Today, Tuesday 5 March, the first 97 people who survived the hell of Libya arrived: theirs are stories of detention, violence, trafficking and exploitation. Among them there are particularly fragile people from different countries: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Palestine and Syria.
Their arrival in Italy is made possible by the protocol signed last December by the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, UNHCR Italy – UN Refugee Agency, Arci, Community of Sant’Egidio, Federation of Evangelical Churches and NIHMP, which will allow 1,500 refugees and people in need of international protection to be evacuated from Libya to Italy over three years.
The Arci network activated its Refugee Circles, dedicating part of its reception quota to lgbtqi+ people. The committees of Crema, Bologna, Chieti, Pistoia, Rome, Viterbo and Avellino will activate 13 flats for 50 people who arrived with this first flight.
It was crucial the support the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai, through 8×1000 funds, which allowed to fund the network of Arci Refugee Circles, and the support of Doctors Without Borders, which has made it possible to identify a group of people in Libya with particular health vulnerabilities, who will be followed in Italy by their medical teams.
A press conference was held in Fiumicino this afternoon, attended by Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR Representative for Italy, the Holy See and San Marino; Filippo Miraglia, Arci’s National Immigration Officer; Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Community of Sant’Egidio; Laura Lega, Head of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Ministry of the Interior; and Valentina Serra of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
“Libya is not a safe haven. From 2017 to 2023, the EU spent €71 million in funding to equip the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, including through Italian support. From 2017 to date, around 130 thousand people have been brought back to Libya; in 2023 more than 17 thousand people were intercepted” said Filippo Miraglia, Arci’s National Immigration Officer. “With the humanitarian corridors we save a few hundred people, many and many others lose their lives at sea (in 2023 alone 2250 deaths in the Mediterranean were ascertained) or remain in that hell, without having the possibility to arrive in Europe through legal and safe channels such as those put in place today”.
Anna Conti, vice president of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai, says: “The Soka Gakkai has always fought for a global pact on migration and refugees. The humanitarian corridors represent an important tool for linking the right to migration and reception that guarantees the protection of human rights to those who are forced to leave their land. Our organisation will continue to support all such activities. Promoting the Buddhist teaching of respect for the dignity of life, we will continue to turn our attention to the threats posed by global issues, placing the well-being of the planet and of every living being as the starting point and ultimate goal of all human endeavours”.
“Among the people who arrived today, there are also vulnerable patients being cared for by our teams in Libya. Thanks to the collaboration with Arci, we will continue to follow them in Italy, where they are finally safe after months spent in Libyan detention centres, amidst endless abuse and violence. It is a drop in the ocean, but one that will make a difference in the lives of these people who can now imagine a new future and receive all the care they need”, says Dr Lucia Borruso, head of the Humanitarian Corridors Project of Doctors Without Borders in Italy