Plight of refugees must not be ignored - Mattarella

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 20 - President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday called on Italians to not ignore the plight of people forced to flee their homes in search of safety from violence and abuse.
    "Approximately 100 million men, women and children, in all continents, are forced to leave their homes to find protection against persecution, abuse, violence," said Mattarella in a message for World Refugee Day.
    "A sense of humanity and respect for the highest values enshrined in the Republican Constitution require that we do not ignore their plight," he added.
    "In celebrating World Refugee Day today, it is appropriate to reiterate that initiatives to assist these people - and in particular refugees in particularly vulnerable conditions - must be accompanied by the search for an indispensable and urgent long-term structural solution" to forced migration that addresses "the root causes that drive such large numbers of needy human beings to leave their countries" continued Mattarella.
    "They deserve alternative opportunities to the risky journeys that circumstances drive them to undertake even in prohibitive conditions," said the president.
    "Italy has always been at the forefront in fulfilling its high duty of solidarity, assistance and reception, in accordance with the Constitution, for those who are prevented from effectively exercising their rights and democratic freedoms in their own country," he continued, thanking UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency mandated to protect people forced to flee and stateless people, and "all the various State administrations and all the international protection and reception workers who, with great professionalism and a profound humanitarian spirit, work daily to alleviate the suffering of refugees and guarantee them access to essential services".
    By the end of 2022, the number of people forcibly displaced inside or outside their country by war, persecution, violence and human rights abuses stood at a record 108.4 million, up 19.1 million on the previous year, according to the annual Global Trends report published by UNHCR in June.
    Nor did the upward trajectory in global forced displacement show any sign of slowing in 2023 as the outbreak of conflict in Sudan triggered new forced migration movements, pushing the global total to an estimated 110 million by May, according to the report. (ANSA).