Policies to tackle human migration
need to follow different paths, President Sergio Mattarella said
on Friday.
"The phenomenon of migration must be addressed for what it is:
global movements that cannot be erased by walls or barriers",
Mattarella told participants at the annual Meeting of Catholic
evangelical organisation Comunione e Liberazione (CL) in Rimini.
"A just peace cannot ignore the drama of refugees," added the
Head of State.
In tackling migration Mattarella called for "a concrete and
constant commitment from the European Union" and "support for
the countries of origin of migratory flows".
"It must be understood that only regular pathways for admission,
which must be sustainable but in a sufficiently large number,
provide the means to end the cruel trafficking of human beings,"
said the president.
"The prospect and hope of arrival, without cost and inhuman
suffering, would induce people to wait for legal authorisation
to come," he added.
Mattarella also recalled that a society based on hatred and
hostility can have no future.
"What is the basis of human society, of the reality in which
each of us is immersed?" asked the president.
"Is it the character of confrontation? Is it the pursuit of
one's own access to essential goods and consumer items? Is it
hostility towards one's neighbour? Is it contraposition of
differences? Or is it even the feeling of hatred that underlies
human coexistence?" he continued.
"If we were to answer yes to even one of these questions, the
fate of humanity would most probably have been sealed," said
Mattarella.
The head of state also underlined the value of diversity,
reminding his audience that the search for homogenisation in the
20th century merely led to the oppression of man over man.
"It is not possible to imagine that friendship can unite only
those who see themselves as being alike," said Mattarella.
"If that were the case, we would be on the road to
homogenisation, to a levelling-out," he continued.
"The opposite of this is respect for diversity, for the
specificity of every person. It is no coincidence that the
demand for standardisation is what characterised the ideologies
and cultures of the 20th century, leading to the oppression of
man over man," said Mattarella.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
