"It is dangerous for the public to get the message that migrants are an emergency," said Amnesty International Italy spokesperson Riccardo Noury said on Wednesday.
"Urgent measures at the attention of the government should instead concern the strengthening of reception facilities, which must be adequately equipped to assist migrants and asylum seekers, with particular attention to vulnerable groups" such as survivors of torture and abuse, victims of trafficking and unaccompanied children, he added.
Italy's leading trades union confederation CIGL separately described the move as "disproportionate and unnecessary".
"It is just propaganda aimed at distracting public opinion away from the country's most urgent problems," Confederal Secretary Tania Scacchetti said in a statement.
"The increase in sea arrivals cannot be addressed by creating new centres for repatriation and hypothetical expulsions.
"The history of the last two decades teaches us that this is an inhumane and totally ineffective way to deal with an issue that is not an emergency, but one that deserves other policies both at European level and at the level of single states, first and foremost to change the global imbalances that create victims, refugees and desperate people in search of a better life," she said.
Riccardo Magi of opposition party + Europa said the declaration of a state of emergency was "an admission by the Meloni government of its total inability to manage migratory flows", adding that it risks violating the rights of migrants and refugees already facing "precarious conditions" in Italy.
"In fact, the government will be able to identify facilities to be used as reception centres and entities that will manage them in derogation of ordinary rules with reception standards that are lower than the minimum provided for," he said.
Government sources claim Tuesday's declaration of a state of emergency makes it possible to ensure more effective and timely responses in terms of the management of migrants and their accommodation on national territory with the involvement of the Civil protection department and the Italian Red Cross.
At the same time, the same sources emphasise, the structures aimed at the repatriation of those not entitled to stay in Italy (CPRs) will be increased and strengthened, enhancing identification and expulsion activities.
For the activation and start-up of the first urgent measures, five million euros have been allocated from the National Emergencies Fund.
ANSA
