Italy: 60,000 Immigrants Received In 2011

According to the information released by the Civil Protection (Protezione Civile) in Italy, about 60 thousand immigrants came into the country by boats. Of this figure, approximately 24 thousand of them were from Tunisian. About 50 thousand of them landed on the coast of Lampedusa and Linosa. Of these figures, about 10,611 received residence permits based on humanitarian grounds.

The riots of the Arab Spring and the Libyan war resulted to the mass migration of North African s to Italy. As a result of the situation, the Italian government declared a state of humanitarian emergency to help the people fleeing the situation to seek asylum in a safe land. The emergency declaration began on February 12 2011 and was subsequently extended until December 31 2012.

The intervention of the National System of Civil Protection was required to work together with the Union of Italian Provinces (UPI) and the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI) to formulate a strategy to manage incoming immigrants and ensure they are evenly spread around the country.