A total of 70 refugees from the Horn of Africa, including 13 minors, arrived in Italy on Friday through the humanitarian corridors protocol. The refugees were staying in camps in Ethiopia and suffered from worsening conditions in recent months due to the conflict in the Tigray.
A total of 70 refugees, including 13 minors, from camps in Ethiopia landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport on Friday (May 28) on a commercial flight from Addis Ababa through a humanitarian corridors project.
In recent months the refugees had suffered worsening conditions due to the conflict in the Tigray.
The humanitarian corridors project is made possible through a memorandum of understanding with the Italian government signed in 2019 by the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), and provides for the arrival of 600 vulnerable people.
"Children: many are the children who arrived at Fiumicino airport, being held by or holding hands with their mothers and volunteers," said the Community of Sant'Egidio in a statement.
"They arrived from Ethiopia, where a bloody war is underway. They won't make the sea voyage that took the lives of many of their peers. In their eyes there isn't fear, but astonishment, curiosity, joy mixed with fatigue due to the overnight journey, while in their hands they hold a bouquet of flowers that friends with the blue vests and the peace dove gave them and their mothers as soon as they got off the airplane. This is the image of today. That of the other migration. That of humanitarian corridors," it said.
Will be hosted in various cities
The 70 refugees, composed of eight families with 13 minors and 40 single people, most of whom are under 25 years old, were welcomed at Fiumicino by volunteers and some family members already living in Italy, who in some cases are already Italian citizens.
They will be hosted in various cities (Rome, Bologna, Belluno, Parma, Brisighella, Cologno Monzese, Padova, Rieti, Ancona, and Taranto) by associations, parishes, in private homes and religious institutions, with the support of Italian families who will accompany them in their journey towards social and employment integration in Italy.
This includes providing services, Italian language courses, school enrolment for the children, and medical care.
SOURCE: InfoMigrants
