks of torture.
How does the procedure to evaluate the asylum application work today?
The application is submitted to the Prefecture, which must verify what the asylum-seeker denounces. Indeed, physical and psychological violence leaves visible marks in the seeker’s stories, and they are collected in what, in wrong words, we call “torture certificate”. However, there are two grey zones in this respect: one clinical, and the other juridical.
How can you recognize marks of torture?
The way in which people can torture and hurt others are now more devious, sneakier. Often, we think that torture leaves some visible marks, such as the ones left by battery. However, frequently, these are less visible injuries, which must be found with specific and minimally invasive techniques such as echography and spectrometry.
For instance?
Among the “subtle signs” there are all the ones of hanging. The person tortured is hanging from the ceiling or from somewhere else with their wrists tied. These awkward positions create difficulty breathing and articulations pain. Another example is the electrocution through small electrodes, sometimes on wet areas. These are discharges able to produce tremendous pain, but often they do not leave any marks. In these situations, the torture can be identified thanks to metal residues created by the electrocution. Moreover, tortures can happen through the injection of natural substances too, which usually the medical examiner doesn’t look for. I remember a specific case in which the injection, based on lime and chili, caused very little scars only. But the pain must had been very strong. Another example is forcing a person to keep their eyes open under the direct sun. How can we detect signs of torture like this one? It’s hard. But we have to do it, we have to study and find new interpretations, from which can be dependent the granting of the political asylum.
And what about the juridical “grey zone”?
It refers to the way in which law uses clinical information. The project, in collaboration with the Prefecture, will analyze the forensic diagnosis and the measures established in hundreds of cases. In this way, it will be possible to value how the “reading of the body” influenced the process to get the asylum. And also, how this path can be improved.
Well, we need a clearer protocol…
Up until today, no one has ever surveyed the jurists’ interpretation of clinical data. It is a little known and investigated phenomenon. We think that the torture certification is simple, but in the truth, it is a very complex non-mandatory path. Protocols are weak and non-homogeneous. However, they have profound effects. According to a study published by the Jama, the Journal of the American Medical Association, asylum applications are accepted in the 79-89% of the cases when a forensic evaluation is carried out. More than double the US national average of 37,5%. It means, that the possibility of receiving asylum depends on the place and on the Prefecture in which the application is submitted. This is why we need a stronger, solid, and binding protocol, with clear indicators about the signs of torture, also the less visible ones. It will be essential to train the asylum application operators from a juridical, clinical, and administrative point of view. After the analysis, this will be the next step of our project.
