“The resurgence of anti-Semitism in these hours is worrying,” said the CEI president.
“Let our Italian Jewish brothers know that the Church is not only close to them, but that it considers every attack on them, including of a verbal nature, as a blow to itself and a blasphemous expression of hatred,” he added.
“We will not remain indifferent! The end of anti-Semitism is an educational, religious and civic commitment of the Italian Church, which does not underestimate the revival of hatred and racism, for anyone,” continued Zuppi.
On the controversial agreement Rome and Tirana reached last week for Italy to set up migrant centres in Albania, Zuppi said he hopes “that the human rights of asylum seekers will be respected” and that “externalisation cannot be the solution”.
“On migrants, a collective, common and shared European action is needed,” said the cardinal.
On Monday the Council of Europe expressed its concern about the Italy-Albania deal, which is understood to provide for the annual processing in Albania of up to 36,000 migrants and refugees rescued by the Italian authorities in the central Mediterranean, including asylum-seekers from so-called safe countries of origin who are subject to special accelerated procedures, in special centres to operate under Italian jurisdiction.
“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Italy and Albania on disembarkation and the processing of asylum applications, concluded last week, raises several human rights concerns and adds to a worrying European trend towards the externalisation of asylum responsibilities,” said Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
The concerns relate to issues such as timely disembarkation, the impact on search and rescue operations, the fairness of asylum procedures, the identification of vulnerable persons, the possibility of automatic detention without an adequate judicial review, detention conditions, access to legal aid and effective remedies.
Mijatović insisted that the MoU creates an “ad hoc extra-territorial asylum regime characterised by many legal ambiguities”.
Zuppi reiterated that on migration “we need an aware, responsible and truly united Europe that does not leave Italy alone”.
ANSA
