We don’t want people mooring on our coasts with improvised boats,
this is why we want them to be able to travel or ask for protection without having to risk their lives
We don’t want organizations trafficking in human beings to continue to grow,
this is why we want for people not to have to rely on them to travel or to escape
We don’t want people to give up contributing to the development of their own countries,
this is why we want for them to be able to decide whether to stay, to migrate, to return home freely and legally
We don’t want people to be forced to escape from wars and famine,
this is why we want to stop the sales of weapons to other countries and the movements of a predatory finance that speculates even on food prices
We don’t want to loose freedom of movement in Europe, gained after centuries of wars and separations,
this is why we believe that the only way to preserve this freedom is to expand it and share with others.
We don’t want racism and xenophobia to grow in European societies and democracies,
this is why we want to work together to enhance rights and share opportunities
We don’t want a wrong management of migrants’ reception to create tensions and discontent in society,
this is why we want the hosting of migrants to be directed to those in need; it should also be widespread, not squeezed in mass-centres
We don’t want taxpayers’ money to be used for inefficient and costly migration policies,
this is why we want effective policies aimed at wealth re-distribution globally
We don’t want to loose our cultures,
this is why we want them to grow richer interacting with other cultures.
For all these reasons, on 3rd December 2017 in Rome, we initiated the Forum “To change the order of things”, attended by over 500 participants from dozens of Italian and European cities: people who are actively engaged in the construction of an ever more open and supportive society.
From now on, we ask all of those who agree with this reasoning to spread in their hometowns and communities the ideas and proposals that have emerged from the Forum. Anyone may use the outcome of the 3rd December 2017 discussion to develop, in the Italian and European society at large, the notion that migration is an opportunity and not a threat.
In particular, we have focused on the following proposals, whose implementation – we believe – would contribute to changing the order of things:
– To reactivate the virtual possibility of regular entries for labour purposes and to open new admittance channels for the search of employment, while allowing for the regularization of who is already present on the national territory.
– To create platforms aimed to promote the involvement of academia, local municipalities, the social and business sectors in building partnerships for legal access.
– To support the reform of the Dublin Regulation along the lines indicated by the European Parliament, strengthening unaccompanied minors’ protection.
– To favour protected access measures for asylum seekers by enhancing already experimented humanitarian channels.
– To promote the urgent enforcement of an extraordinary humanitarian evacuation initiative from Libya to safe countries, where protection may be granted.
– To cancel past externalization agreements of frontiers with third countries, which are aimed at the containment of departures, the rejections and forced repatriations of migrants; at the same time, the instrumental use of ODA funding must be denounced. Resources made available in this way may be invested in the financial support to legal entry channels; these are indispensable if we are to effectively dismantle the network of organizations trafficking in human beings.
– Asylum seeking cannot be the sole entry strategy. To change this situation, it is necessary to expand the notion of international and humanitarian protection as well as to open legal access routes not just for protection purposes, but also for voluntary migration projects.
– To initiate a cogent process aimed to overcoming the Centri di Accoglienza Straordinaria (CAS, i.e. Centres for Extraordinary Reception) and any other form of emergency reception. Migrants’ reception services need to be integrated into the local social infrastructure. By doing this, the welfare system would improve since it would be able to provide inclusion services to all, benefitting from the social and political participation of migrants at the community level, in coordination with civil society organizations and other social actors. The mere assistance approach must be overcome.
– The considerable number of migrants present in our countries who have suffered extreme traumas, including victims of human trafficking, renders this issue not just a technical matter for expert people, but rather a highly relevant social matter. That is why, it requires competent and innovative intervention approaches, which are not to be commonly found today.
– To secure real transparency in international public migration policies, which entails disclosing all agreements – including police agreements, bilateral protocols, and cooperation programs – with third countries and related financial support.
– To create gathering and training opportunities aimed to design initiatives against hate and exclusion.
– To challenge the racist toxic narrative which opposes us to them, and any form of hate speech, through a correct and respectful information strategy in line with the Rome Charter. We need positive communication about migration flows, such as to give back the migrants the protagonism they deserve.
– Legal support services for migrants need to be strengthened, so as to favor effective access to justice for the people who have been abused.
Many other themes emerged in our discussions and we shall make them available soon. In addition to the mobilization of the many local entities in their own constituencies, the Forum shall launch other national and international appointments, the first one of which we can already announce: on 31st January, we shall bring the Forum’s proposals to the European Parliament.
Only united, and coming together, we can succeed And united we are since today.
For information and contacts:
www.percambiarelordinedellecose.eu
info@percambiarelordindedellecose.eu