Italy is fulfilling its duties towards refugees and asylum-seekers but needs Europe's "concerted" support to tackle the underlying problems that drive people to flee their homelands, Italy's president Sergio Mattarella said on Thursday.
"Italy leads in fulfilling with constancy and determination its duties of solidarity, assistance and welcome and has a high moral and legal commitment to those fleeing persecution," he said in a speech to mark World Refugee Day.
The obligation to aid refugees is enshrined in the 1951 Geneva Conventions and is among the founding principles of the Italian constitution, Mattarella noted.
"This day also reminds us that no country is able to meet such a challenge alone," Mattarella said.
He urged nations to go beyond "the logic of emergency" and to find "farsighted and sustainable responses based on the principles of responsibility and solidarity".
"The causes of the grave problems that afflict people in regions of the world that are very near to us and the solutions to these dramas should be carefully reflected upon," he said.
Long-term solutions to the refugee phenomenon must be "concerted" and undertaken by the whole international community and above by Europe, Mattarella underlined.
The European Union should be the driving force in forging a common policy to "mitigate conflicts" and meet the security and development needs of the people who are most vulnerable to humanitarian crises, he said.
Such a common policy should involve a comprehensive partnership with countries and communities that host refugees and asylum-seekers, Mattarella argued.
"The crucial work of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) must be flanked by a robust international initiative this direction," Mattarella concluded.
