UNHCR on Thursday presented the events it has planned for Italy for World Refugee day on June 20. The aim is to draw attention to grassroots initiatives and strengthen relations between Italians and refugees.
The events planned in Italy include sports, art, cooking and highlighting individual stories. Football stars and the Rome-based team of migrant players, Liberi Nantes, will play a match on June 18 to showcase how integration can be made possible through sport.
The Refugee Food Festival will include six events in the Italian cities of Milan, Florence, Rome and Bari, where restaurant kitchens will open to refugees. Cooking shows and collaborations between migrant chefs and Italian ones will also be held. Art will be used to discuss migration from June 20 to 25 at the MAXXI museum in Rome. The museum is hosting the installation, "S.O.S. - Save Our Souls"' by Achilleas Souras, in which life vests used by migrants become an igloo shelter.
The photographic exhibition #withrefugees will be inaugurated on June 11 at Galleria Alberto Sordi in the Italian capital, while a special episode of WebNotte - a musical program run by the Italian daily Repubblica.it - will celebrate World Refugee Day on June 23 by bringing together young refugees, the public and performing artists.
Alongside the cultural activities, UNHCR and the Italian network of SPRAR refugee centers will be promoting an "Open Day" for the centers. On June 20, the UNHCR will present its Global Trends 2016 report on migration.
These events are useful for "recognizing the reality of hundreds of thousands of Italians that have made refugee reception their profession," UNHCR spokesperson for southern Europe, Carlotta Sami, told ANSA on the sidelines of the presentation.
Many Italians ''have understood the importance of this historic moment and feel the need to open up to the world and welcome refugees," she added.
This spirit, she said, is " planting the sees of something in Italy that will lead to solutions and the country's growth."