What is the Order in Europe doing about the migration and refugee emergency? This is a question of was thoroughly debated at the 2016 European Regional Conference in Sorrento, Italy. Recently, the Curia has been trying to collect more precise data, and the picture which is emerging shows that in Europe, the Order is doing much more than has been publicised by the Provinces and by our Centres.

In Europe, 10 of the Order’s 11 Provinces are committed to implementing specific projects to provide care to migrants and refugees. More specifically, the Order has 50 European centres providing aid and assistance to migrants and refugees. In addition to these specific projects, health care is provided in the Order’s hospitals as a matter of routine. There are no precise figures available in this latter instance. Only 23 of the 50 projects for migrants and refugees receive government support or help from other organisations. Everything else is wholly financed by the Order. One very positive figure is the fact that 19 of the 50 projects are being implemented in cooperation with other organisations.

In summary:

The figure for the number of people assisted (about 5800) must certainly be multiplied because we do not have any exact figures on the numbers of migrants and refugees who come to our outpatient departments. One interesting fact in this regard is that one hospital has published specific guides in several languages for migrants and refugees on the use of our services. A similar guide has also been prepared for the care staff.

The main areas in which the Order is providing help and assistance to migrants and refugees are:

Vocational training. 7 centres of the Order are running specific programmes to help migrants and refugees to acquire the basic notions to be able to embark on a vocational training course.

Housing, integration, language lessons. There are 30 centres performing work of this kind.

Noteworthy initiatives. One centre is offering free legal advice to migrants and refugees. One centre is welcoming refugees in a reception camp on the Greek island of Chio. Three centres are running specific programmes to improve social cohesion and integration between the local people and migrants and refugees (initiatives with the participation of both the local people and the migrants and refugees themselves).