Fires in the Moria camp: solidarity with all the victims

Emmaus Europe and Emmaus International express their solidarity with all the victims of the fires in the Moria camp on the Island of Lesbos. It is yet another trauma on the difficult path from exile to an asylum that Europe is doing everything to avoid giving them.

We have long denounced the policies of registering applications in “hotspots” far from our continent or outsourcing outside Europe as they do not give real access to rights for asylum seekers and make them suffer from inhumane living conditions in camps that receive 4 times more people than they can accommodate.

The EU and each of its member countries must now urgently find a dignified solution to accommodate these 12,000 refugees, not just a few hundred unaccompanied minors; this meanness is unworthy of our values. Many local authorities are ready to help, in conjunction with the civil societies in their territory. They affirm this in their alliance sealed in October 2019 (“Alliance Migrations”, launched at the initiative of Emmaus International and the OCU, see the open letter: an alternative migration policy is possible”) to jointly defend the feasibility of alternative migration policies.

The new Pact for Migration and Asylum being drawn up by the European Commission could include this closure of hotspots and distribution across all European countries. Europe should allow everyone to apply for asylum wherever they want, as requested by Emmaus Europe in its contribution to the Pact roadmap.

Emmaus Europe has also signed two petitions to call for the immediate evacuation of the Moria camp. Join our call, sign the petitions and share widely:

Defending human rights / Migration News

The New Pact on Asylum and Migration: How to overcome policies which create poverty?

The European Commission has relaunched its work on ‘A New Pact on Asylum and Migration’. Work on this topic was started long ago but the Commission now wishes to make the Pact a key part of its current mandate. The Commission launched a consultation on this matter and Emmaus Europe responded to it, alerting them about the alarming situations regarding welcome for migrants that have been witnessed within the Emmaus groups. In addition to the principle of freedom of movement, which was not taken into account in the roadmap for the Pact, Emmaus Europe based its proposals around the premise that the current migration policies create poverty and that our groups are then left to deal with these situations.

By responding to this consultation Emmaus Europe hopes that these situations of poverty, as well as the environmental and economic factors which lead people to emigrate, will be taken into account in the drafting of the Pact. Emmaus Europe also proposes that the measures included in the Pact be based around the following goals:

To put a stop to European policies which create poverty, such as the Dublin Regulation, and to allow people to seek asylum or request a residency permit in the country of their choosing.
To widen and improve access to humanitarian visas for asylum seekers in the countries of origin so that we can avoid deaths along the migration routes.
To redirect European tax money away from Frontex, using it instead to finance dignified welcome for asylum seekers (the Geneva Convention on Climate Refugees and Economic Refugees) so that we can welcome more people and in more humane conditions.
To stop paying regimes which violate human rights (Turkey, Libya, etc.) to manage Europe’s borders.

Defending human rights / Migration European Union News

Emmaus in Italy

Based on an interview with Marie Balseca, the Italy national delegate on the Regional Council of Emmaus Europe, and Franco Monnicchi, the President of Emmaus Italy.

Can you tell us about the early days of Emmaus in Italy?

In the late 1960s, a handful of young Catholics who no longer agreed with traditional charity decided to live in a different way with poor people who were making a living from recycling. In December 1962, one of them, Vincenzo Benciolini, returned from France, where he had spent several months in various Emmaus communities, and set up the Verona “community of ragpickers”.

How did Emmaus develop in Italy?

A few years later, in 1967, Emmaus international work camps were held in Northern Italy. These work camps were a fantastic opportunity to interact, meet people from other cultures, and open up to others, while undertaking a useful activity together. The success of this initiative contributed to the development of Emmaus in Italy. There are now 27 Emmaus charity shops in the country, as some communities have several shops each. In general terms, including paid employees, Emmaus Italy amounts to over 550 people involved in the movement. And we are continuing with the youth camps: one of their notable recent achievements was setting up a new group in Palermo!

What are Emmaus’ main income-generating activities in Italy?

The groups primarily do the traditional Emmaus work of collecting, reusing and selling unwanted goods. It is difficult to calculate the number of tonnes of goods collected per year. And the percentage reused and recycled varies greatly from one community to the next. The figure can range from 30-60% of goods recycled and put on sale.

You are heavily involved in defending human rights. Can you give us some examples of initiatives that you undertake in this area?

During the school year and the summer camps, one of Emmaus Italy’s activities is training and awareness-raising about social issues, such as: migration, the mafia, and human trafficking. Emmaus Italy also supports the Mediterranea maritime search and rescue operation. The initiative primarily aims to show solidarity with migrants in the Mediterranean and denounce European governments’ migration policies. In October 2018 Mediterranea launched the Mare Jonio, an Italian-registered rescue and monitoring ship. Thanks to the support of other European groups and the backing of EE and EI, Emmaus Italy has helped fund the ship and is now a member of the initiative. The campaign is continuing to this day! Website link

What are the issues currently facing Emmaus in Italy?

At the present time, the national organisation is facing amendments to the third sector reform (the Riforma del Terzo Settore). These institutional changes are forcing us to rethink and change the way we work.

The current crisis has not affected our commitment to the most vulnerable communities. We have managed to face up to this situation thanks to internal solidarity and an appeal for donations made to the general public and foundations. We have also stayed standing shoulder to shoulder with organisations that fight for human rights. Our partnership with Mediterranea always makes us think about Global North-South relations, weapons sales, refugee law, and freedom of movement.

Furthermore, this crisis has raised the issue of the fragile health system and, at the same time, the importance of promoting social justice and championing the common good.

More information: interview with Franco Monnicchi for Emmaus International

Italy News

What will the Emmaus Summer Camps be like in 2020?

Despite the pandemic the Emmaus groups in Europe are adapting in order to organise their summer camp events for as many people as possible.

Summer is here which means the Emmaus summer camps are back too! Emmaus groups across Europe open up to the general public in the summer months and to young people in particular, offering a fantastic experience of volunteering in the Emmaus communities, encouraging the participants to get involved in the movement and to discover the movement’s principles and values. Given the exceptional circumstances this summer the majority of the groups have had to adapt their plans for the camp events in order to create safe conditions for the volunteers.

Despite the ongoing travel restrictions in many countries the groups La Poudrière (Belgium) and FIS (Bosnia-Herzegovina) are inviting all those who are allowed to travel to the groups to their camp events. The two groups wish to run as normal as possible an event, whilst taking all appropriate preventive measures.

The French groups and their national organisation, Emmaus France, have decided to work on a different format for the 2020 camps in order to meet the high demand from volunteers wishing to get involved and support the movement. Local volunteering will be encouraged in order to reduce long-distance travel and gatherings but face-to-face events will still be allowed. In parallel the French are looking into the options for online events in order to maintain the bonds with their international volunteers and they are also organising remote volunteering assignments for all appropriate activities.

Unfortunately some groups in Europe have had to put the welcoming of foreign volunteers on hold for now. This is the case for Emmaus Åland (Finland) which has had to put registration for its summer event on hold whilst waiting for further information from the authorities about the easing of the current travel restrictions to the Åland islands. In Italy, where summer camps are generally very successful, the groups have had to take the difficult decision of cancelling the events this year.

We shouldn’t forget that whilst the spread of the epidemic which hit the world in spring now seems to be slowing in Europe other regions are still in the eye of the storm. Whilst travel and gatherings remain uncertain this year the Emmaus groups from across Europe look forward to welcoming back volunteers as soon as the health situation allows it, whether that be this summer or at a later date.

News Tackling Poverty / Solidarity