ROME, AUGUST 5 – The humanitarian corridors program restarts with new ambitions. A new protocol was signed today between the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI), the Tavola Valdese and the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs for the entry into Italy of another thousand refugees currently hosted in Lebanon through the internationally recognized best practice that has been replicated with similar initiatives in France, Belgium, Andorra and San Marino.
Signing the agreement were Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant’Egidio, Luca Maria Negro, president of FCEI, Alessandra Trotta, moderator of the Tavola Valdese, Luigi Maria Vignali, Director General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Prefect Michele di Bari, head of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration.
Thanks to the first agreements of 2015 and 2017, more than 2,000 refugees (mostly families and individuals in vulnerable conditions from Syria) have already arrived safely and legally in Italy, with an entirely self-financed project that not only saves them from traffickers and risky journeys in the Mediterranean, but also facilitates their integration in our country.
The beneficiaries of the new agreement, lasting two years, will be selected by the signatory associations in Lebanon and other transit countries affected by humanitarian emergencies.
“Five years have passed since the first protocol that established the humanitarian corridors and many things have changed due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the migratory crisis has worsened,” said Impagliazzo, noting that the agreement, signed a year after the terrible explosion that devastated Beirut, “represents a sign of hope for Lebanon as well and aims to meet the needs of a country that is going through a serious political, economic and social crisis and that, despite this, continues to receive the highest number of refugees compared to the population”.
According to Negro of FCEI, the signing of a further protocol for the creation of humanitarian corridors “confirms the validity of a simple intuition of six years ago: the opening of legal, safe and sustainable routes is the most effective alternative to deaths at sea and human trafficking. Therefore, as evangelical churches, we will continue to work with our partners in Europe to pressure their governments to expand legal and safe routes of entry into their countries.” (@OnuItalia)
