The rights of migrants to the identification of their dead: an attempt at an identification strategy from Italy

• Published in: International journal of legal medicine Vol. 137; no. 1; pp. 145 - 156
• Main Authors: Cattaneo, Cristina, De Angelis, Danilo, Mazzarelli, Debora, Porta, Davide, Poppa, Pasquale, Caccia, Giulia, D’Amico, Maria Elisa, Siccardi, Cecilia, Previderè, Carlo, Bertoglio, Barbara, Tidball-Binz, Morris, Ubelaker, Douglas, Piscitelli, Vittorio, Riccio, Silvana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-01-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Autopsy; Death & dying; Disasters; Europe; Families & family life; Forensic Medicine; Forensic pathology; Human rights; Humans; Immigrants; Italy; Medical Law; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Transients and Migrants; Italy; Europe; Dead migrants; Identification strategy; Humanitarian forensic sciences; Mediterranean; Identification; Ambiguous loss
• ISSN: 0937-9827; 1437-1596
• DOI: 10.1007/s00414-022-02778-1

Europe is turning a blind eye on a humanitarian disaster unfolding at its doorsteps, with thousands of migrants dying unidentified in Mediterranean waters. Since 2014, Italy has been struggling in an almost indifferent international scenario to identify its dead migrants. Despite the lack of sufficient resources, of the difficulties in collecting post mortem data from the disseminated bodies, and of the problems of contacting and collecting ante mortem information from relatives, it has been proven, with a series of pilot studies, that not only can these bodies be identified but that relatives are also looking for their loved ones and need death certificates. This article focuses on the administrative limbo and lack of regulations obliging single states to engage in appropriate procedures to maximise identification.