Migrant emergency! Not the most appropriate definition
OnJuly 19 and August 1 we were convened with other operators-mayors and representatives of institutions-in the Prefecture in Arezzo to agree on possible solutions to the exceptional increase in asylum seekers. We took note that the new provisions (l.n.n. 50/2023, Cutro Decree) foresee the drastic decrease of the services hitherto provided to the guests of Extraordinary Reception Centers, limiting them to the provision of room and board only.
The John Paul II Foundation has always guaranteed all services: Italian language course, psychological support, legal guidance, vocational training and job search even during the periods when they were not mandatory because we believe that in order to foster integration, it is imperative to make the migrant less of a "foreigner" in the host community with important results for overall security.
Aware of the risk of having a sudden increase in asylum seekers without the necessary integration services, we intend to enhance the approach that has always distinguished us, which is to identify paths and responses toward migrants and the community, as the main beneficiaries of our projects, creating bridges of confrontation and not walls of fear.
The new approach represented to us-i.e., the provision of room and board services only-gives us pause and concern.
The choices resulting from the Cutro Decree could incentivize Managing Entities motivated more by economic aspects than by real intentions to accommodate, without any kind of experience, professionalism and working methodologies suitable for the complexity of the issue and without quality controls on the work done.
For this reason, consistent with the ethical framework that inspires the Foundation 's actions, we have appealed to local and national government representatives for a confrontation aimed at agreeing on activities that no longer derive from emergencies but are the result of co-programming and co-planning, especially with Local Authorities whose profitable relationship with their Social Services -already experienced- gives absolute guarantees.
The Foundation interprets reception as an opportunity that becomes an opportunity only if Reception Centers do not become exclusively tolerated "temporary stop-over" areas .