“Humanitarian corridors aim at providing a safe pathway for refugees with legal access to a country where they can be safe. Even if they benefit a limited number of individuals, the most vulnerable, and cannot as such be the only solution to the migration crisis, they constitute an important humanitarian response. This is in particular the case when they are put in place in frontline countries in the South Mediterranean Sea; those countries that bear a heavy burden in the current crisis”, highlighted Deputy Secretary General at the opening of the event “Humanitarian Corridors: an alternative to human trafficking in the Mediterranean”, organised by the Italian delegation to PACE.

“It is clear that our Europe today needs all the more such initiatives of solidarity. But these initiatives cannot replace our legal obligations stemming from the European Convention on Human Rights. In addition to create legal and safe pathways, the right to seek asylum, the asylum procedures as such and the conditions of refugee and asylum seekers should be in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the Court”, added Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni.

Programme:

• Welcome remarks

Michele Nicoletti, Head of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

• Speeches

Paolo Morozzo della Rocca, Full Professor of Private Law, University of Urbino, Community of Sant’Egidio  -  video

 Mattia Civico, Provincial Councillor of  Trento  - video

Testimony  by Aeham Ahmad, Syrian refugee pianist in Germany

• Conclusions

Milena Santerini, Coordinator of the No Hate Parliamentary Alliance of the  Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe