Dignity and Dialogue: Reflections from the Commemorative Conference on Migration and Integration

The Church of Scientology of Rome hosted a conference on 4 October in its Auditorium in Via della Maglianella 375, in celebration of the national Day of Memory and Welcoming to humanise the processes of welcoming and integration under the banner of human rights.

On Friday, 4 October, the Church of Scientology in Rome hosted a conference on migration, reception and integration on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Welcoming, called every 3 October by law no. 45 of 2016 as a national day in Italy, to commemorate the 398 victims, migrants, following a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea in 2013.

The conference received the partnerships of Mediatori Mediterranei, La Collina Community, the association Human Rights and Tolerance, the association Art and Culture for Human Rights, the IDOS Study Centre - Statistical Immigration Dossier, and the Confronti Study Centre and Magazine as mediapartners. In particular, IDOS granted the possibility to download the year 2023 Immigration Dossier free of charge from the website www.dossierimmigrazione.it for the duration of the conference.

The first panel was moderated by the director of the Confroni Study and Research Centre, Claudio Paravati. Dr. Beatrice Covassi, with experience in the European Union Commission, spoke and outlined three key points for the management of the phenomenon: the promotion of regular migration, the reform of the right to citizenship and interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Dr. Alessandra Morelli, former delegate of the High Commissioner for Refugees at the United Nations, called for a policy of care and faces that respects human dignity and helps reception and integration in migration management. The creation of an agency operating within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, in conjunction with the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Health and Labour was his proposal for a resolution. Closing the panel was a video message by Don Mario Farci who, from a theological perspective, illustrated how migration is a structural factor of humanity, revealing its nature as a people on a journey and its relationship with God who walks with it.

In the second session, Prof. Di Sciullo. President of the IDOS Study and Research Centre, traced the historical stages that have led to the perception of the migration phenomenon as a ‘social emergency’ and highlighted how instead foreigners are a resource, producing 9% of the national Gross Domestic Product and therefore recalled the need for laws that look at the phenomenon as a resource and those who will be affected by it as people with dignity who want to live in legality.

Prof. Carlo Pilia, President of Mediatori Mediterranei, referred to some European projects and explained the lack of university courses for cultural mediators. He proposed to train our Mediterranean mediators as excellences who are ready both theoretically and practically to face the reality of migration in the places where migrants live and need to integrate.

 

Lastly, Prof. Martin Nkafu Professor of African Philosophy at the Lateran University and President of the Nkemnkia International Foundation, proposed replacing the term ‘migration’ with the concept of ‘human mobility’ and to work, right from schools, on educating young people to ‘world citizenship’, to the principle of ‘internationality’, creating that cultural change in a world that has now changed. Prof. Nakfu invited those present to consider that if one is born in Italy, one is certainly an Italian citizen, but also a ‘citizen of the world’.
In the concluding panel, the testimonies of those on the front line of reception. 

Moderated by Don Ettore Cannavera, creator and director of the La Collina Community, speakers included Dr. Lilia Adriane Azevedo, Expert in immigrant rights and human rights, owner of Casa Helena (Centre for studies and assistance to work, family and immigrants), Prof. Salameh Ashour, Imam, lecturer in Islamic culture and Arabic language, spokesperson for the Palestinian community, Dr. Felix Adado, Poet, writer of the book ‘The World's best known book’, and Dr. Ettore Cannavera, Director of the La Collina Community. Felix Adado, Poet, Writer and Linguistic-Cultural Mediator, Dr. Daniel Sigua, Journalist and International Correspondent, founder of TCG News, the first Latin American news agency in Italy and Europe, Dr. Hassan Batal, Intercultural Mediator, Dr. Doreid Mohamad, President of the Association Sardinia Lebanon a bridge for the Mediterranean. From the audience came speeches by lawyer Angela Susanna Tosi, creator and director of the project Avvocati Cittadinanza, and Gemma Vecchio, President of Casa Africa. It was clear from their speeches that we are dealing with individuals with a dignity that if recognised as indispensable opens the door to good integration.

It became clear from the conference that one must always ask oneself why a person decides to leave his or her place of origin. There are many answers and the exact answer is key to understanding how to manage the reception and integration of each person. Another element is that migration is a structural phenomenon, not an emergency, and the cultural change that educates generations about human rights and respect for the dignity of the person must be placed at the basis of all policies, laws and regulations concerning this field of social living.

In closing, a video was shown on Article 1 of the UN Universal Declaration, which enshrines equal dignity and rights for all. It is one of 30 videos that are part of the teaching materials of Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI), which aims to teach human rights to young people and inspire them to become advocates for peace. YHRI is now a worldwide movement, with hundreds of groups worldwide, supported by the Church of Scientology, other religious bodies and civil society.

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