Art. 1 of the 1951 Geneva Convention, which has been incorporated into Italian law, defines a “refugee” as anyone who has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or holding a particular political opinion; the refugee is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country, or someone who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it.”

A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to accommodate refugees and, more generally, people who have fled their home countries. There are also camps for internally displaced people. A majority of refugees who flee their home countries do so because of war, persecution, or suffering caused by the presence of undemocratic governments. The numbers of both international and internal refugees are growing due to environmental catastrophes and economic disasters.

According to UNHCR data from October 2019, Ethiopia is the site of 29 refugee camps offering shelter to people who have fled from the four neighboring countries of Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea. There are also Yemeni refugees in the country. The refugee population in Ethiopia is estimated at just over 705,000 people. This estimate includes "urban refugees"— refugees of various nationalities who, for reasons of health, education, or personal danger, have left their home countries and currently live in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. 

The selection of beneficiaries for the Humanitarian Corridors program is mostly carried out in the Ethiopian refugee camps concentrated in the Tigrai region, particularly in the Mai Aini and Shimelba camps.

• Temporary
• Definitive

The residence permit is the administrative act that authorizes third-country nationals to legitimately stay in Italy. The permit indicates the length of stay allowed. With respect to asylum seekers who arrived in Italy through the Humanitarian Corridors project, the local police headquarters issues a temporary residence permit after the asylum application, which is valid only within the permitted territory for six months, but is renewable so that it can be effective until the date of decision on the application. It allows an asylum seeker to work 60 days after submitting his or her application.

Once refugee status has been received, the foreigner can ask the Immigration Office to issue a “definitive” or final residence permit with a renewable validity of five years.

A five-year residence permit for subsidiary protection is issued to holders of subsidiary protection status (for a definition of this status, see the entry for “International Protection Status”).

Only after the final permit has been obtained can an individual request the travel document allowing him or her to legally expatriate (see entry for “travel document”).