Italy has signed an agreement with the UNHCR and other organizations to evacuate 1,500 refugees and people in need of international protection from Libya in three years.
The agreement will allow 1,500 refugees and people in need of international protection to be evacuated from Libya to Italy in the next three years, the Community of Sant'Egidio, which is one of the signatories, announced.
This protocol follows another one signed in 2021, renewing Italy's commitment in 2017 that allowed the arrival of 1,400 people in the country using mechanisms of evacuation or humanitarian corridors.
The project is designed to help people who were forced to flee from their countries due to war and violence, and who temporarily got stuck in Libya. These include children, women who are victims of trafficking, and people who survived violence and torture as well as those with serious health issues.
The UNHCR alongside the Community of Sant'Egidio, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI) and ARCI -- all co-signatories to the agreement -- will choose those who will benefit from the scheme.
The signature of the new protocol "paves the way to safety for those who are experiencing a nightmare of abuse and violence in Libya, on the other shore of the Mediterranean," said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Community of Sant'Egidio.
'Effective and humane' reaction to migration
About 600 of the 1,500 people will be transferred to facilities that are part of the SAI system of hosting and integration, which is managed by the interior ministry.
The other 900 will be hosted by associations following the model of humanitarian corridors, and will distributed across Italy; 400 will be taken care of by the Community of Sant'Egidio, 300 by ARCI and 200 by the Federation of Evangelical Churches.
The protocol "shows that our country and our continent can confront and manage a phenomenon like immigration with effectiveness and, at the same time, with the necessary humanity", Impagliazzo added.