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Italian churches call for new response to Europe’s migrant crisis

Protestant and Catholic churches in Italy have joined in releasing a statement calling for changes in the response to Europe’s migration crisis including the extension of “humanitarian corridors” and the opening of new legal pathways for entry.

The declaration, titled Let’s Remain Human, was released this week by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, the Italian Episcopal Conference, Waldensian Board, and the Community of Sant’Egidio, according to a report on the World Council of Churches’ website.

Migrants in Europe

 

PICTURE: Sean Hawkey/WCC

It called for changes in the way the issue has been handled.

“We regret and are dismayed by the superficial and repetitive rhetoric which, for months now, has been used in relation to the theme of global migration, and which loses sight of the fact that, behind the migrant flows, landings and statistics, there are men, women and children who are denied their fundamental human rights: in the countries from which they are fleeing and, indeed, in the countries through which they transit, such as Libya, where they end up in detention camps where they struggle to survive,” it said.

“To point the finger at them as though they were a threat to our well-being, to define them as potential criminals or freeloaders in our reception system is to betray the story of immigrants – Italians included – who, by contrast, have contributed to economic, social and cultural growth in so many countries.”

The statement said it was “time to change our language and act” with regard to immigration, including saving those who are in danger, extending humanitarian corridors and opening new legal pathways for entry.

The humanitarian corridors – which opened in Italy for the first time in 2016 bringing vulnerable people directly from Libya to Italy – should be more widely adopted after a successful test phase, the churches said.

“The test phase is long past and the results, positive in so many respects, are clear for all to see. It would therefore be a good thing to switch to widespread use of this model, which saves human beings from people-smugglers and fosters integration.”

Figures from the International Organization for Migration show that as of 21st January this year, some 200 people had lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea since the start of the year. In 2018, some 2,297 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean while 116,959 people reached Europe by sea.

 

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