The third way. Humanitarian corridors in peacetime as a (local) civil society response to a EU’s common failure

Abstract

Abstract. Migration has been and will continue to be one of the key issues for Europe in the coming decades. A growing number of potential refugees attempts to escape transit countries to reach the European Union by embarking in dangerous journeys to cross the Mediterranean Sea and illegally enter the European Union. Within the European Union resettlement represents a 'durable solution' for vulnerable forced migrants alongside local integration and voluntary repatriation, a protection tool for potential people whose lives and liberty are at risk. In Italy, a group of institutions from civil society and the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Interior signed a Protocol of Agreement for the establishment of Humanitarian Corridors to ensure the legal and safe resettlement of asylum seekers. Our article will show how these Humanitarian Corridors proved to be a successful multi-stakeholder engagement to support safe and legal pathways to protection as well as durable solutions for third country nationals in need of protection.Keywords: humanitarian corridor, migration, refugees, innovative practice. Resumo

Confini contesi: chiusure selettive e iniziative solidali

“…Si spiega così il deludente risultato di fine anno: appena 34.400 rifugiati sono stati reinsediati nel corso dell'anno, appena un terzo di quelli del 2019 (107.800) (UNHCR, 2021). L'iniziativa italiana dei corridoi umanitari è stata avviata alla fine del 2015 da alcune organizzazioni religiose in accordo con le autorità governative italiane: Federazione delle Chiese Evangeliche, Chiesa Valdese, Comunità di Sant'Egidio, poi anche Conferenza Episcopale Italiana e Caritas (Gois, Falchi, 2017;Ricci, 2020;Schnyder, Sedmak, 2019). I promotori hanno inviato sul posto degli operatori, che hanno preso contatti con le reti locali di accoglienza e predisposto una lista di potenziali beneficiari poi trasmessa alle autorità italiane.…”

International migration and the rise of urban militant networks in the Mediterranean

“…The question of the reception of refugees and vulnerable immigrants is relatively recent in Italy. Local authorities have been stakeholders in the reception policy for asylum seekers within the SPRAR programme (Sistema di protezione per richiedenti asilo e rifugiati) in the early 2000's (Accorinti and Wislocki, 2016;Gois and Falchi, 2017;Bini and Gambazza, 2019). The programme is managed by the ANCI (National association of Italian communes) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the support of the UNHCR.…”

Border Deaths

“…At least initially, NGO efforts might need to stand in for state efforts, even though they are currently too small to address overall migration. In one such initiative, a group of civil institutions and the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior signed a Protocol of Agreement for the resettlement to Italy of 1,000 vulnerable people from Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia in 2016 and 2017 (Palm 2018;Gois and Falchi 2017). Effectively, states such as Italy are substituting these smaller efforts, where they can control information and the cost is borne by civil society, for larger endeavours implemented by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).…”