By: V4 Agency
The risk that migrants may become infected with Covid-19 in their countries of origin counts as sufficient reason to grant them humanitarian protection, even if they had been denied asylum on political or other grounds, a court in Milan has ruled.
Immigrants who have not received asylum on either political or other grounds could be granted “humanitarian protection” in Italy, if their return to their countries of origin carries the risk of them getting infected with novel coronavirus, further increasing their vulnerability with regards to the limited healthcare resources and the uncertainty of food supplies, as well as social tensions and the economic crisis, Corriere della Sera writes, citing a recent ruling by the court of Milan.
The decision means that authorities must evaluate each application on a case-by-case basis. Whether a particular country of origin is deemed risky is determined with the help of the “Inform Epidemic Global Risk Index”, which has been established by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre based on around one hundred risk factors.