Per la libertà di movimento, per i diritti di cittadinanza

Some news concerning Regularization – 2002 pardon

1) PASSPORT

A complete copy of all the pages of the foreign worker applying for pardon valid to expatriation document (passport) needs to be enclosed to the regularization application.
There is only a problem that goes together with the stamps printed on the passport, in fact there could be printed entry dates subsequent to June 10, these may cause interpretative misunderstandings (which we hope are to be cleared in future memos).

WHAT HAPPENS IN CASES OF SOMEONE NOT HOLDING A PASSPORT
Not holding a passport is very a serious problem because news spreading out in these days says that many embassies haven’t even issued consular identification certificates and it is not clear so far whether these certificates can be used instead of the passport or not while applying for regularization.
Good sense allows us to believe that it should be considered valid, ALL previous pardons accepted that certificate. Embassies do not usually issue passports neither they renew documents in case the person asking for renewal hasn’t got the state in which he/she lives residence papers.
The only document usually given is the consular certificate.
Pardon application forms say that a valid to expatriation document needs to be enclosed but it may happen that a so called clandestine hasn’t got a passport either because he/she lost it, got it stolen or simply for his/her own choice.
Recent news only says that some Prefuttura’s officers declared that the above said certifications cannot anyway be used not even temporarily. This statement comes out the fact that in Internal Minister Sept. 9 2002 law decree nothing is said about certificates or absence of documents.
Alarming news says that some embassies are even denying consular identification certificates (i.e. Rumenian and Russian embassies).
This is worrying because people working without passport could be left out from regularization.

What is the consular identification certificate?
It is a certificate provided with picture temporarily issued to foreign citizens lacking of any valid to expatriation document. It is a temporarily document usually given to people abroad and urging to return home. It is a document valid only to repatriation: it cannot be used to leave one own country, it can only be used to get back travelling eventually through third countries.

EXPIRED PASSPORT
It is anyway an internationally recognized document.
This happens because no international agreement ever talks of expiration date nor they talk of period of validity. In addition to that, any foreigner holding an expired passport, can be easily repatriated even without the need of having the consular identification certificate released by his/her qualified embassy.
Therefore, we don’t see any reason why an expired passport shouldn’t be considered (at least temporarily) a valid ID at the moment of applying for regularization.

I SUGGEST not to pretend that your passport got lost in case of printed entry or exit stamps because it may cause problems instead of solving them. The prints on the passport problems can be solved by correct Internal Minister instructions (which we will soon arrive) and not by losing the document because, as said above, we doubt that people simply holding a consular identification certificate will manage to complete their regularization application forms.

We suggest to all not holding a passport and being in a rush to apply for regularization to enclose anyway the consular identification certificate.

We suggest to all holding an expired passport to enclose anyway a copy of the whole expired document.

ALL those issues are still doubtful because Internal Minister hasn’t explained any of the instructions so far.

2) CONTRAUCTUAL TYPOLOGIES ALLOWING REGULARIZATION

– full time contracts: workers are usually engaged 40 hours a week.
– open-ended contracts: they have no fixed time limit.
– forward contracts: these cannot last less than one year.
– part-time contracts: both regularization application forms ask to clearly express the weekly working schedule (hours weekly worked). Only limit fixed is income. Even if the contract is limited in hours, minimum wage is 490 euros a month.
– vertical and horitontal part time contracts: regularization forms leave out these two kinds of contract.
– horizontal contracts: on basis of an employee-employer agreement, a worker is all week long employed only “half of a regular working day”.
– vertical contracts: employers are full time working during a limited period of time i.e. six months. This is basically the same working relation as horizontal contracts.

NO temporary employment bureau jobs can be regularized.

Firms have no employee number limits.
Suspicions might rouse and inspection may come in case firms, having no regular employees hired, present dozens of regularization applications. Thinking that a firm sells regularization chances is legitimate.
I suggest not to trust those unreliable ones offering ang selling dear chanches to regularization which have no hope in being accepted.

3) LABOUR COOPERATIVES
Labour cooperative workers are a particular working case because, generally speaking, only PARTNERS are expected workers of a cooperative. This peculiar contractual obbligation among workers and cooperatives (the partnership relation) depicts the working relation as independent.

Self-employment cannot apply for regularization.
Anyway recently a law decree concerning labour cooperatives has deeply changed working conditions.
We are talking about law decree no. 142/2001 which says that APART from partnership contracts (with which workers join the cooperative) a specific working contract must be separately signed and in most cases this is a real subordinate work contract.
Insofar as a cooperative can (must in most cases) draw up ALSO subornate work contract with its partners, we are entitled to believe that also regularizing still employed migrant workers should be possible. This should be possible because workers would be regularized by signing a partenship contract and a subordinate work one.

Technically speaking explaining labour cooperatives situation would take long, because law decree no. 142/2001 says that there’s a limited time period (expired June 30 – probably extended to December 30 2002) during which cooperatives should endow themselves with a specific set of rules that settles contract typologies between cooperatives and partners.
Cooperatives are entitled to sign subordinate work contracts and also self-employment ones but this is not left to one own will.
It depends on the real working relation and typology.
I.e.: removers cooperatives have usually fixed working timetables, people usually work in teams, … these are hardly thikable as self-employment jobs instead of subordinate ones.
Scrupulous in following the above quoted law decree cooperatives will be able to regularize their foreign employees not holding visas. They will manage to have both a a partenship contract and a subordinate work one.

IMPORTANT In order to sign any contract, labour cooperative should be provided with the set of rules aked by law decree 142/2001. A partners’ meeting should be held and the set should be approved of.

An interview with Cosenza’s (Calabria) Immigrati Informa Service

These days are busy ones for Informa Immigrati Service, which is being filled up with questions, offices become a desires pool. Migrants bet on their right to exist.
Cuopples speaking a cosentinian Italian and dressing tran-Siberian colours knock at that door. He’s asking some information about her regularization. Suspicious employers, desperate migrants and exploited people pass by the offices.
Situated on a side of a square that everyone in Cosenza nowadays call “Warsaw Square” in honour of the Polish workers meeting there every Thursday, the service is run by a twenty years old association founded by migrant citizens. Recently Provincial Administration decided to help out the opening of a public counter.
Mrs Merli Capulong is the President of the association and also is responsible for the counselling agency.
Mrs Capulong, in Cosenza, very few managers have so far deciced to have their Italian workers come out from conceiled working situation. Why should “young masters” or “owner-drivers” regularize foreign house helpers and health care assistants?
“Because this pardon, unlike previous ones, despite some some obscure aspects, offers a less complicated path to regularization. In the past migrants had to prove their presence in Italy during a stated period of time. Nowaday, employers do not need to give in any piece of information concerning their income. The path is someway easier.”
Informaimmigrati yesterday reported of “scruppleless mediators”. It’s well known that migrant citizens coming from Eastern Europe are kept shut in warehouses in Cosenza’s decayed suburbs, they are in some ways sequestrated. Why aren’t authorities doing anything about this situation?
“The problem is complex. The truth is that many contradictions do exit within qualified authorities. Foreign house helpers are actually employed by families coming from different ranks of society, …”
It seems that in “European” Cosenza some migrant girls were ordered exclusion even though they did report of the violence suffered. Is it possible that the so called clandestines live a situation in which they become “non-men” and “non-women”?
“Yes, it is indeed possible. Some migrants simply disappear and noone happens to learn anything about them. Sometimes it often happens that dubious people work within some solidarity associations and work out worsing the situation. By the way, it is easier to enact an exclusion order rather than making an enquiry about what migrants report.”
Mrs Capulong, can you tell us approximately how many people are to be involved in this year pardon?
“This pardon involves a number of people at least three or four times greater compared to previous ones. Giving numbers is very hard, but we believe we are talking thousands.”

Many worlds, Sept. 26

From Bologna a report by Domenico Mucignat, Migrants group, concerning the situation in which some Rumenian workers without residence papers are living.
During this pardon police did many roundups that interested the so called clandestine workers who were ordered exclusions some of which were forced ones.

“Bologna, Sept. 19 2002, 6:00 a.m.: 68 Rumenian citizens were stopped by Police and taken to their Headquarters in Bologna. From that morning on long days were to come during which 31 people received exclusion orders.

But we need to go back in time before telling what recently happened.
Rumenian citizens, stopped on Thursday morning, had been living for 5 or 6 months in a shantytown built near Reno river, Borgo Pangale neighbourhood, with objects and materials found by chance. 120 people lived there, the most of them were men but there also were women – 10 – and children. Almost all of them were employed in building trade under the system of corporalship: every morning at 5:00 some “corporals” would come near the shantytown to choose the ones who would have worked that day in building yards around Bologna for only 5 euros a hour.
The shantytown was unlivable, with no running water, no sanitary fittings nor anything brought there by local institutions in order to render the Rumenian workers lives acceptable.
Institutions chose not to intervene, ignoring the shantytown that looked so much like South-Americans favelas until one day Neighbourhood President, Loris Roppa DS, called for Police intervention in the name of “humanitarian reasons”. Prefettura and Police Headquarters chose to head a roundup against the shantytown on Thursday morning, many Rumanian citizens got away with the roundup because they already were inside the corporals’ vans that take them to the yards. The shantytown was being destroyed by bulldozers within few hours and 68 Rumenian citizens were taken to Police Headquarters from which they got out only 24 hours later in different ways.
All of them had their passport, noone was being charged of anything, but what then happened to each of them is different: 31 were immediately excluded, 10 receivde exclusion papers that say they should be leaving Italy within 5 days, 22 hold papers in order to apply for regularization, 2 women couldn’t be excluded because they need to substain three underage children.

The most incredible thing is that institutions only thought of holding those people and destroying the shantytown. The Council didn’t do anything about this situation, the neighbourhood – ruled by left wing parties – used typical measures by calling Police with the only solution of moving to another city area the problem instead of involving other boards, associatios, unions or Bologna’s movement to find a real humanitariar way out of the shantytown.

On Thursday morning Bologna Social Forum held a permant sit-in in front of Police Headquarters with the aim of showing everyone what was going on in Bologna, of avoiding to the most the exclusion order with the aid of law advisors and giving an accomodation to the ones not being excluded. Today almost 20 Rumenian people are being hosted in the rooms of CS Ex Mercato.”

The next day 30 disobedients of Bologna went to Guglielmo Marconi airport from which – news were spreading out – some Rumenians were to be repatriated, while 10 Albanian citizens were to be taken to Bologna’s detention centre. It was a pacific action, fliers were handed out and some talked to other passengers while the others blocked Albanian and Rumanian air companies check-ins paralysing for one hour the non-Schengen hall. (the action held had the goal of reporting the cruel methods used to put an end to the struggle for a better life that people fight when they run away from the poverty of their land where – from what we understand talking to the Rumenians living in Borgo Panigale – future has no hopes). Troubles caused to the two air companies and to the quiet international airport routine gave body to the will of applying sanctions from below to transportation companies that accept to deport human beings and to all facilities – such as airports – giving aid. Guglielmo Marconi’s administrative offices created inside the airport facilities a small detention centre, a few square metres room where clandestines are kept for days all together sleeping on the ground before being repatriated.

Police roundup opened the Bossi-fini law enactment in Bologna, a law that will dramatically work against migrants’ lives in our territories. It is necessary that the issued “signed” by the Humanity Pact in Treviso find a practical way to free from repatriation the most of migrants. Helping migrants without papers to stay in self defended areas – such as social centres – finding juridical ways to go round the law, organizing actions that apply sanctions against those who build and run detention centres, against transportation companies who take clandestines home are all measures that boycot the law and save migrants from the law.

Citizenships, Sept. 26

Corpses are still appearing, dead bodies drawned a few metres from Sicilian shores. And these are still called “sea tragedies”. But there couldn’t be a worst definition. These are hypocrisy, ignorance and exclusion tragedies. We are talking about people, coming from non Eu countries, running away from hunger, war or for a better dignified future and urging to Europe. First stop Italy.
The latest event occurred in Ragusa concerns Tunisian boys. They had a dream, living steady in Italy, a job and what comes with it. Present pardon could be seen as an opportunity, that’s way they left and tried their best to reach Italy.
We shall try to analyze what’s happening more than giving the news.

Illegal migration routes moved to Sicilian shores as an effect to the stricter rules allowing to halt sea “tubs” with clandestine on board, as an effect to magistrateship investigations which scared fishermen that once used to help and report to harbour offices clandestines having problems and as an effect to repression held mainly in Lampedusa. Going to Sicily is much a longer and tougher journey than going to Lampedusa or Pantelleria. In addition, autumn and winters storms many human being will loose their lives. It doesn’t really matter that this time the boat didn’t capsize, but what counts is that the person driving the boat, after having left at sea his human beings cargo, veering back to the departing harbour was stopped by naval officers.
What comes out of it doesn’t change, there still are corpes at shore, injured in hospitals, some of them are serious ones, and the future is going to worsen.

Deaths, increasing deaths, caused either by “tubs” sinking or by tub drivers throwing people at sea, the result (and the causes) don’t change. Fortress Europe self-defence, enclosure of legal borders, boats being halted make more and more violent the men’s driving the tubs reaction. Victims are as usual the weaker ones. At the moment Italian Government and Internal Minister are projecting a three points plan in order to halt disembarkment at Italian shores.
The majority is still divided.
Lega Nord wants to rule with an iron hand but AN offers to start off the decree concerning immigrant flows in 2002, which hasn’t started yet in the complete carelessness of law. A decree that woul allow legal entry to a certain number of immigrants. Better than nothing. An arm wrestling may start between Lega Nord and the rst of the Government on these subject, as usual Berlusconi will put an end to all the quarrels going on. Someone could make jokes at this but the game played cornerns people’s lives.

Dr. Rosanna Marcato, Venice Council Immigrants Service, suggests us some reflexions.

The result of Sicilian shores deaths is actually increasing, the lives of thousands clandestines and asylum seekers arrived recently or not disembarked in Italy are tragically worsening, the job of those trying to save what can be saved of the lives of the people exposed to the tough times law gives is also getting harder and harder. Law is even denying the bulwark of fundamental rights. Helping people having problems at sea seemed to be one of those but today fishermen giving aid are being investigated upon.

Asylum right, which has always been sanctioned, is at the present situation being suspended as well the meetings of Central Comitee that accept the asylum seeker status are being suspended and when called the few cases considered always receive denial of acceptance. Grants-in-aid given out by Prefettura, humanitarian visas are being suspended. Asylum National Project first acommodation aid centres received little loans, this invalidates the first nationwide project on first aid sleeping centres, the only project that’s ever tried to find an answer in terms of services and rationalization of intervention. The right to free movement is a priviledge granted only to Westner world few ones:
Labour rights are being suspended with the actual pardon, which is not a pardon and you can tell by the fact the employers longing for the regularization of their employees are few at the moment.
These are just some examples but they should be enough to understand the present situation in which the dozens of deaths and the hundreds of unknown corpes at sea, but not only, wedged into. Many people, in fact, die when enter in Italy inside a truck or inside containers.
This is the same reading the Government gives. Two AN members of Parliament speeches openly show the new law spirit. Those two say: “Bossi-Fini law works and if deaths occur it means that the law is working in prosecuting those ones who have no scrupples in throwing people at sea not to be arrested”
A good law the ones that in oder to be brought into act assumes some hundreds or thousands of deaths.
Media create confusion between clandestines and asylum seekers, they don’t explain the real cause of wrecks. Fulvio Vassallo says that are to be found somewhere else: in the traders of the country from which asylum seekers come, sometimes paid by goverments who look forward to sending some people away, often coming from different ethny groups opposing institutional powers, people with no land; embassies are also responsible for working so badly and for not granting “a minimal ethics” which is to say there’s widespread acknowledged corruption going on. The halt put to legal entries by Maroni is also responsible of the present situation.

On Tuesday No Borders association and M21 Comitee reported to Public Prosecutor’s office a petition forwarded to Maroni and Berlusconi charging them of negligence because they didn’t enact an entries decree for year 2002.
Not having prepared a decree, the petition say, helped mafia running migrants trade from Anatolia, Mediterrean sea and also From Northen and Central Africa. The absence of legal entries and the real need of workers increase human trade.
Internal Minister declares the same numbers: 14042 illegal entries during 2002 first 7 months, 10565 during the whole 2001. Growing international tension , the dangerous Palestinian situation, civil wars, environmetal disasters in countries that are inducing huge numbers of people to move away to find survival.
This is not an Italian problem, it is also a European one.
Europe, scared of its own international politics consequences, closes its borders and grants to members the right to bring into act laws on matter of immigration damaging to fundamental human rights, which we thought belonging to everyone.
First of all the right to live.