Médecins Sans Frontières - From Libya to Italy: humanitarian corridors

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB217442

Date taken / Date Recorded 16/12/2024 11:07 AM

Country Italy, Libya

Commissioning section MSF-ITALY

Photographer / videographer / producer Candida Lobes

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) Advertising Campaign, External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available yes

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m19s

Maximum Size 1080px × 1920px 430.67 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Text

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V4, Location

Viterbo

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In 2023, civil society organizations, the UNHCR and Italian authorities signed a memorandum of understanding to create a humanitarian corridor aimed at relocating 1,500 vulnerable people from Libya to Italy over a three-year period.

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V4, Text

V4, Text

Among them are people with severe medical conditions, who were cared for by the MSF team in Libya. Upon arrival in Italy, they are supported by the Italian organization Arci, while the MSF team in Italy provides psychological support and ensures access to specialized medical care.

V4, Text

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V2, First Name

Omar

V2, Function

arrived from Libya to Italy on a humanitarian flight

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V2, First Name

Flavia

V2, Last Name

Caló

V2, Function

MSF Psychologist

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V2, First Name

Hussein

V2, Last Name

V2, Function

arrived from Libya to Italy on a humanitarian flight

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V4, Text

V4, Text Omar* and Hussein* arrived in Italy via a humanitarian corridor in March 2024. Both suffered abuse and violence while in Libya. Today they live together, attend an Italian course, and are supported by Arci and Doctors Without Borders.

*Names have been changed to protect people's identities.

In 2024, only 216 people were able to leave Libya through the humanitarian corridor to Italy. For thousands of others, who remain victims of violence and inhumane treatment, safe and legal pathways out of Libya to seek protection are still unavailable.

With no legal alternatives, many are left with no choice but to risk their lives crossing the sea to reach Europe. Over 1,500 people lost their lives in the Central Mediterranean in 2024 alone.

Voices

00:00:03:20 - 00:00:10:00 We are fine here, we live well together as brothers.

00:00:10:00 - 00:00:18:14 When I was in Libya, I thought in Italy they would give me rights.

00:00:18:14 - 00:00:24:03 Since I arrived I have found much more.

00:00:49:20 - 00:00:53:18 I was very happy [when they told me I was coming to Italy].

00:00:53:18 - 00:00:56:08 Maybe I didn't eat for two days because of the joy.

00:00:56:14 - 00:01:00:05 I left Sudan for the first time in 2021.

00:01:00:05 - 00:01:06:16 My country was not safe. Libya seemed to me a safer place.

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I left Sudan because there is destruction, war, and death.

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Before it was like this only in Darfur, now it is like this all over Sudan.

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[People in Sudan] are caught between life and death.

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Maybe [even right now] they are being bombed.

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People getting off planes coming from Libya,

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through the humanitarian corridor,

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are people who are vulnerable in body and psyche.

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They are people who suffer

all forms of torture,

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violence,

inhuman and degrading treatment in Libya,

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but also before that,

along the migration route.

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I saw people killed, people wounded in front of me.

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My jailers in Libya poked my eye out.

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My body has many signs of violence, but the one you can see most now is the eye.

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I don't care about the other wounds that can't be seen now,

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but they took away an important part of me, of my body.

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The humanitarian corridor project is important because

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it allows people

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who have already gone through

highly traumatic experiences

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along the migration route

in Libya, to arrive in Italy

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through a safe channel,

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[it allows them] to arrive with dignity on Italian soil.

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We work in collaboration with Arci

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and we work to facilitate the evacuation of vulnerable people

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from Libya to get via humanitarian corridors to Italy.

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The people who live with me now have gone through the same things that I have gone through,

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and that's why we understand each other.

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Here we are well, we live well together as brothers.

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[Life in Libya] is over, here is another world.

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I went from

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a place of injustice,

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fear and terror

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to a safe and beautiful place.