The good route

In February 2016 the Community of Sant’Egidio and the Federation of Waldensian Evangelical Churches started a program of humanitarian corridors, with the cooperation of the Italian government. Thanks to this program, asylum seekers can reach Italy by plane, thus avoiding the dangerous journey by sea. The project expects the entry of one thousand persons, for a total cost of 1.2 million euros.

The humanitarian corridors

Migrants shall depart from Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia.

The price of closed borders

Over the past 15 years, the European Union has invested 12.9 billion euros on projects set up to contrast migration (surveillance and repatriation), while migrants have spent 15.7 billion euros to enter the European Union illegally, due to the lack of legal access points. With that same amount, a humanitarian corridor could have guaranteed entry and hosting to millions of migrants.

Sources: Community of Sant’Egidio, Waldensian Churches, The Migrants’ Files