Vitsut visits emergency reception centre for refugees in Italy
Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Toomas Vitsut together with his colleagues from the national parliaments of Europe will visit Pozzallo refugee centre at the invitation of the Senate of Italy.
Vitsut said that one of the greatest challenges regarding the registration of persons arriving in the European Union was their identification. He added that often the people who had fled the conflict or crisis zones had no documents to prove their identity, or they purposefully tried to hide their identity.
In order to get a better overview of the work done in emergency reception centres to mitigate the refugee crisis, the chairpersons of the European Union Affairs Committees of European parliaments visit the Emergency Reception Centre at Pozzallo in Sicily, Italy, which was opened in January last year.
At the centre, all migrants are registered and fingerprinted, and provided initial medical examination.
In order to mitigate the migration crisis, reception centres were established in Italy and Greece that are under the greatest migration pressure. Experts from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), who work at the centres, assist the countries in fulfilling their obligations that are based on the European Union law.
Many volunteers also work at the centres, they help register the refugees, provide them with food and water. Persons who are in need of international protection are identified and relocated to other Member States, where their applications for asylum are reviewed. Relocation from Italy to Estonia has not started yet, but the Ministry of the Interior is ready for that as soon as bilateral solution is reached.
Riigikogu Press Service
Epp-Mare Kukemelk
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