Author
According to Article 12(2-bis) of the Procedure Decree, the CNDA may designate countries for the nationals of which the personal interview can be omitted, on the basis that subsidiary protection can be granted (see Regular Procedure: Personal Interview). As of May 2026, the CNDA has not yet designated such countries.
The issue of the Safe Country of Origin decrees has directly affected the treatment and prerogatives of asylum applicants whose nationalities are indicated by the decrees. As seen above, the list now includes Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Morocco, Montenegro, Peru, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.
Out of the main 5 nationalities of asylum applicants in 2025, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco, 4 are on the national safe country of origin list. The rejections rates in 2025 for nationals of Bangladesh, Egypt and Morocco were significantly high, standing, respectively, at 88.6%, 83.30% and 90.18 %. The rejection rate for Peruvian citizens stood at 78.84%.
In practice, as already highlighted in the section regarding Registration, some nationalities face more difficulties in accessing the asylum procedure, both at hotspots and at Questure. In 2025, according to ASGI’s experience, similar difficulties persisted. By the end of 2025 and in the first months of 2026, in Trieste, many people from Nepal were de facto denied to access the asylum procedure. They had to file urgent appeals to the Civil Court in order to obtain access to the asylum procedure. The Civil Court of Trieste upheld all the appeals and ordered the Questura to start the asylum procedure.[1] In some cases, the interim decision on the appeal convinced Questura to allow the access to the procedure, then the Court could close the case.[2]
On 30 March 2023, the ECHR condemned Italy for the violation of Article 4 Protocol 4 for the removal to Tunisia of 4 Tunisian nationals who were removed to Tunisia after being placed in de facto detention in the Lampedusa hotspot without proper regard to their individual situation.[3]
[1] Civil Court of Trieste, decision no. 5434/2025 of 13 December 2025; decision no. 4780/2026 of 18 June 2026.
[2] Civil Court of Trieste decision of 30 May 2026.
[3] J. and others v. Italy, Application no. 21329/18, 30 March 2023, available at HUDOC: bit.ly/42TBqVD.