The need for an integrated strategy that brings together peace, humanitarian assistance and development in the various crisis scenarios was underlined today in Geneva during meetings between Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni and the heads of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Antonio Vitorino.
“We need a strategy where the issues of security and peace, humanitarian assistance and development are integrated also to give opportunities to the communities of origin, transit and reception”, said the Deputy Minister speaking to journalists at the end of the talks. Among the situations addressed during the talks were those in the central Mediterranean, Libya, West African countries, the Sahel and Afghanistan. UNHCR and IOM are “two organisations with which we are also working with joint plans, particularly in Libya and Niger”, said Marina Sereni.
The talks with Filippo Grandi, which had been planned for some time but was postponed due to the pandemic, and Antonio Vitorino highlighted “the excellent cooperation and great mutual appreciation. For our part,” said Marina Sereni, “we consider them strategic partners and we intend to ensure that the collaboration continues, with programmes and responses consistent with the needs of the territories. “On the Libyan crisis, however, the main challenge is the stabilisation of the country: only then will we be able to have unitary interlocutors for the whole country, and for this reason it is important that the elections scheduled for 24 December are maintained,” she insisted.
In Geneva, Marina Sereni also met the Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori, and the Director General of CERN, Fabiola Gianotti, during a visit to CERN, “where there is a lot of Italy, with Italians working there, but also an industrial presence and contributions from Italian universities in terms of solutions”. CERN,” the Deputy Minister concluded, “shows how science can be a great field for international collaboration and peaceful development. (ANSA) Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
