Another 75 Syrian refugees have landed at Fiumicino Airport from Beirut thanks to the “Humanitarian Corridor” pilot project. It is the fifth group that arrives in Italy, safely and legally, since last February following the agreement signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of the Interior, the Comunità di Sant’Egidio, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI) and Tavola Valdese (The Waldensian Church). Another group of 53 people is scheduled to arrive on 25 October, for a total of 407 migrants, mostly Syrian and with a large number of children, who have reached Italy through “humanitarian corridors”. About 1,000 migrants are expected to arrive over the next two years not only from Lebanon but also from Morocco and Ethiopia.
As with previous arrivals, the refugees will be hosted by a network of homes and reception centres spread throughout the peninsula. The refugees belong to twelve family units from Homs, Damascus, Aleppo or Latakia, who will be hosted in Luserna San Giovanni, Turin, Padua and Reggello.
The humanitarian corridor initiative aims to implement a short-term humanitarian approach, which provides a higher level of protection to the most vulnerable migrants (especially women and children), but also a longer-term pre-established integration plan. The plan is implemented in conjunction with local administrations in order to assure a fair distribution of refugees over the national territory and to make the welfare system sustainable.
