(ANSA) - ROME, 05 LUG - Migration is not an emergency in
terms of the number of arrivals but rather for humanitarian and
operational implications that are being overlooked, Flavio Di
Giacomo, spokesperson of the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), has denounced in a recent interview with ANSA.
"The numbers are low compared to the crisis of 2015, with the
850,000 Syrians who arrived from Turkey to Greece, and to what
we saw last year: 8 million people fled from Ukraine, including
nearly 5 million who obtained the status of special protection",
said Di Giacomo, spokesperson of IOM's Coordination Office for
the Mediterranean. "How is it possible that Europe was able to
manage so well a crisis that cannot be compared to these few
tens of thousands of people fleeing in particular discrimination
in Tunisia and Libya? Europe's response to this flow is not
getting the point by creating an emergency that I don't believe
exists". The IOM spokesman spoke to ANSA on the sidelines of the
'Sister-Led Dialogue' meeting on migration held on Monday, July
3, at the Rome headquarters of the International Union Superiors
General (UISG). 'Once a route is closed, a longer, most
dangerous one opens' "There are two emergencies at the moment:
a humanitarian one, due to the number of deaths, and an
operational one, because the great majority of people reaching
Italy by sea arrive in Lampedusa, which is a
logistical-operational matter", he continued, recalling that the
situation at the island's hotspot last year was "dramatic". "If
65,000 people reach Lampedusa, there are many, but if we
distribute them across Italy, we are looking at about 0.1 or 0.2
of the national population, an insignificant number", insisted
Di Giacomo, stressing that there is no emergency in terms of the
scale of arrivals. He also called the externalization of
migration to third countries "short-sighted". "If you close a
route, as occurred with the Turkish one, a longer, more
dangerous (route) will open. The Pakistanis and Syrians who died
and went officially missing in the recent shipwreck off Greece
used to arrive through the Balkan route", stressed the IOM
spokesman, once again referring to the humanitarian emergency.
"The people who are currently fleeing Tunisia had been living
there for years, they are now fleeing" due to racism against
African migrants, he said. "There is a racial problem, like in
Libya, thus it is not possible to talk with these countries of
departure". 'Europe must prioritize rescue missions at sea and
open safe pathways' Rescuing people at sea remains a priority,
said the IOM spokesman. "It is not possible for each boat to
wait for many hours or more than a day before a European coast
guard begins a rescue operation", observed Di Giacomo. "A
migrant boat is never suitable for navigation and thus in
danger, because to sail the high seas you need legal
requirements that an old, broken and overloaded migrant boat
certainly doesn't have. Once it is sighted, it must be rescued,
while very often, both in Cutro (Calabria) and on other
occasions, the lack of prompt intervention was justified saying
that navigation was going well - but it is a huge mistake. As
soon as such a boat is seen, it is necessary to save it because
it can sink in a matter of minutes. Europe must prioritize
rescue operations at sea, but this isn't happening", also said
the IOM spokesperson, denouncing the criminalization of NGOs
operating migrant-rescue vessels and the theory that
NGO-operated boats constitute a 'pull factor' encouraging
illegal migration, "which has been denied but all available
data", he noted. Figures show that "there is the same number of
departures both in the presence and absence of rescue vessels at
sea", Di Giacomo stressed. "Speaking about the 'pull factor' is
propaganda", he continued, calling for the opening of safe
pathways of migration, as "also requested by the private
sector". "The demographic crisis will lead to a major reduction
of the working age population in 20 years: it is irreversible,
and all institutes are saying this. We need to deal with the
causes that are driving people to leave with fair agreements
with countries, not like the ones so far" forged aimed at
"repatriations at all costs. 85% of the Africans who migrate end
up staying in the continent. We have a very Europe-centric
vision but not everyone wants to come to Europe, which thinks it
is at the centre of the world although it hasn't been for
decades", he commented. Moreover, he noted, "an increasingly
older and richer world can welcome flows coming from the South.
We need migration and migration needs us, so it is a win-win
situation - the sooner we manage it the better. There is
certainly propaganda, but we need to be patient because it's not
possible to stop the wind with our hands. Multiculturalism is
part of humanity's history and makes nations grow, the ones that
have shut their doors to migration are lagging behind and are
less developed: History says so", he concluded. (Picture shows
Flavio Di Giacomo during the meeting 'Sister-Led Dialogue' at
the headquarters of the International Union Superiors General
(Uisg) which focused on migration. (ANSA).
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Migration an emergency for humanitarian reasons not numbers, IOM
Spokesman Di Giacomo discusses the phenomenon with ANSA