De Rosa: «In the next few months, new calls for tenders to find a maximum of 1,850 positions in the territory»
The first was on December 31, 2022, the most recent was last May 25: in a year and a half at the port of Ravenna there have been eleven migrant landings by NGO ships that had rescued them from boats adrift in the Mediterranean. Excluding the flood period, on average one landing per month.
In total they landed in Ravenna 1,193 people (0.3 percent of the provincial population) of which 172 unaccompanied minors. The most frequent origins are Syria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Eritrea.
The cruise terminal of Porto Corsini or the dock of Marina di Ravenna near the headquarters of the Ormeggiatori were used for docking the ships. For procedures on land (medical visits and identification) the spaces of the maritime cruise station were used or the migrants were transferred by bus to the Pala De Andrè or to the rowing club near Mirabilandia.
«To manage a landing – he explains Prefect Castrese De Rosa – we deploy about two hundred people including law enforcement, prefecture officials, ASL staff, Red Cross volunteers and other associations. Compared to the first times we have sped up the operations a lot because over time we have better understood what was needed. The constant contact with the crew of the NGO ships provides us with information, especially on health conditions, to deploy the most appropriate figures».
De Rosa was present on the dock at each of the eleven landings: “We try to act in a way that we are close to people who carry traumas and heavy stories. What we can do is treat their situations with attention, without considering them as numbers, with a hot meal, medical assistance and attention to the children.”
The mayor of Ravenna, Michele de Pascale, has repeatedly criticized the Meloni government’s decision to assign NGO ships to ports in the northern Adriatic that require more days of navigation and so rescue operations remain farther from critical areas. The prefect keeps a safe distance from these controversies: “These are political issues that I leave to politicians. I am a man of the institutions and I carry out the tasks ordered by the government, whatever its color.”
Once identified, the disembarked migrants request international protection and are then divided into extraordinary reception centers (Cas) distributed across the regional territory: the province of Ravenna usually receives 8 percent of each landing.
For those staying in the province of Ravenna, the territorial commission competent for requests for protection is that of Forlì which on average takes 6-8 months to decide. In case of rejection of the application, the migrant can appeal. Until the final decision, the foreigner retains the possibility of remaining in the CAS.
In the province of Ravenna the reception network for asylum seekers is managed by ten private subjects: companies, associations, cooperatives and consortia that have responded to public tenders from the prefecture that uses ministerial funds to cover expenses. Each manager, according to a specification decided by the government, receives 32 euros per day for each migrant which serve to cover all the necessary services and also include 2.50 euros per day called “pocket money” which are given to the person once a month.
«In the province, in total, we have an availability of almost 1,400 beds – explains the prefect – which are divided among 92 CAS (only one in Santa Maria in Fabriago reserved for unaccompanied minors with about thirty places, ed.), mostly apartments with a few beds inserted in residential contexts to encourage integration. As of June 17, 1,334 people were hosted, 1,013 men and 320 women. These are 894 people who arrived individually and 440 who instead make up 195 family units». In total 37 different nationalities: the most numerous are Pakistan (220), Ukraine (212), Bangladesh (195), Nigeria (124). The distribution across the provincial territory takes into account the residents in the municipalities: 467 people in Ravenna, 212 in Cervia, 176 in Bagnacavallo, 117 in Riolo.
«Some of the positions currently used are part of framework agreements that are close to expiring – continues De Rosa –. In the next few months we will therefore make five calls to find a maximum of 1,850 seats which will replace those expiring. We always try to have availability slightly higher than necessary to have a margin in case of unexpected arrivals, but we will hardly receive applications to fill all the positions”.
Excluding migrants arriving through landings, the rest of the foreigners hosted in the CAS network refer to the distribution on the national territory decided by the Ministry of the Interior to ease the pressure on the centers in southern Italy.
