martedì 27 gennaio 2015

GIORNATA INTERNAZIONALE DI PREGHIERA E RIFLESSIONE CONTRO LA TRATTA DI PERSONE

COMUNICATO STAMPA 


GIORNATA INTERNAZIONALE DI PREGHIERA E RIFLESSIONE
CONTRO LA TRATTA DI PERSONE
8 FEBBRAIO 2015

Papa Francesco, sin dall’inizio del suo Pontificato, ha più volte denunciato con forza il traffico di esseri umani, definendolo «un crimine contro l’umanità» e spronando tutti a combatterlo e a prendersi cura delle vittime. Facendo proprio l’appello del Santo Padre

il Pontificio Consiglio per la Pastorale dei Migranti
il Pontificio Consiglio della Giustizia e della Pace
le Unioni internazionali femminili e maschili dei Superiori/e Generali (UISG e USG)

promuovono una

GIORNATA INTERNAZIONALE DI PREGHIERA E RIFLESSIONE
CONTRO LA TRATTA DI PERSONE

La prima Giornata sarà celebrata in tutte le diocesi e le parrocchie del mondo,
nei gruppi e nelle scuole, il prossimo
8 FEBBRAIO 2015
Festa di Santa Giuseppina Bakhita
schiava sudanese, liberata e divenuta religiosa canossiana, canonizzata nel Duemila.

Il fenomeno
La tratta di esseri umani è una delle peggiori schiavitù del XXI secolo. E riguarda il mondo intero. Secondo l’Organizzazione internazionale del lavoro (Oil) e l’Ufficio delle Nazioni Unite contro la droga e il crimine (Unodc) circa 21 milioni di persone, spesso povere e vulnerabili, sono vittime di tratta a scopo di sfruttamento sessuale o lavoro forzato, espianto di organi, accattonaggio forzato, servitù domestica, matrimonio forzato, adozione illegale e altre forme di sfruttamento. Ogni anno, circa 2,5 milioni di persone sono vittime di traffico di esseri umani e riduzione in schiavitù; il 60 per cento sono donne e minori. Spesso subiscono abusi e violenze inaudite. D’altro canto, per trafficanti e sfruttatori la tratta di esseri umani è una delle attività illegali più lucrative al mondo: rende complessivamente 32 miliardi di dollari l’anno ed è il terzo “business” più redditizio, dopo il traffico di droga e di armi.

Che cosa fa la Chiesa
Da molti anni, la Chiesa cattolica, e in particolare le congregazioni religiose femminili, operano in molte parti del mondo, per sensibilizzare su questo vergognoso fenomeno, prevenire il traffico di esseri umani, denunciare trafficanti e sfruttatori e soprattutto aiutare e proteggere le vittime. Con l’avvento di Papa Francesco, una maggiore attenzione al tema della tratta è stata manifestata con più forza e si è concretizzata in una serie di azioni e iniziative anche dei Dicasteri Vaticani.

Obiettivi della Giornata
L’obiettivo è innanzitutto quello di creare, attraverso questa Giornata, maggiore consapevolezza del fenomeno e riflettere sulla situazione globale di violenza e ingiustizia che colpisce tante persone, che non hanno voce, non contano, non sono nessuno: sono semplicemente schiavi. Al contempo provare a dare risposte a questa moderna forma di tratta di esseri umani, attraverso azioni concrete. Per questo è fondamentale, da un lato, ribadire la necessità di garantire diritti, libertà e dignità alle persone trafficate e ridotte in schiavitù e, dall’altro, denunciare sia le organizzazioni criminali sia coloro che usano e abusano della povertà e della vulnerabilità di queste persone per farne oggetti di piacere o fonti di guadagno.
Inoltre, la Giornata mondiale contro la tratta 2015 si inserisce significativamente anche all’interno dell’Anno dedicato alla Vita Consacrata e sarà dunque da stimolo per tutte le religiose e i religiosi sparsi per il mondo a leggere i “segni dei tempi” e a ripensare in termini profetici il presente e il futuro della vita consacrata stessa.

LA GIORNATA INTERNAZIONALE DI PREGHIERA E RIFLESSIONE CONTRO LA TRATTA
DI PERSONE È SOSTENUTA PERSONALMENTE DA PAPA FRANCESCO

«La tratta delle persone è un crimine contro l’umanità. Dobbiamo unire le forze per liberare le vittime e per fermare questo crimine sempre più aggressivo, che minaccia, oltre alle singole persone, i valori fondanti della società e anche la sicurezza e la giustizia internazionali, oltre che l’economia, il tessuto familiare e lo stesso vivere sociale».         Papa Francesco, 12 dicembre 2013


Per informazioni:          
UISG: Unione Internazionale delle Superiore Generali
Piazza di Ponte Sant'Angelo, 28 - 00186 Roma, Italia
Tel:+39 06 68 400 20 / Fax:+39 06 68 400 23



Aderiscono: Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze Sociali, Caritas Internationalis e il suo Network di Christian Organizations against trafficking (COATNET), Talitha Kum, Ufficio “Tratta donne e minori” Usmi, Slaves no More, Unione mondiale associazioni femminili cattoliche, Comunità Papa Giovanni XXII, Jesuit Refugee Service (Jrs), International Catholic Migration Commission, International Forum Catholic Action, Congregazione figlie della Carità Canossiane

sabato 17 gennaio 2015

Migrant workers: the exploited, vilified but valuable resource




"We steal the job." "With so many Italians unemployed, particularly young people, there is no place for immigrants: first Italians!". "They are a burden to the state and to our economy, especially at a time of crisis like the one that paralyzed the country for years." Slogan of this content are on the agenda. Increasingly frequent. Were the common thread of all the latest protests. Sometimes having a vast, actually as large as Rome, Milan, Turin. Other times limited to smaller cities and, therefore, less sensational. But just as dangerous. And in the wake of these events is growing opinion that continue to welcome migrants is likely to aggravate the social and economic tensions that occur not only in Italy but in other European countries: suffice it to mention the recent protests in Germany. This view (but it would be more accurate to call it a bad "commonplace") does not take into account that the majority of immigrants arrived in the last few years (especially in 2014) from Africa and the Middle East are refugees and asylum seekers. People, that is, who have had to leave their country to escape war and persecution, and that should be welcomed, according to international law, because their is a "flight for life." It is, in essence, a matter of respect for human rights, beginning with those in the very life and freedom.
Apart from that, however, from the point of view of economic migrants are not a problem but a resource for the countries that receive them. In particular for Italy, where the balance between costs and benefits is strongly in favor of the insured benefits from the presence of foreign workers. Enough to remember that produce on average between 9 and 10 percent of the national GDP but, to go into details, this comes across even more evident.
A study published in December 2013 by Senator Luigi Manconi (Pd) and the sociologist Valentina Brinis shows that migrants are essential in important areas such as health, construction, trade, steel, agriculture and agribusiness, included (albeit with tasks of manual labor or otherwise low-level) the chain of some of the finest products made in Italy. Cattle farms of the Po Valley, which are the basis for the production of Parmesan, for example, workers are mostly foreigners: they who have given solution to the crisis of the milkers, herdsmen, the staff at the stables. The same happens in the southern Lazio for herds of buffaloes, which is linked to the famous mozzarella exported worldwide. Ditto for the nursery activities: in the greenhouses of the province of Latina, exporting flowers and ornamental plants in half of Europe, the workers are overwhelmingly foreign. In a recent meeting, the president of the farmers of Lazio, Sergio Ricotta, he explicitly said: "Without migrant workers, many of us would have to close businesses or otherwise be in serious difficulties." Why? Why, despite the crisis, Italians this kind of work no longer want them. Namely: the presence of migrants does not compete with the Italians. No "stealing work".
Even more telling is a study published last November by the foundation Leone Moressa of Venice, which shows that, by adding the tax revenue and the contributory revenue for state coffers due to foreigners in 2013 exceeded 16.6 billion euro. By contrast, the state has spent on foreign (school, social services, health, justice, security, etc.) Just over 12.6 billion. That is, in 2013 Italians have "earned" about 4 billion euro by the presence of migrants. A figure that corresponds to the revenue IMU on the first house, which is considered an essential element in the state budget. And it is a fact of life: that far in average annual assets that immigration leaves the Italian economy. Not to mention the social benefits. Some indirect, such as at least partial rebalancing of the rate of population aging, which is worrying, but it would be even more evident without the presence of so many young immigrants and is known, as noted by the Censis, that a company is more "old" most tend to withdraw into himself, unable to look forward to. But other benefits are much more direct and immediately measurable in economic terms. As the assistance provided by approximately 830 thousand BandAntica to over one million elderly and dependent persons, who otherwise might burden the health care system, with a cost of hundreds of millions of euro a year. "That million seniors - Gian Antonio Stella wrote in the Corriere della Sera - are four times as many patients in public facilities. If you were to deal with the state, hello: a bed, from the purchase of land for the construction of the structure, from furniture to linens, costs 150 thousand euro. For a million patients should shell out 150 billion. And then take (eight people every ten beds) 800 000 employees, for a total expenditure annually (26 000 euro each) of almost 21 billion. More miscellaneous expenses. "
In light of these data, we would have to open the doors to foreigners. Welcome them all, as the headline his research Senator Manconi. Instead, not only in general are viewed with suspicion as a minimum, but face discrimination continued. This was revealed in no uncertain terms that the OECD, in a report published last July, essentially says that migrants work harder and earn less than the Italians. "Immigrants - the researchers write - are disproportionately employed in precarious jobs, low-skilled, poorly paid and often victims of discrimination and selective redundancies, with little chance to access more qualified jobs."
It is easy to switch from discrimination exploitation and abuse. But even worse. This is demonstrated by a series of incidents come to light in recent years. It is worth mentioning some of the most severe cases and recent.

Rome. Minor slaves to the food center. Egyptian boys, guests typically of shelters, working over 12 hours a day for twenty euro. He revealed the weekly L'Espresso with a report published in late November. A work in black, but planned from before the departure from Egypt. "Every day - writes Rosita Factor - dozens of children climbing over the fences of the food center, eluding the vigilance of agents that control the entire area. They work to move boxes of fruit for the whole day, for 20 euro compensation. "The agreement provides that families have signed at home, when they left, thinking maybe to make their fortune. The result is a system of illegal hiring organized by Egyptian immigrants but, it is to believe, with a widespread network of complicity in Italy. The direction of the Dear intensified supervision and arrived to make up to 200 rejections per day of illegal workers. But it is not easy: there have been even aggression against workers in order. A dangerous signal, which suggests the presence of a racket decided to establish a criminal of laborers in the food center of Rome, the largest in Italy, by exploiting the work of migrants.

Ragusa. Romanian slaves in greenhouses. Even this scandal was raised by an investigation of the weekly L'Espresso, last October. However signals and complaints date back much earlier. In particular, he spoke often, unheard, father Benjamin Sacco, a pastor of the small town of Vittoria. The province of Ragusa, the "city of the first fruits," is one of the most important fruit districts of Italy. A sea of greenhouses in which they work more than five thousand women, mostly Romanian. And precisely the Romanian, the weak, the victims of the abuses that, as is clear from the investigation, have reduced almost to slavery. "They live segregated in the country, often with young children - writes Antonello Mangano, the author of the report - in total isolation suffer all kinds of violence, including sexual. Everyone knows and nobody talks about. "Needless to add that the wage, whole or in part, is almost always in black.

Latina. Laborers junkies to resist fatigue. And 'one of the most striking cases of inhuman exploitation of foreign workers, so as to have "earned" in 2014 a chapter in "Immigration", the file statistics published each year by the National Office Against Racial Discrimination (UNAR). A proven, well-structured and organized to make the most from the work of Indian laborers (mostly Sikhs originating in Punjab) emigrated in the Pontine Marshes. The survey brought to light non-profit association "On Migration", the battle which was then joined the CGIL. The investigation, conducted on the basis of a series of testimonies and field testing, there was a widespread organization that behind the apparent legality, hid very low wages (on average 3 euro per hour in front of the national contract 8,26 ); unreasonable hours, up to 12 and more working hours per day (against 6.40 provided by the national contract) and often inadequate housing conditions to say the least. Not to mention a "gray" area hidden in the folds of the rules in order to escape controls. For example, payroll and contracts in order, but the trick to account for far fewer hours or days of those actually worked, up to the limit case of a worker who is employed for only two days despite having worked for nearly a month. A work in the fields or in greenhouses, heavy and often without breaks during the day, to the point of forcing some laborers to take drugs to withstand the physical and psychological fatigue. As demonstrated by a parallel investigation conducted by the prosecutor and the squad of the police headquarters in Latin America, also worked a manpower recruitment, with Italian and Indian intermediaries, through a criminal organization dedicated to assisting illegal immigration.

Campania and Puglia. Laborers exploited. A system of illegal hiring and exploitation similar to that of the Sikhs and Indian laborers of the Pontine works for years in the countryside of Puglia and Campania (particularly in the province of Caserta) for a variety of seasonal jobs extremely tiring: tomato harvesting, collecting olives, etc. The technique is the same: black and piecework payments (so much per box filled); payroll apparently regular but covering only a small part of the days actually worked; recruitment through corporals to whom we paid a share of the salary; Payments made from the same corporals, taking almost as a placement agents, giving virtually "rent" to the companies entire teams of workers. Increasingly rare, also enlisting random daily, replaced by teams, mostly, always by the same men, and to be used for longer or shorter periods.

Rosarno. Exploitation and racist pogroms. Exploitative situations similar to those recorded in Campania and Puglia have emerged in January 2010 for the foreign laborers employed in the collection of citrus fruits in the plain of Gioia Tauro, in Calabria. With more heavy racist implications. To bring everything to light was a real revolt laborers, exploded on 8 and 9 January, followed by a true "hunt black".
The findings of fact seems a chronicle of war. The spark are some shots of air gun fired by three thugs against a group of young Africans who, after a day's work in the citrus groves, is returning to Rognetta, an old factory converted into a makeshift dormitory, on the outskirts of Rosarno, a town of 15 000 inhabitants. Two were injured. The aggression unleashed the anger of some five thousand foreign workers of the plain. Hundreds of their reach in procession Rosarno, putting it on fire: destroyed cars, shop windows smashed, shops assault, beating passers-by. When the police intervene, begins a real urban warfare. The entire area is manned forces, almost put under siege, but the day after the protest on again, with new clashes. The migrants (as in a similar revolt took place, always in Rosario, in December 2008) denouncing exploitation, racist contempt, lack of reception facilities and integration, despite their seasonal work is vital to the economy of the plain and the same Calabria. Many speak of exploitation run by the 'Ndrangheta through a network of corporals: 25 € per day (of which 5 to be paid to Corporal) for 10, 12 hours of work in the citrus groves, at least in part belonging to mafia clans. In the country, already the second day, they form groups of "self-defense" among the inhabitants, followed by patrols armed with iron bars and often rifles, sifting town and country, hitting foreign isolated or in small groups, the houses of several immigrants, makeshift shelters laborers, giving them to the flames. A climate of pogroms, which induces Prefecture Government and to order the eviction of all immigrants in the area.
  Incidents of exploitation and often racism as these are still there, despite all the real data demonstrate how the work of foreigners is essential for the Italian economy. One wonders what the reasons for this apparent contradiction. Probably a lot depends on misinformation, stereotypes, prejudices. Enhanced insecurity and fears caused by the economic crisis affecting the country for years. Ridden or otherwise manipulated by the political right and the extreme right, including openly neo-fascist groups like Forza Nuova and Casa Pound, who found a bank involved in the Northern League. And veined also a good dose of xenophobia.
It 'a very worrying situation: the result is a result which could become uncontrollable. The agency Habeshia appeals to the Government, the Parliament, the unions, to all democratic forces to intervene forcefully to ensure regularity and safety to all migrants, like the Italians.
A few days ago we celebrated the World Day of migrant workers and their families, established to highlight the importance of the International Convention on the Protection of the rights of migrant workers, in fact, voting at the United Nations on 18 December 1990 at the end a grueling journey that lasted two decades. To date, in December 2014, twenty-five years to the day since that vote, Italy has not yet signed and adopted the Convention. Just this week the Parliament is launching the reform on the job. Arrive soon, by the government, even the decision to make its recommendations voted on by the UN in 1990, would be an important signal against all oppression and exploitation that continue to occur towards migrants. Provided that, as too often happens, the commitments contained in the agreement do not remain only on paper. The first test could be, right in a year, the World Day of 2015.
Fr. Mussie Zerai

The Catholic Church will celebrate, January 18 the 101 ° World Day of Migrants and Refugees

Press release.

It seems like yesterday and yet has already been a year since the last World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which the Catholic Church will again be celebrated on 18 January. The Holy Father Francis, with his memorable visit to Lampedusa, His repeated calls to respect the dignity and human rights of all migrants and refugees, to last his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, sollecitta all of us men and women , believers and non-believers, to solidarity with those in need, who is forced to leave his country, those who are victims of war, persecution, trafficking and slavery.
https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/messages/migration/documents/papa-francesco_20140903_world-migrants-day-2015.html
 But looking at the political landscape and cultural heritage there is little to celebrate. It 'was, this past year, a year that began with high hopes and unfortunately closes instead with deep disappointment. Sure, there is the undeniable, precious result of having helped and saved very often, with the operation Mare Nostrum, over 168 000 asylum seekers, making them disembark in Italian ports. And 'the topic of which more has been talked about in the past twelve months, the media and the "feel" of the people. Much less has been spoken of the more than 3,600 who do not have it made: other 3,600 deaths in a year, an average of ten per day, which drive up to well over 23 000 on account of broken lives across the Mediterranean since 2000.
Remains the enormous importance of the chain of saves ensured by the dedication of the Italian Navy. But, as important, this is the only positive note in the entire span of this year, however, came from an emergency and now finally ended, while remain the same, even worse, all the causes that drive so many, too many young people in leave their country, because in the escape is the only way to escape from wars, dictatorships, terrorism, persecution. It happens all over the Middle East and has been the case in every corner of Africa: the eastern region, the sub-Saharan Africa, the western and equatorial.
Yet last January we started with great hope: the hope that finally the Fortress Europe you decide to open a little 'more its doors and, more generally, that began to change its policy - and that of the whole North of the world - to the countries from which come all these refugees. Authorizing these expectations the many commitments that many voices, the European Union, Italy and many other countries have taken in the aftermath of the massacre of Lampedusa when, October 3, 2013, all those dead for a time it seemed that began to weigh on the conscience of the "powerful of the earth" and the international community. Mare Nostrum was born in the wake of this emotion. And the Italian Presidency of the EU, for the second half of 2014, you could see that probably just Mare Nostrum could have become the symbol of the turn, overcoming the initial design of police operation aimed at the maritime border control, to become the first project European organic relief, as part of a general change of policy on emigration.
So many have interpreted the repeated statements of the premier Italian, Matteo Renzi, who repeatedly challenged Europe to think more to "save the banks" rather than to "save lives". Expected, in fact, that in the wake of these "calls" his presidency of the European left their mark, with acts and concrete measures. Three in particular: the transformation of Mare Nostrum in permanent program, with the contribution of all European governments; decided the launching of a plan for a single reception system for all of Europe, accepted and applied by each Member State of the Union; the abolition or at least review - as a first step of this plan - Dublin 3 of the Treaty, that the placing of the refugees to the first European country in which they ask for help, results in a violation of freedom of residence and movement, creating situations great suffering and often occasions of abuse against refugees.
None of this has been achieved, or at least has been set. Much to ask that they not only sense the commitments made in the aftermath of the sinking of Lampedusa and, even more, those reaffirmed emphatically just twelve months after, on the anniversary of the massacre, when the island was again filled with representatives leading the European Union, the Italian government, a number of other states.
It is worthwhile, then, to briefly point to individual "chapters". If only as a reminder for those "powerful of the earth" in which he addressed Pope Francis, in early July of 2013, just from Lampedusa, choice not by chance to reiterate the need to "go to the suburbs." It was his first pastoral visit outside the walls of the Vatican: a few months later, the tragedy of 3 October confirmed as his words were well founded.

The victims. According to data released by UNHCR and IOM, during the year there were at least 3,600 victims in the Mediterranean between the dead and missing. There are about 2 percent compared to those who have made it to escape. It might seem a percentage not too high, but it's broken lives: 3,600 lives. And it is only a partial census: are not, for example, how many have died in the Sahara or in any case in the countries of transit to the North African shore of the Mediterranean and in Libya, a black hole definitely huge but which has never investigated . Not to mention the hundreds of deaths in the Red Sea, an escape increasingly beaten after they become more difficult or have even closed other routes (to Sinai and Israel, for example) connected to the Mediterranean.

Mare Nostrum and Frontex-Triton. The heavy death toll is likely to multiply due to the abolition of Mare Nostrum. In its place, as of November 1, 2014, now operates Triton, the European mission managed by the agency Frontex, which has the mandate to oversee the southern borders of the Union but whose vessels, less than a third of those fielded the Italian program, limited to patrolling a stretch of just 30 miles, just over the territorial waters of the various EU states. The effects were seen immediately with a tragic chain of new shipwrecks and more deaths. Brussels is justified by claiming that there is still a mandate to provide assistance in case of need. But it is clear that it is one thing to intervene from a distance of a few miles from the emergency situation, it is one thing to intervene territorial waters, with hundreds of miles of sea front to go. They denounced the United Nations itself: "There is a fear - challenged Francois Crepeau, UN special rapporteur on the rights of migrants - that without an operation such as Mare Nostrum thousands of people will die."

Reception system. There is no trace, not even as a proposal, the desire to get to a single host, the same for all Member States of the Union. Yet this is precisely the key not only to ensure a program of acceptance and inclusion of dignity for refugees in Europe, but in order to concretely implement those "channels of legal migration" (the so-called humanitarian corridors and the ability to submit applications asylum directly to the European embassies in Africa) are the only truly effective tool to exclude migrants from the blackmail of human traffickers and smugglers. Unheeded by the political appeals in this sense of various NGOs and UNHCR itself.
Not only. The lack of a single European program allows you to leave in force reception systems have proved largely ineffective and inadequate, if not worse, such as Italian and greek which, by the refugees "non-persons" without rights, creating a huge reservoir of black labor and exploitation and which have been repeatedly condemned by the European Court for Human Rights.

Mafia capital: the exploitation of despair. The investigation "Mafia capital" raised the suspicion that the breakdowns and delays of the reception system Italian are driven at least in part, in order to perpetuate a mechanism on which profit from large criminal organizations that have put their hands on the management of centers for asylum seekers and migrants (CPA, Cara, Cie, etc.). Beyond the criminal liability and criminal offenses over which the judiciary is doing light, appear more obvious that the delays and the very serious responsibility of politics. And 'absurd that anyone, at all levels (government, regions, provinces, municipalities, representatives of organizations that bring together co-operatives and institutions under indictment), has never raised the issue of how they managed the shelters despite the repeated complaints of many NGOs and the frequent protests of refugees, resulted in thick authentic riots. And even more absurd is that neither the government nor any political force have taken the opportunity to propose to implement a radical reform of the system, perhaps along the lines of the most functional of other European countries and in view of arriving, in fact, to a unique system across the Union. And 'one of missed opportunities to give a sign of real commitment to innovation: for Italy but also for Europe.

Italian foreign policy and the EU in the Horn of Africa. Probably even in the wake of the call made by Bruxelle in November 2013 Italy to "do more" for its former colonies, particularly Eritrea and Somalia, in 2014 has intensified the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Horn of Africa. The first signal has had with the official visit made by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Lapo Pistelli in all countries of the region. E 'followed, in late November, the signing in Rome of the so-called Process of Khartoum, an agreement between the European Union and governments of Africa Maghreb and Eastern Europe for the control of migration. The treaty was presented as a tool for fighting organizations of trafficked human beings in cooperation with the countries of origin of refugees, those of transit and first stop. In fact, the characteristics of the planned measures appear to configure the construction of a further barrier to block migrants away from Europe, even before they arrive to the shores of the Mediterranean. That is: a further externalization of borders of Fortress Europe, moving further south. No matter at what price.
Not only. The start of these talks "in the dark", without any conditions ruling and without posing the need to "run the show", are proving to be an unexpected opening of credit by Italy and the European Union against some African countries.
One wonders what other interests unmentionable hide this political choice, in addition to building new barriers beyond which block the refugees.
That's why there is not much to celebrate the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. This appointment will only make sense if it tries to deal with these problems, asking forcefully in Brussels, national governments, institutions, in a word, to politics, to get them to solution within a reasonable time. Otherwise it risks becoming a sterile ceremony. Almost an alibi for those who have the responsibility, the power and the duty to respond to the thousands of young men and women, who are knocking at the doors of Europe to be recognized as having the most basic human and civil rights, beginning with the right to life same.
Fr. Mussie Zerai

18 gennaio, Giornata mondiale del migrante e del rifugiato.

Comunicato stampa.
  
Sembra ieri e invece è già passato un anno dall’ultima Giornata mondiale del migrante e del rifugiato, che la Chiesa Cattolica tornerà a celebrarsi il 18 gennaio. Il Santo Padre Francesco, con la Sua memorabile visita a Lampedusa, i Suoi ripetuti appelli al rispetto della dignità umane e diritti di tutti Migranti e Rifugiati, per ultimo il Suo messaggio per la giornata mondiale del Migrante e Rifugiati, sollecita tutti noi uomini e donne, credenti e non credenti, alla solidarietà verso chi è nel bisogno, chi è costretto a lasciare la sua terra, chi è vittima della guerra, persecuzioni, traffici e schiavitù.
https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/messages/migration/documents/papa-francesco_20140903_world-migrants-day-2015.html
 Ma guardando il panorama politico e culturale europeo c’è ben poco da celebrare. E’ stato, questo appena trascorso, un anno iniziato con grandi speranze e che purtroppo si chiude invece con profonda delusione. Certo, c’è l’innegabile, prezioso risultato di aver aiutato e assai spesso salvato, con l’operazione Mare Nostrum, oltre 168 mila richiedenti asilo, facendoli sbarcare nei porti italiani. E’ l’argomento di cui più si è parlato in questi ultimi dodici mesi: sui mass media e nel “sentire” della gente. Molto meno si è parlato degli oltre 3.600 che non ce l’hanno fatta: altri 3.600 morti nell’arco di un anno, una media di dieci al giorno, che fanno salire a ben oltre 23 mila il conto delle vite spezzate nella traversata del Mediterraneo dal 2000 a oggi.
Resta comunque l’importanza enorme della catena di salvataggi assicurata dalla dedizione della Marina Militare italiana. Ma, per quanto importante, questa è l’unica nota positiva nell’intero arco di quest’anno, nata da un’emergenza e peraltro ormai definitivamente conclusa, mentre restano inalterate, anzi aggravate, tutte le cause che spingono tanti, troppi giovani a lasciare il proprio paese, perché nella fuga è l’unica via di scampo da guerre, dittature, terrorismo, persecuzioni. Accade in tutto il Medio Oriente e accade ormai in ogni angolo dell’Africa: la regione orientale, quella sub sahariana, quella occidentale ed equatoriale.
Eppure lo scorso gennaio si è partiti con una grande speranza: la speranza che finalmente la Fortezza Europa si decidesse ad aprire un po’ di più le sue porte e, più in generale, che cominciasse a cambiare la sua politica – e quella di tutto il Nord del mondo – nei confronti dei paesi da cui arrivano tutti questi profughi. Autorizzavano queste aspettative i tanti impegni che a più voci l’Unione Europea, l’Italia e numerosi altri Stati hanno assunto all’indomani della strage di Lampedusa quando, il 3 ottobre 2013, tutti quei morti per una volta almeno sembrava che cominciassero a pesare sulla coscienza dei “potenti della terra” e della comunità internazionale. Mare Nostrum è nato sulla scia di questa emozione. E il semestre italiano di presidenza Ue, per la seconda metà del 2014, lasciava intravedere che probabilmente proprio Mare Nostrum sarebbe potuto diventare il simbolo della svolta, superando il progetto iniziale di operazione di polizia destinata al controllo delle frontiere marittime, per diventare il primo progetto europeo organico di soccorso, nell’ambito di un generale cambiamento della politica sull’emigrazione.
Così molti hanno interpretato le ripetute dichiarazioni del premier italiano, Matteo Renzi, che più volte ha contestato all’Europa di pensare di più a “salvare le banche” piuttosto che a “salvare vite umane”. C’era da aspettarsi,  in effetti, che sulla scia di questi “richiami” la sua presidenza europea lasciasse il segno, con atti e provvedimenti concreti. Tre in particolare: la trasformazione di Mare Nostrum in programma permanente, con il contributo di tutti i governi europei; il deciso avvio di un piano per un sistema di accoglienza unico per tutta l’Europa, accettato e applicato da ognuno degli Stati membri dell’Unione; l’abolizione o quanto meno la revisione – come primo passo di questo piano – del trattato Dublino 3, che vincolando i profughi al primo paese Europeo a cui chiedono aiuto, si risolve in una aperta violazione della libertà di residenza e movimento, creando situazioni di grande sofferenza e spesso occasioni di sopruso nei confronti dei profughi.
Nulla di tutto questo si è realizzato o quanto meno è stato impostato. Tanto da chiedersi che senso abbiano non solo gli impegni presi all’indomani del naufragio di Lampedusa e, ancora di più, quelli ribaditi con enfasi giusto dodici mesi dopo, nell’anniversario della strage, quando l’isola si è di nuovo riempita di rappresentanti di primo piano dell’Unione Europea, del governo italiano, di numerosi altri Stati.
Vale la pena, allora, fare brevemente il punto per singoli “capitoli”. Se non altro come promemoria per quei “potenti della terra” a cui si è rivolto papa Francesco, all’inizio di luglio del 2013, proprio da Lampedusa, scelta non a caso per ribadire la necessità di “andare verso le periferie”. Era la sua prima visita pastorale fuori dalle mura del Vaticano: pochi mesi dopo, la tragedia del 3 ottobre ha confermato come le sue parole fossero fondate.

Le vittime. Secondo i dati diffusi dall’Unhcr e dall’Oim, nell’arco dell’anno ci sono stati almeno 3.600 vittime nel Mediterraneo tra morti e dispersi. Sono circa il 2 per cento rispetto a quanti ce l’hanno fatta a salvarsi. Potrebbe sembrare una percentuale non troppo elevata, ma si tratta di vite spezzate: 3.600 vite. Ed è solo un censimento parziale: non vi figurano, ad esempio, quanti hanno trovato la morte nel Sahara o comunque nei paesi di transito verso la sponda maghrebina del Mediterraneo e in Libia, un buco nero sicuramente enorme ma su cui non si è mai indagato. Senza contare le centinaia di morti nel Mar Rosso, una via di fuga sempre più battuta dopo che sono diventati più difficili o si sono addirittura chiusi altri itinerari (verso il Sinai e Israele, ad esempio) collegati al Mediterraneo.
Mare Nostrum e Frontex-Triton. Il pesantissimo conto delle vittime rischia di moltiplicarsi a causa dell’abolizione di Mare Nostrum. Al suo posto, a partire dal primo novembre 2014, opera ora Triton, la missione europea gestita dall’agenzia Frontex, che ha il mandato di vigilare sui confini meridionali dell’Unione ma le cui navi, meno di un terzo di quelle messe in campo dal programma italiano, si limitano a pattugliare una fascia di appena 30 miglia, poco più delle acque territoriali dei vari Stati Ue. Gli effetti si sono visti subito con una tragica catena di nuovi naufragi e nuovi morti. Bruxelles si giustifica asserendo che comunque c’è il mandato di assicurare i soccorsi in caso di necessità. Ma appare evidente che un conto è intervenire da una distanza di poche miglia dalla situazione di emergenza, un conto è intervenire dalle acque territoriali, con davanti centinaia di miglia di mare da percorrere. Lo hanno denunciato le stesse Nazioni  Unite: “C’è il timore – ha contestato Francois Crepeau, relatore speciale Onu per i diritti dei migranti – che senza un’operazione come Mare Nostrum migliaia di persone moriranno”.
Sistema di accoglienza. Non c’è traccia, neanche come proposta, della volontà di arrivare a un sistema unico di accoglienza, uguale per tutti gli Stati membri dell’Unione. Eppure è proprio questa la chiave di volta non solo per garantire un programma di accettazione e inclusione sociale dignitosa per i profughi in Europa, ma per poter concretamente attuare quei “canali di emigrazione legale” (i cosiddetti corridoi umanitari e la possibilità di presentare le richieste di asilo direttamente alle ambasciate europee in Africa) che sono l’unico vero strumento efficace per sottrarre i migranti al ricatto dei trafficanti di esseri umani e degli scafisti. Inascoltati dalla politica gli appelli in questo senso di varie Ong e della stessa Unhcr.
Non solo. La mancanza di un programma unico europeo consente di lasciare in vigore sistemi di accoglienza dimostratisi ampiamente inefficienti e inadeguati, se non peggio, come quelli italiano e greco che, facendo dei profughi “non persone” senza diritti, creano un enorme serbatoio di lavoro nero e sfruttamento e che sono stati ripetutamente condannati dalla Corte Europea per i diritti umani.
Mafia capitale: lo sfruttamento della disperazione. L’inchiesta “Mafia capitale” ha sollevato il sospetto che le disfunzioni e le lungaggini del sistema di accoglienza italiano siano almeno in parte pilotate, al fine di perpetuare un meccanismo su cui lucrano grosse organizzazioni malavitose che hanno messo le mani sulla gestione dei centri di accoglienza per richiedenti asilo e migranti (Cpa, Cara, Cie, ecc.). Al di là delle responsabilità penali e dei reati sui quali sta facendo luce la magistratura, appaiono più che evidenti i ritardi e le gravissime responsabilità della politica. E’ assurdo che nessuno, a tutti i livelli (Governo, Regioni, Province, Comuni, rappresentanti delle organizzazioni a cui fanno capo le cooperative e le istituzioni sotto accusa), si sia mai posto il problema di come siano gestiti i centri di accoglienza nonostante le ripetute denunce di numerose Ong e le frequenti proteste dei profughi, sfociate spesse in autentiche sommosse. Ed ancora più assurdo è che né il Governo, né alcuna forza politica abbiano colto l’occasione per proporre di attuare una riforma radicale del sistema, magari sul modello di quelli più funzionali di altri paesi europei e in vista di arrivare, appunto, a un sistema unico in tutta l’Unione. E’ un’altra delle occasioni perdute di dare un segnale di reale volontà di rinnovamento: per l’Italia ma anche per l’Europa.
Politica estera italiana e Ue nel Corno d’Africa. Probabilmente anche sulla scia dell’invito formulato da Bruxelle nel novembre 2013 all’Italia di “fare di più” per le sue ex colonie, in particolare l’Eritrea e la Somalia, nel corso del 2014 si è intensificata l’attenzione della Farnesina per il Corno d’Africa. Il primo segnale si è avuto con la visita ufficiale fatta dal viceministro agli esteri Lapo Pistelli in tutti i paesi della regione. E’ seguita, a fine novembre, la firma a Roma del cosiddetto Processo di Khartoum, un accordo tra Unione Europea e vari governi dell’Africa maghrebina e orientale per il controllo dell’emigrazione. Il trattato è stato presentato come uno strumento di lotta alle organizzazioni dei trafficati di esseri umani in collaborazione con i paesi d’origine dei profughi, quelli di transito e di prima sosta. In realtà, le caratteristiche degli interventi previsti sembrano configurare la costruzione di una ulteriore barriera per bloccare i migranti lontano dall’Europa, prima ancora che arrivino alle sponde del Mediterraneo. Ovvero: una ulteriore esternalizzazione dei confini della Fortezza Europa, spostandoli sempre più a sud. Non importa a che prezzo.
Non solo. L’avvio di questi colloqui “al buio”, senza porre alcuna condizione pregiudiziale e senza porsi la necessità di “condurre il gioco”, si stanno rivelando una insperata apertura di credito da parte dell’Italia e dell’Unione Europea nei confronti di alcuni paesi Africani.
C’è da chiedersi quali altri interessi inconfessabili nasconda questa scelta politica, oltre alla costruzione di nuove barriere al di là delle quali bloccare i profughi.
Ecco perché non c’è molto da celebrare nella Giornata mondiale del migrante e del rifugiato. Questo appuntamento avrà senso solo se cercherà di affrontare questi problemi, chiedendo con forza a Bruxelles, ai Governi nazionali, alle istituzioni, in una parola alla politica, di portarli a soluzione entro un tempo ragionevole. Altrimenti rischia di diventare una cerimonia sterile. Quasi un alibi per chi ha la responsabilità, il potere e il dovere di dare risposte alle migliaia di giovani, uomini e donne, che bussano alle porte dell’Europa per vedersi riconosciuti i più elementari diritti umani e civili, a cominciare da quello alla vita stessa.

 Don Mussie Zerai