From today, December 17th, and until tomorrow 18th at 18:30 the Final Congress of the PROVIDE project, co-financed by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union, takes place in room 12 of building 19 of the Università degli Studi di Palermo.

The conference has started this afternoon with the welcome of Fabrizio Micari, Rector of the University of Palermo, and Michele Cometa, Director of the Department of Culture and Society. Throughout the afternoon it is planned to offer attendees a first approach on the project and on some key concepts about proximity violence.

Tomorrow's session will begin with the vision of Carla Pambiano, expert in proximity violence of the European Commission, and of Ravinder Barn, proffesor of the Royal Holloway at the University of London. We will be able to enjoy a more dynamic session in which we will have the participation of many of the partners of the project, who will present the results of their research, the training courses carried out and the protocol of good practices developed as a result of the results of the project.

As we have already seen, the congress is having a wide participation and assistance from professionals, professors and students from the fields of cooperation, social assistance, psychology, nursing, etc.

Italy and Spain are two of the countries willing to reach a European agreement on immigrants. The pact provides for the distribution of people that the NGOs or military ships have rescued in the Mediterranean. This distribution will be made before the entry of ships in port, so that once disembarked people are transferred immediately to the countries of the European Union (EU) that have acceded to the pact, which for now are six: Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Malta and Spain.

The interior ministers of Italy, Germany, France and Malta must approve the text at the meeting they will hold next 23 in Valletta. The Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, wants to introduce in the European agreement a rotation of the ports, so that the immigrants also disembark in Spain, France, Malta and Croatia.

One of the keys of the negotiation is to specify the different categories of immigrants. That is, who have the right to asylum or international protection because they come from countries in conflict or war, and who have exclusively economic motivations. Italy wishes that the division by quotas of the immigrants takes place before the disembarkation, to avoid that the negotiation on the distribution is eternalized and, in addition, to not give rise to that some countries choose only those who have right of asylum, excluding irregular or so-called economic immigrants.

This agreement will affect for now only immigrants who arrive on NGO or military ships, excluding those arriving in vessels called “ghost”. Immigrants landed by NGOs in Italy are a minority. From the beginning of the year until September 13, 5796 immigrants arrived in this country by sea, of which just over 1000 did so in NGO ships after being rescued in 26 operations off the Libyan coast. The vast majority of immigrants, a total of 4303, arrived irregularly in small boats, often abandoned on the beaches of Sicily or Lampedusa.

Conte has asked the EU to grant aid to countries that host immigrants. Also that fines or withdraw aid to governments that refuse to participate in the distribution of immigrants.

The NGO Proactiva Open Arms is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue of migrants trying to reach Europe through the Mediterranean. The Italian prosecutor ordered on Tuesday, August 20, the temporary seizure of the Open Arms ship and the landing on the island of Lampedusa of the 83 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean who remained on board.

The decision ends more than 20 days of waiting to be able to dock in a safe harbor. The ship, with a Spanish flag, waited from August 1, 800 meters from the small Italian island of Lampedusa for a European country to give it permission to dock. However, the coalition government that leads Italy refused to accept the ship in any of its ports. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that it should be Spain, the country where the ship is registered, that received migrants, something that Madrid initially refused.

The prosecutor of Agrigento (Sicily), on which Lampedusa depends, made the decision after boarding the Spanish ship to verify the status of migrants and the situation that reigned on board, described by the crew as desperate. After 20 days in Mediterranean waters waiting for a safe harbor, this crisis has once again revealed the deficiencies of the migration policy of the European Union (EU).

The Agrigento edition of the Provide course began on April 6th and ended on June 1st. On Friday June 14th 2019 at Villa Genuardi in Agrigento the final day of the Provide was celebrated with a ceremony, chaired by prof. Ignazia Bartholini, (University of Palermo) scientific responsible of the Project. There were also prof. Roberta Teresa Di Rosa, (University of Palermo) and Ettore Castorina, administrative manager of the University in Agrigento. Firstly, prof. Bartholini offered her thanks to all the staff, who contributed to the organization and implementation of the course as well as to the students who fully participated to all the planned activities. Moreover, the thanks were addressed to the administrative staff of the course's structure, who satisfied every need of both the staff and trainees. She also took the opportunity to anticipate to the students a possible future edition of the course and to emphasize its educational importance. Later, prof. Di Rosa began by thanking prof. Bartholini, the organizational staff and the administration of the University. She also referred to the team work that preceded the implementation of the course and the positive collaboration with Prof. Bartholini. Ettore Castorina focused on the importance of this step of the Provide Project and on the continuous training, thanking the teachers and all the staff who made their resources, time, energies available. At the end of the day the final certificates were given to the students and a coffee break was offered.

The Trapani edition of the Provide course began on January 11th 2019 and ended on March 9th 2019. The final ceremony in Trapani took place on March 28th 2019 at the Centro Polifunzionale- Cooperativa Badia Grande. The Certificates ceremony turned out to be a further moment of sharing and comparing the experience among the students of the course. The importance of a project such as PROVIDE and the knowledge acquired through have been underlined. After the debate, Prof.ssa Bartholini gave the certificates to the students and offered her thanks to the participants as well as all the professionals involved in the Project. At the end of the day a coffee break was offered to all participants.

The Palermo edition of the Provide course began on February 8th 2019 and ended on April 12th 2019. On April 16 th 2019 at the central Office of CROAS (the Social Service Professionals) in Palermo the final day of the Provide was celebrated with a ceremony, chaired by prof. Ignazia Bartholini, (University of Palermo) who offered her thanks to all the staff and to the local tutor Veronica Intravaia. There were also prof. Roberta Teresa Di Rosa, (University of Palermo) and Giuseppe Ciulla (Social Service Professional). During the debate prof. Bartholini focused on the main issues of the Training course and on the importance of the feedback from the students, who all became “Experts about Violence on Proximity”.

The former US military base in Mineo was the largest detention center for immigrants in Europe, which hosted more than 4,000 people during the 2014 immigration emergency. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini promised in an election campaign that he would dismantle him if he came to the Government.

The CARA (Reception Center for Asylum Seekers) of Mineo was inaugurated in 2011 by the then Minister of the Interior of the League, Roberto Maroni, during the Government of Silvio Berlusconi. They called it "the people of solidarity": 400 prefabricated houses about 50 kilometers from the city of Catania destined for the American Marines from the nearby military base of Sigonella, converted into a first reception center for migrants and asylum-seeking refugees.

In the summer of 2014, the center hosted more than 4,000 people, twice its capacity. Since then, the internal population gradually declined to reach about 150 in the last period. The last 68 immigrants were transferred last week to another reception center in Calabria, in the south of the country. The overcrowding in the worst years of the crisis, the lack of personnel and services for inmates or the long periods of permanence waiting to receive the ‘papers’, had caused numerous humanitarian organizations to request its closure.

This celebration recalls the strength, perseverance and courage of people around the world who have been forced to leave their homes, fleeing conflict and persecution. We need to show our support to all these families who are victims of this situation, approximately 70.8 million people.

The figure mentioned is considered the highest in recent years, so that the number of refugees, globally, continues to increase. In view of this reality, solidarity is mainly required; what refugees need is, first and foremost, peace. It can be said with certainty that there is humanity in many countries that, despite going through economic, security problems, host refugees. In addition, many people have joined the UNHCR campaign, whose work is more needed than ever.

The agency cited, UNHCR, is the United Nations High Commissioner working to protect and assist refugees around the world. They seek to guarantee certain rights for these persons, including the right to safe asylum in another State. The agency celebrates various activities related to raising awareness and raising awareness of the reality of refugees (playdays, concerts, exhibitions, etc.).

It is crucial to be aware that all people who have fled because of force majeure share the following: on the one hand, an immeasurable fear for his own life and, on the other hand, the fact that none of these people chose to be a refugee. That is why our work of solidarity with refugees must be founded on humanity.

There is no single place of origin, but on the contrary, the forced displaced come from a wide variety of countries, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia or Venezuela. Fleeing the country of origin, for reasons such as those described above, has caused many people to risk their lives and, at worst, even lose it. To save their lives, UNHCR invites you to take another step with refugees.