Humanitarian Corridors is a program of welcoming and integration for refugees, begun in 2015 and renewed in 2017 and 2019, which is completely funded by private religious entities like the Italian Bishops’ Conference through Caritas Italy and the Community of Saint’Egidio. Its goal is to provide legal and safe entry into Italy for Eritrean and other citizens of the Horn of Africa who were forced to flee their countries for political, religious, or racial reasons. It focuses on persons living in Ethiopian refugee camps. Beneficiaries of the program must meet conditions of personal or familial vulnerability.
Over the course of a year, the beneficiaries are welcomed by Caritas and the Community of Sant’Egidio. The program helps facilitate their integration into Italy by means of a team of social workers in the diocesan Caritas, volunteers, and mentor families.
The work of Human Corridors is based on a protocol entered into between the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Caritas Italy, and the Community of Sant'Egidio on January 12, 2017, which was preceded by a another protocol establishing the program. This first memorandum was executed in 2015 by the Ministry of the Interior, the Community of Sant'Egidio, and the Federation of Italian Evangelical Churches, the latter of which is focused on Syrian refugees in Lebanese refugee camps.
Since the beginning of the humanitarian corridors over 2.000 refugees have arrived in Italy. In 2019 the project was extended to 600 additional refugees from three “transit countries” (Ethiopia, Niger and Jordan)
