The Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) on Monday reiterated criticism of Italy's immigration policy, calling for a ''wider and more articulate strategy''.Inaugurating the 58th general assembly of bishops, CEI Chairman Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, said the ''irrepressible value of every human life, its dignity and its inalienable rights'' should be the ''fundamental criteria'' with which to evaluate the arrival of illegal immigrants.
The central point of the Italy's strategy should be international cooperation, he said, adding that trying to cope with the phenomenon through ''single measures'' was ''fatally inadequate''.
''There is nobody who doesn't see that only by improving the economic and social conditions of the countries of origin of our immigrants can one stop the disruptive burden of the migratory phenomenon,'' he said.
Cardinal Bagnasco also questioned whether Italy was doing enough for immigrant integration, stressing that a job and a ''minimally decent place to live'' were ''not sufficient''.
''It's a mistake to undervalue the alarm signs that have been registered here and there in our country,'' he said. ''Immigration is a chaotic reality: if it isn't governed, it is suffered''.
The CEI chairman also stressed that it was necessary to ''avoid the formation of ethnic enclaves'' leading to a supposedly multicultural society that ''in reality is just a juxtaposition of ethnicities who don't speak to each other''.
Italy this month launched a controversial new policy of turning back boats of would-be immigrants and possible asylum seekers trying to reach the country's southernmost island of Lampedusa despite criticism from the United Nations, the Catholic Church and humanitarian organisations.
Also this month, CEI sharply criticised a new government security bill which makes illegal immigration a criminal offense, extends to six months the period immigrants and would-be asylum seekers can be kept in detention centers, authorises civilian patrols - which critics have likened to vigilante groups - and sets a maximum three-year jail term for landlords who rent to illegal aliens.
IMMIGRATION POLICY 'EFFECTIVE'
Meanwhile Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told the Senate Monday that the new immigration policy is proving an effective deterrent to illegal migration.
Under the policy, which sees a key part of a landmark accord with Libya implemented for the first time, migrants are rescued in international waters and taken back to Libya where humanitarian organisations can vet their asylum claims.
Providing figures on the so-called 'push-back' policy, Maroni said 471 migrants had been sent back to Libya from May 6 to 10, after the launch of the policy.
Boat migrations in the Mediterranean ''have pratically come to halt,'' Maroni said.
The minister said Italy would persist with the initiative ''without wavering'' because ''it is saving many lives at sea and is producing a drastic decline in arrivals'' on its southern shores.
Maroni also rebutted criticism, arguing that the initiative is ''in line with existing legislation''.
However, the UN refugee agency UNHCR says the initiative undermines access to asylum in the European Union and carries with it the risk of violating the fundamental principles enshrined in the 1951 (Geneva) Convention on refugees and other instruments of international human rights law.
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