In the Afghan chaos, our responsibility to welcome those fleeing for their lives wins out
AFGHANS URGE OUR RESPONSIBILITY
LET US PUT INTO CIRCULATION
WIDESPREAD RECEPTION
FOR THOSE WHO MANAGED TO ESCAPE
Photo Avvenire
HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS
FOR THOSE WHO COULD NOT LEAVE
Foto UN News
These days we are thinking in particular of the young students of the Sapienza University of Rome, including 81 girls, who were stranded a few steps away from the airport because of the attack.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN PARKED AT EUROPE'S GATES FOR YEARS, ESPECIALLY ALONG THE BALKAN ROUTE
Photo Avvenire
“In 2018, only one doctor was available in the Moria camp, where over 4,000 people live. In 2019, a small number of Médecins Sans Frontières workers were allowed in. However, there is no way for the most vulnerable to access medical care outside the identification centres. Today, there are 4,752 people inside the fence: 80% Afghans, then Syrians, Congolese, Eritreans, Ethiopians and even Yemenis. The camp managers assure us that the average stay does not exceed nine months. However, the documents that many foreigners have shown us date back to more than two years ago. And these are not isolated cases.“
(Source:https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/tra-i-reclusi-di-lesbo-migranti-senza-futuro)
Photo: www.articolo21.org
The Balkan route has been officially closed since March 2016 since the agreement between the EU and Turkey came into force; in fact during 2018, more than 60 thousand migrants were registered by the authorities of the Western Balkan countries. These are families fleeing wars and violence in their home countries: Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, who are heading for the border with Croatia to try to cross the borders with the European Union. The surveillance of the borders and the brutality of the Hungarian police against migrants have opened the door to a new route through the Balkans, passing through Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia. And so the illegal trade in human beings has also reached Bosnia.
(Source: https://www.diocesipistoia.it/un-aiuto-per-i-migranti-sulla-rotta-balcanica/)
According to the Interior Minister, there will be “a further flow” both by sea and along the Balkan route.
The UNHCR estimates that there will be 2.9 million displaced Afghans by 2020, to which 550,000 this year should be added. For the IOM, “5 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid”.
“There are still no precise figures on the number of Afghans who have fled the country,” writes UNHCR, but “sources indicate that tens of thousands” of people have “crossed international borders in recent weeks“.
(Source:https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/politica/afghanistan-incubo-rotta-balcanica-agenti-mancano-i-rinforzi-1969636.html)
