Call for paper - Environmental Migration
The Italian constitutional reform on the protection of the environment and the impact on migration and asylum: legal and ethical perspectives
Call for paper - Lessico di Etica Pubblica - XIII, n. 2, 2022
In recent years, a global trend of increasing recognition of the right to a healthy environment and environmental protection has emerged. The Constitutional Law No. 1 of 11 February 2022 on 'Amendments to Articles 9 and 41 of the Constitution on environmental protection' (Official Gazette No. 44 of 22 February 2022) follows this trend and approved the reform of Articles 9 and 41 of the Italian Constitution. In particular, it introduces the protection of the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, also in the interest of future generations, among the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution (Article 9), and states that economic initiative shall not damage health and the environment, along with security, freedom and human dignity (Article 41). The express reference to environment protection in the Italian Constitution paves the way for deeper reflections upon the protection to be offered to migration triggered by environmental factors, also in light of intergenerational solidarity.
▪ Will the present reform have any impacts on migration and asylum law, policy and governance in Italy? If so, to what extent will this provision influence existing provisions, including those related to migrants and international protection-seekers’ protection?
▪ Can migrants and international protection-seekers’ interest be included in the “interest of future generations” of Article 9?
▪ Do discourses of intergenerational justice, equity and solidarity have a role to play in fostering the application and interpretation of this reform in practice?
▪ What are the ethical implications of the inclusion of the interest of future generations in the Italian Constitution?
▪ How can the economic initiative and its newly established limits deal with the respect and fulfilment of migrants and international protection-seekers’ rights and what are the ethical perspective of these limits?
▪ Does a legal, solidaristic, moral and/or ethical obligation exist at the basis of the protection against environmental causes of migration?
We invite authors to explore these and other aspects of the impacts of the mentioned Constitutional reform on migration and asylum in Italy from an interdisciplinary perspective, including but not limited to, branches of law, ethics, political science and philosophy. Submissions can be either in English or Italian, and they should be no more than 8.000 words in length (including notes and references). Please, submit your manuscripts to: francesca.biondi@santannapisa.it and emanuele.rossi@santannapisa.it by the 30th October 2022