Migrants recount mistreatment in Italy's detention centres
This week, the first group of migrants intercepted in Italian waters arrived in Albania as part of Rome's controversial scheme to process asylum seekers outside the EU. The migrants will be held in pre-repatriation detention centres, known as CPRs. Such centres, which are managed by private companies, have existed in Italy for several years and are severely criticised by human rights defenders, who say migrants there are mistreated. Our Italy correspondent Natalia Mendoza reports, with Tommaso Marro, Simone Bauducco and Charlotte Davan Wetton.
In 2022, the regional European office of the WHO published a report drawing attention to the increased health risks – both physical and mental – for migrants held in these CPRs. As this report shows, some inmates are given psychotropic drugs against their will, while living conditions are unsanitary.
Despite this, the Italian government, led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is determined to keep using the CPRs in a bid to tackle illegal immigration.