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A woman walks past hundreds of refugee life jackets collected from the beaches of Chios, Greece, on the edge of the East River, to call attention to the refugee crisis in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The life jackets which were gathered by the Oxfam organization ahead of next week's United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. | Credit: EPA, Justin Lane
A woman walks past hundreds of refugee life jackets collected from the beaches of Chios, Greece, on the edge of the East River, to call attention to the refugee crisis in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The life jackets which were gathered by the Oxfam organization ahead of next week's United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. | Credit: EPA, Justin Lane

Oxfam urges Italy not to look away from 70 million refugees

Latest update : 2019/06/21
By ANSA Latest update : 2019/06/21

On World Refugee Day, Oxfam called on governments around the world to increase their efforts to take in those fleeing their home countries due to conflict and persecution.

Charitable organization confederation Oxfam called on all nations Thursday, especially wealthy ones, to increase their efforts to take in refugees. That includes Italy and the rest of the European Union. Oxfam's appeal comes after the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR said that the number forced to migrate from their homes rose for the seventh straight year.

Poor countries take in most refugees

Oxfam said Thursday that some of the poorest nations take in the most refugees. "Once again, a sad record has been surpassed," said Giulia Capitani, policy advisor for migration and asylum for the Italian branch of Oxfam. "However, behind these numbers are people who are living through traumatic experiences, consisting of very long and dangerous journeys during which they offer suffer unspeakable torture and abuse, like the many still arriving in Libya."

Capitani added that these "journeys would never have been undertaken if they had not been forced to save their own lives or those of their children, if they had not been deprived of the most basic rights and the possibility to lead a life with dignity. The paradox, still today, is that the poorest countries in the world or developing nations are the ones that take in the largest number of refugees, like in the most serious humanitarian crises tearing sub-Saharan Africa apart."

Capitani went on to say that "the Global Refugee Forum planned for December in Geneva will be a chance, through involving host countries directly, to bring in concrete and effective actions. This is an opportunity that should not be wasted yet again." She then called on Italy to "allow migrants to disembark. Protect those who flee." 

Death rate rising in the Mediterranean

While the Italian government has just approved a decree that cracks down even more on those seeking to conduct rescue operations at sea, there has been exponential growth in death rates in the Mediterranean on the year: one in every six dies trying to cross, compared with 1 out of every 30 in 2018," Capitani said.

"These are often people dying before the silence of the public, while we continue not to take into account that Libya, as the UN has repeatedly said and as was said yesterday by the Council of Europe, cannot be considered a safe port. At the same time, the dismantling of the Italian migrant reception system continues, without which better security cannot be ensured."