Author
Decree Law 13/2017, implemented by L 46/2017, has clarified that access to CPR is guaranteed under the same conditions as access to prisons. This means that the Guarantor for the rights of detained persons and parliamentarians, among other official bodies, has unrestricted access to CPR.
As CPR and eventually hotspots are places where asylum applicants are detained, Article 7 (2) of the Reception Decree applies. It states that UNHCR or organisations working on its behalf, family members, lawyers assisting asylum applicants, organisations with consolidated experience in the field of asylum, and representatives of religious entities also have access to CPR.[1] Access can be limited for public order and security reasons or for reasons related to the administrative management of the centres but not fully impeded.[2]
However, the regulation of CPRs requires an authorisation from the competent Prefecture for family members, NGOs, representatives of religious entities, journalists and any other person who make the request to enter CPR.[3] Prefectures apply the regulation of CPR significantly restricting the scope of the guarantees provided by Law 46/2017 and by Reception decree.
Access to CPR for journalists is also quite difficult. They have to pass through two different stages before gaining authorisation to visit the CPR. Firstly, they need to make a request to the local prefecture (the local government representative), which then forwards the request to the Ministry of Interior who investigates the applicant, before finally sending the authorisation back to the Prefecture.
Access to CPRs and hotspots for rights organisations and civil society remains problematic in practice and has often led to litigation in front of national Courts.
Regarding litigation on access to CPRs in previous years, see previous updates to this country report, available here. In January 2023, Lombardy’s TAR clarified that, regardless of the rules of their statutes, associations that promote the protection of fundamental rights, certified through previous experience, can have access to CPRs, cancelling the Milan Prefecture’s previous refusal of access to the Milan CPR by a local association.[4]
The precautionary ruling of the Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy (Brescia section) No. 1164/2025 annulled the decision by which the Prefecture of Bergamo had denied ASGI access to “suitable facilities” used for the temporary detention of foreign nationals pending removal. Although in this case the Court identified a procedural flaw concerning the failure to provide prior notice of rejection, the case raises broader questions regarding access to facilities that, despite not being formally classified as CPRs, perform the same function of restricting personal liberty. The ruling highlights that, under Italian law, these facilities must be subject to the same procedural safeguards as CPRs, including external monitoring by civil society organisations and rights-protection bodies. The Prefecture’s refusal, based on security, privacy, and organisational concerns, was considered problematic because transparency and independent oversight are essential to safeguarding the dignity and fundamental rights of detained persons. The decision may therefore contribute to recognising the role of organisations such as ASGI in monitoring all places where migrants are deprived of their liberty, including facilities outside the formal CPR system.[5]
Persons detained in airport transit zones have extremely limited possibilities of contacting organisations, protection bodies, family members and lawyers, as their access to such areas is strictly limited. The obstacles put in place by border authorities to reduce outsiders’ access to transit areas result in a series of violations, among which to the right to information, the right to defence (it is often impossible for detainees to physically contact a lawyer), and effective access to judicial protection. Moreover, the lack of access of civil society to these areas makes them almost invisible to public opinion. Furthermore – while it is difficult for the outside world to enter the transit zones, the authorities do not take any measures to ensure that detained persons can communicate outwardly. On the contrary, on numerous occasions third country nationals are informally deprived of their mobile phones and appointed lawyers have often been denied entry on the basis that these areas are considered as ‘sterile’, meaning that only certain categories of persons may have access, as they are considered of an extraterritorial nature.[6]
As of November 2019, ASGI asked access to the transit zones, but the competent authorities never answered the request.[7] In January 2021, ASGI sent a new request to access to the transit zones of Malpensa airport and Rome Fiumicino airport. The Central Directorate of Immigration and Border Police at the Ministry of the Interior rejected the request, arguing that the regulations provided for CPRs do not apply to transit zones.[8] The appeal lodged by ASGI against the negative decision of the Department of Public Security not to authorise the visit of a delegation of the association to the transit areas of the Rome-Fiumicino and Milan-Malpensa airports, led to sentence No. 3392/2023 of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, which recognised the detention nature of such areas and consequently the right of civil society to conduct visits there.[9]
[1] Article 7(2) Reception Decree.
[2] Article 7(3) Reception Decree.
[3] Article 6 (4) and (5) Moi Decree 20 October 2014
[4] ASGI, ‘I diritti umani devono entrare nei CPR!’, 19 January 2023, available in Italian at: https://rb.gy/lxw29j.
[5] ASGI, Il diritto della società civile di accedre ai “locali idonei”: la sentenza del TAR Lombardia, January 2026, available here.
[6] ASGI, Le zone di transito aeroportuali come luoghi di privazione arbitraria della liberta, January 2021, available in Italian at: https://bit.ly/3wjvmIG.
[7] ASGI, In Limine Project, 18 February 2020, see: https://cutt.ly/6yO5rMM.
[8] ASGI, ‘Accesso della società civile alle zone di transito aeroportuali: il diniego della pubblica amministrazione’, 16 April 2021, available in Italiana at: https://rb.gy/ji6und.
[9] ASGI, ‘Le zone di transito aeroportuale di Roma Fiumicino e Milano Malpensa: posizionamento e monitoraggio di ASGI’, 6 December 2023, available in Italian at: https://lc.cx/2qjkl3.