Transitioning Abroad: Italy Refugees Response
By Sam Allen 5th March 2018 Culture & Society
Our guest editors Raquel Ribeiro and Daniel Pinheiro document stories of migration, particularly to their local area in Portugal, as well as examine the implications of migration and sustainable living. You can find their blog here.
When I was in Italy, in May of this year, I was encouraged to speak to the Mayor of Santorso, because this village is a good example of receiving immigrants and integrating them. And also Jessica, a Brazilian girl who is working in a refugee centere in south of Italy. Thankfully we’ve met them, and they gave us a deep overview of this subject.
Italy has received a lot of refugees for some years, already saved a lot of people on the sea, but has no system to integrate them after that… Numbers are growing every year, we can not stop it, so we need an European model to respond.
Italy could host a lot more new people, if every single town was a host. And if more countries adopt this system, we could manage the flow of immigrants and the emergency could become an opportunity. If it’s only some towns of a few countries doing this job, the emergency situations are happening all the time and the system will collapse for everyone…
It seems seeing diversity as a problem and being afraid of loosing the richness are the biggest barriers that we need to overcome for a more fair and shared world...