Global – Migrant shipwreck. Centro Astalli: a massacre, urgent measures needed
Specifically, the request
of the Jesuits committed to the side of migrants and refugees is to "stop
funding to Libya in order to allocate it to policies that allow for legal and
safe migration" and "open legal routes of entry into Europe," in
order to allow "an alternative to human trafficking."
There are at least 20 women
and 2 children among the 57 victims of the shipwreck that occurred yesterday
off the coast of Libya. A drama that, according to the International
Organization for Migration, raises to almost a thousand the estimate of deaths
in the central Mediterranean for the year 2021. For this reason, in a note,
Centro Astalli expresses "deep sorrow" for the "tragic
death" of all these people and defines "unbearable" "the
immobility and indifference of European governments and EU institutions".
Faced with "the considerable increase in the number of victims in the last
year", in fact, it is not considered "urgent and priority to activate
the necessary measures to end the massacre of migrants".
Relations with Libya
Specifically, the Center
calls for: "stop funding to Libya in order to allocate it to policies that
allow legal and safe migration"; and "open legal entry routes for
migrants who want to arrive in Europe", in order to allow "an
alternative to human trafficking". The European Union, insists the note,
"must activate structural entry policies and for significant numbers of
migrants to be distributed fairly among Member States".
Moreover, Centro Astalli asks the Italian Parliament to approve "in a short time" the bill "Ero straniero - L'umanità che fa bene" (I was a foreigner - Humanity that does good), concerning new rules for the promotion of regular residence and social and work inclusion of non-EU foreign citizens. Presented to the Chamber of Deputies in October 2017, this proposal is "supported by a large part of civil society that has been asking for a long time and without rest to invest in the rights and dignity of migrants".
"Remaining to watch condemns many people
to death - concludes Father Camillo Ripamonti president of Centro Astalli - We
ask national and supranational institutions to regain possession of their main
task: to guarantee rights and human promotion through respect for the life and
freedom of every human being".
It should be remembered that Centro Astalli is the Italian branch of the Jesuit Refugee Service-JRS. For about 40 years it has been engaged in activities and services aimed at accompanying, serving and defending the rights of those who arrive in Italy fleeing from war and violence, not infrequently from torture.
Source: Vatican News
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