“Today, June 20th, is the world day dedicated to those who had to take refuge in a country or area other than the one where they resided before moving in search of safety and protection to escape wars, violence, persecution, violations of human rights and unliveable conditions in their territories of origin . According to thelatest report presented by the UN agency UNHCR in the world the number of people on the run has been constantly growing for 12 years so that in the last 10 years it has even doubled. Last May the number of female and male refugees had reached 120 million individuals. The largest increase concerns people who abandon their homes but remain in their country: 68.3 million people, with an increase of almost 50% in just 5 years. In Sudan, since conflict erupted in April 2023, more than 7.1 million newly displaced people have been registered in the country (and another 1.9 million have taken refuge beyond the country’s borders). In the Gaza Strip last year 1.7 million people (i.e. 75% of the population) were displaced by catastrophic violence. Today the number has grown further with many Palestinian refugees forced to flee multiple times. Syria, on the other hand, still finds itself with 13.8 million people forced to flee. The largest refugee population globally is the Afghan population, accounting for one in six of all refugees under UNHCR’s mandate.
Iran (3.8 million), Turkey (3.3 million), Colombia (2.9 million), Germany (2.6 million) and Pakistan (2 million) host the largest refugee populations. Almost all refugees hosted in Iran and Pakistan are Afghans and, similarly, almost all refugees in Turkey are Syrians. Despite perception, the UNHCR report tells us that the vast majority of refugees are hosted in countries neighboring those affected by the crisis (69%), and 75% reside in low- and middle-income countries which together produce less than 20% of the world income. The 45 least developed countries, which together represent less than 1.4% of global gross domestic product, host more than 21% of all refugees globally. The only positive note: there are at least 5 million internally displaced people and 1 million refugees who managed to return home in 2023.
So what is the number of refugees who have reached Italy? In Italy, there were approximately 138,000 people holding international protection at the end of 2023, 147,000 asylum seekers and over 161,000 Ukrainian citizens holding temporary protection out of a foreign population amounting to a total of 3,727,706 people. In Emilia Romagna last year, out of the total number of foreigners in possession of a regular residence permit (413,511), there were 35,176 residence permits issued for asylum or protection. In the province of Ravenna, out of 31,900 foreign residents, there were 2,999 people with a permit for asylum or international protection. Even for Ravenna these are growing figures: in 2017 there were 1,725 people who had a permit for asylum or protection. In the Reception and Integration System (SAI), the Municipality of Ravenna has two active projects. As of September 30th, the place for unaccompanied minors was practically full (67 places used out of 69 available funded places provided by a series of entities); the one for adults saw 78 places used out of 94 (provided by Cidas Coop. Sociale ARL). In addition to these structures, those of the so-called CAS (Extraordinary Reception Centers) activated by the prefectures should be considered where reception should be limited to the time strictly necessary for the transfer of the applicant to the SAI structures. The adoption of Legislative Decree n. 20 of 10 March 2023 (so-called Cutro Decree) however excluded new applicants for protection from the possibility of benefiting from the SAI network. They, therefore, remain within the CAS (unless they are among vulnerable asylum seekers) like minors over 16 years of age.
To what has been said it must be added that since 31 December 2022, 1,191 people have been disembarked in Ravenna and immediately largely relocated, rescued in the Mediterranean by ships managed by NGOs, forced to stop in Ravenna 11 times. The last time was almost a month ago, on May 25th, and the Mayor on the occasion he declared: «The Ravenna ring is one of the few that works in Italy, with the Government choosing to extend the journey of ships from SAR zones to northern ports, preventing them from saving further lives in the Mediterranean. But above all, the reception system in our country doesn’t work. These people, after receiving health care and passing police checks, will enter a limbo, waiting to find out whether they will be able to obtain a residence permit for humanitarian reasons. If they don’t get it, they will essentially go underground. There is a lack of structured courses for teaching the Italian language and for entering the world of work. The Government is only making propaganda, refusing to seriously and humanely address the issue of migratory flows. We will continue to fight to ensure that migratory flows are managed with humanity and organization».
As Ravenna in the Municipality we willingly join the Mayor’s battle, however we repeat to him again that it is time for Ravenna to no longer limit itself to protests and to acknowledge that it has permanently become a port of arrival where humanitarian ships are diverted. Structuring for an organized management that doesn’t have to get to the bottom of things every time shouldn’t be the stuff of science fiction. Instead the ships are spun like tops: sometimes they dock at the dock in front of the Fabbrica Vecchia, other times at commercial docks, still others at the passenger terminal. The same goes for those particularly fragile passengers who are sometimes diverted to the Pala de André, sometimes managed directly at the disembarkation dock and still others moved to the Rowing Club at Standiana! There is a precise humanitarian duty not to aggravate what is already a very heavy burden for those who disembark with shocks due to decisions taken from time to time as if it were the first time every time.
The Port Authority boasts of being able to allow over 300 thousand cruise passengers to pass through the port of Ravenna without even a maritime station worthy of the name. It shouldn’t be that difficult to ask an organization that he announced «the implementation of a two-year plan worth 3.2 billion in investments, of which just under 1.2 will come from the Port Authority of Ravenna» to arrange at least a small part of the port in a decent manner so that even the passengers of the rescue ships receive a structured welcome. Mayor, do we want to stop being shy and forward the request to Rossi? Doing it on refugee day would be the right choice! Limit yourself to light up blue the Alighieri Theatre, honestly, seems a bit small to us…”
Ravenna in the Municipality
