46 people landed at Fiumicino from Lesbos Island and Greece. They are from different nations, including Afghanistan, Cameroun, Congo, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and South Sudan. They are asylum seekers and refugees in a particularly vulnerable situation, who have spent long months, sometimes years, in refugee camps in Greece after difficult journeys through Africa, Asia or the Middle East, suffering mistreatment, exploitation and violence.
These families and single individuals – including three unaccompanied minors, the youngest being a 12 years old Syrian boy – will be welcomed in various regions (Lazio, Campania, Lombardy, Marche, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Veneto) and helped to integrate. Minors will be immediately enrolled in school and adults will follow Italian courses and enter the labour market as soon as they receive refugee status.
215 refugees from Greece, including the Syrian families that Pope Francis brought to Rome on his return from Lesbos on 16 April 2016, have so far been welcomed and integrated in Italy thanks to the humanitarian corridors model. They can look to their future with confidence and serenity.