2019 Nansen Refugee Award
goes to Humanitarian Corridors
 |
| A group of refugees arrives in Rome thanks to a Humanitarian Corridor and are welcomed at the airport |
The prestigious UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award has been given,
this year, to the Humanitarian Corridors project thanks to which thousands of
refugees have been given a safe and legal pathway to protection.
By Linda Bordoni
Humanitarian Corridors, conceived and
implemented by a group of faith-based organizations, have been chosen to
receive the UNHCR 2019 Nansen Refugee Award.
Established in 1954, the Nansen Refugee Award is presented
every year to an individual, group or organization for work that assists,
protects and supports refugees, displaced and stateless people.
Thanks to the Humanitarian Corridors project, for which Pope
Francis himself has repeatedly expressed his support, thousands of refugees
have been given a safe and legal pathway to protection and the possibility of
building a better future in Italy.
The self-financed project was conceived and implemented by
the Community of Sant'Egidio together with Waldensian and Methodist Churches
and the collaboration of Caritas Italiana and the Italian government.
Since February 2016 more than 2000 refugees and vulnerable
people have been given a humanitarian visa and have arrived in Italy through a
humanitarian corridor. Once in Italy, they are welcomed in houses, receive
Italian lessons, helped to find a job and their children are enrolled in
school.
UNHCR’s regional spokesperson for Southern Europe, Carlotta
Sami, told Linda Bordoni that this award highlights the value of a fruitful
project that provides a win-win situation for all.
Sami explained that the Humanitarian Corridors have been
operational for a few years and that “this prize is bringing them the right
visibility and the recognition” they deserve.
She said that for the group of organizations that joined
forces to set them up and implement them, it has been a labour of love that has
resulted in “something real and concrete for refugees.”
Stop people dying on the Mediterranean route
Sami recalled how the idea of opening up the Humanitarian
Corridors came on the heels of the terrible 2013 shipwrecks that caused the
death of hundreds of people in the Mediterranean Sea.
“These associations decided to take concrete action to counteract
this terrible tragedy. And it is working,” she said.
Unfortunately, she noted, it is working only for a few
thousand people, adding “that’s why visibility is so important: to show that
the Humanitarian Corridors are working, and that they are a win-win solution”,
both for the host communities and for the refugees.
“They need to be strengthened, they need to also to receive
the support of governments because until now they are supported only by simple
citizens, by NGOs, by associations,” she said.
Another reason they need to be strengthened, she
highlighted, is because most refugees don’t have access to these programmes and
they continue to end up risking very dangerous routes and thus, risking
their lives.
“We need to stop that,” she said.
Pope Francis’ support has been key
Sami describes Pope Francis’ support of the Humanitarian
Corridors project as key.
“Pope Francis fully and deeply understands how big is the
risk and how terrible is the trauma that refugees are suffering,” she said.
Most of them, she pointed out, come from very poor countries
and they deserve a possibility and an opportunity to restart their life.
“They will be the first, she concluded, willing to
contribute to the communities that will receive them”.
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