Abstract

The paper examines some aspects linked to the reception of undocumented migrants who land on Italian shores. The focus is mainly on the forms of illegal deprivation of freedom which were and still are practiced in the reception Centres in Lampedusa and in other Sicilian localities: the study of the illegality of such centres is conducted through the analysis of the judicial proceedings that, at national and European level, were initiated in relation to the Centre in Lampedusa. The paper then develops some brief observations about the management of the first reception of undocumented migrants, the legal remedies in cases of illegal deprivation of freedom, and the relationship between the ECHR judgements and the national criminal justice.