ITA

We call upon the European Union to ensure protection for those forced to flee Ukraine and other war-torn countries. We cannot pretend not to see the wars further away from us!

EU countries are implementing Directive 55/2001/EC for all Ukrainian citizens who fled after 24 February 2022 as a result of the conflict. Directive 55/2001/EC, in twenty-two years, has never been implemented before. Why?

Certainly not because of a "lack" of wars. Since 2001, millions of people, from all over the world, have arrived in Europe in an attempt to save their lives: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and many African countries are torn by military conflicts.

In this context, thousands of people, over 22,000 in the Mediterranean alone, have lost their lives along the many 'routes' leading to Europe. Many of them have never been identified. Who were they? What were their names? How old were they? We will never know. The dead of migration have no name, no face, no history. They end up becoming a number: Unknown 1...Unknown 10,000...Unknown 100,000. Bodies buried without identity.

As Comitato 3 ottobre, we call for humanitarian protection to be granted to those fleeing the war, any war, and for a European DNA database and a system to be set up to identify those who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe.

Why is it important to identify the dead? Knowing what happened to loved ones, where they are buried and where to mourn them is first and foremost a right of the living. A right too often denied, out of lack of interest, to those fleeing the war.

TAREKE BRHANE, President of Comitato 3 ottobre

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