© Max Hirzel /
Ethiopie/Italie, 2018/2020.
Between November 2017 and January 2019, 500 refugees have been transferred from Ethiopia to Italy through a safe entry channel. The CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference) has in fact promoted the opening of a new humanitarian corridor between Ethiopia and Italy. Three subjects signed the "technical protocol": the CEI (acting through the Italian Caritas and the Migrantes Foundation, with the precious help in Ethiopia of NGO Gandhi), the Community of Sant'Egidio and the Italian Government. The refugees, Eritrean, Somali and South-Sudanese, mostly come from the Ethiopian refugee camps, but there're also urban refugees coming from Addis Abeba. They are hosted in several Italian Dioceses, from North to South of Italy. In the Italian Caritas vision, the goal of the project it's not only to transfer people trough a safe way, but also to imagine a new way to manage the reception and the integration process. The novelty of the project lies above all in matching the needs of these families with the opportunities of the destination communities, to respond to situations of vulnerability and increase the chances of success of integration processes.
