Access to legal assistance for asylum seekers and refugees: challenges and good practices in northern Italy

Despite the fact that migration is a topic that has been extensively covered in the literature, the right to asylum, the asylum procedure and the legal assistance necessary and essential to obtain it are often under-researched. The aim of this thesis is precisely to analyse the International and European legal framework and the Italian legal legislation on asylum, essential to understand and investigate the need for legal assistance in asylum procedures and the importance of make legal assistance widespread and accessible for the success of the application and its achievement. The thesis is inspired precisely by my experience as a curricular trainee at the Sportello RAR of the Municipality of Padua from February to April 2021. After describing the development of the international and european discipline on asylum and the Italian legal system, I analise the stages of the procedure to apply for international protection and the functioning, funding and actors of the reception system in Italy, I will describe and discuss the work of 3 services, namely the Italian Council for Refugees (CIR), operating throughout the country, specifically working with the SAI project in the city of Verona; the Sportello RAR which collaborates with SAI in Padua, and finally, the work of the NAGA organization, offering legal assistance Milan area.