“Italy proposes to Europe to accept those in need of humanitarian protection on a larger scale in order to receive and integrate them”
C. Rubini CTC, Vatican News
Marco Impagliazzo, President of the Sant’Egidio community, welcomed the 152 Afghan refugees who arrived this morning from Pakistan through the humanitarian corridors thanks to the code of conduct of the Italian government and the cooperation of the Italian Embassy in Islamabad, saying that Italy should lead the humanitarian corridors in Europe and should no longer be proposed to the European Union as an experimental project but as a concrete one.
Giuseppe Bathuri, Secretary General of the Italian Bishops’ Committee, Libero Ciuffreda, FCEI Council member, and Filippo Mirallia, National Immigration Manager of the RC, were also present to receive the refugees.
Impagliaso told them that in August 2021, when Afghanistan’s borders were closed, they had not forgotten them, recalling the promise they had made that they would not be forgotten, and that they were happy to welcome them today by preparing a home for them, and to help them build a common future here in Italy.
Afghan nationals who have been refugees in Pakistan for more than a year will be accepted by organizations, monasteries, communities and individual citizens in various Italian regions. The aim is to send minors to schools, teach Italian to others, and then work on refugee permits.
More than 5,300 refugees have arrived in Europe, of which more than 1,800 are Ukrainian citizens. They are welcomed by the Sant’Egidio community in various European countries. More people from Lebanon and Libya are expected to arrive in Rome in the coming days.
