A total of 122 refugees evacuated from Libya arrived at the airport of the Italian capital on December 11 on a UNHCR-organized flight from Tripoli. Over half of them were minors.

Their entrance into Italy was made possible by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2023 between the Italian interior ministry and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as UNHCR, the Italian cultural association ARCI, and the Community of Sant'Egidio.

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Refugees from Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea

Originally from Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea, the refugees will be hosted in ten Italian regions: 53 by the Community of Sant'Egidio, 30 by ARCI, and 39 through the Italian reception and integration system SAI.

Welcoming them at the airport were volunteers and others working with the associations involved alongside Community of Sant'Egidio chairman Marco Impagliazzo, ARCI's immigration office coordinator Valentina Itri, UNHCR Italia spokesman Filippo Ungaro, and representatives of Italy's interior and foreign affairs ministries.

The humanitarian corridors, supported by civil society groups along with the Italian authorities, are widely seen as an effective model that combines security and solidarity by offering an alternative to sea crossings and human trafficking.

Since 2016, thanks to this initiative, a total of 7,269 refugees in particularly vulnerable conditions have been welcomed.

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Humanitarian corridors 'future of legal immigration'

"Humanitarian corridors bring together reception and integration and represent the true future of legal immigration in our country," said Impagliazzo. "We opened this legal pathway while many others were closing, since human traffickers prosper through illegality," he continued.

According to the chairman of the Community of Sant'Egidio, "it is necessary to save the lives of people through safe and regular means, such as humanitarian corridors. Today, we are welcoming 122 people who suffered violence and lived through truly tragic situations in Libya. Many of them are from Sudan, a country in which a forgotten war is underway that is causing thousands and thousands of deaths amid general silence," Impagliazzo added.

"Amid all these sufferings, there is now something positive: reception that will also deal with the healthcare aspects and, later, an integration process that will enable these families, these people, these youths -- half of them under age 18 -- to integrate into country country and build a new condition of peace, health, and wellbeing for all of them," he said.

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