Italy's Caritas has published a guide to correct misinformation about refugees and migration. The handbook takes common stereotypes and matches them against real statistics.
Catholic charitable organisation Caritas Italy recently published a guide on "10 Things to Know About Migrants and Migration," to clarify some of the most widespread ideas on the topic. The following is an analysis of the second half of the 10 topics in the guide.
6. "They're all terrorists". Caritas said "according to data provided by the Global Terrorism Database and studied by Italian researcher Belgioioso, 62.25 percent of attacks in Europe are carried out by European organizations. About 15 percent are perpetrated by anti-immigrant movements, 4.08 percent by anti-Islamic groups, and 3.89 percent by jihadist groups. About 14 percent of the attacks were unable to be traced to those responsible. Therefore, the true impact of Islamic terrorist organisations isn't so much in the numbers but in the lethality of the attacks."
7. "Italy is for Italians." Caritas said that the most recent law on citizenship in Italy "is inspired by the principle of ius sanguinis: One can become an Italian if at least one of the parents or ancestors is Italian. A child born to foreign parents, even if the birth took place on Italian soil, can only request citizenship after turning 18 and only if he or she lived in Italy legally and without interruption until that point." It said this law, therefore, "excludes hundreds of thousands of children born and raised in Italy from citizenship and its benefits for several years, and ties their condition to that of their parents."
8. "The business of reception." Caritas said "the only figure upon which the debate has centered for many months of controversy is the notorious '35 euros a day' given to migrants," a daily allowance that the government allocates to those who provide migrant reception services. "Clearly the 35 euros aren't given to the migrant, but needed for the organizations to pay rent for the structures, cleaning services, preparation and serving of meals, salaries for their workers. The asylum seeker only receives 2.50 euros per day for his or her personal expenses."
9. "With migrants, prostitution and crime spread." Caritas said the International Organization for Migration has "sounded the alarm for the past two years tied to the increase of young women, explaining the high probability that their destiny is nothing more than sexual exploitation. The numbers continue to increase. It's the law of the market, where supply increases with increased demand. In fact, the 'clients' are now nearly three million Italians."
10. "They all have a cell phone." "One of the most widespread stereotypes about migrants, and in particular asylum seekers, is the fact that they always have a smartphone with them," Caritas said. "The smartphone is as essential as a life jacket," it said, highlighting that it is useful for allowing migrants to "communicate with distant family and friends, exchange information on services linked to the migrant journey or the destination, in order to know the many dangers one can encounter. That's why the cell phone is the primary asset that a person carries."