The Italian Supreme Court has ruled that immigrants and asylum seekers may not be called “clandestines”. A term frequently used by far-right formations such as the League of Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure.
In fact, said sentence serves to settle a long dispute between said formation, currently in the Government, and the Association of Legal Studies on Immigration (Asgi) and the Naga Association, which provides legal assistance to immigrants arriving in Italy.
A legal battle that originates from a League campaign in 2016 in the town of Saronno (northern Italy), in which an “invasion” was denounced and it was proclaimed that the municipality “does not want clandestines”, alluding to the distribution of immigrants throughout the country.
The two associations had taken the far-right party to court for using that term, considering that their employment constitutes “a discriminatory nuisance.”
The trial in the first instance and on appeal ended with the conviction of the far-right party, forced to compensate both associations, and now it has come to an end with the verdict of the Supreme Court.
According to the high court, whoever comes to Italy to request asylum “cannot be called clandestine, not even in a political manifesto” and has rejected the appeal of Salvini’s party, which invoked “the right to free expression.”
“The sentence, although it refers to a matter from years ago, also says a lot about current politics, particularly about the unacceptable custom of using the term ‘clandestine’ with those who arrive in our territory,” Asgi’s lawyer denounced, Livio Neri, who has added that they are “people with a dignity that must be respected, not clandestines.”
