<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/27/italian-clinic-refugees-centre-asylum-seekers>
"Tucked away in a tangle of streets around Rome’s Termini station is a clinic
that sharply contrasts with the hardline, anti-migrant stance of Italian
politicians.
The Samifo Centre is described by the people behind it as Europe’s – and
perhaps the world’s – only publicly funded service aimed at treating
post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma among asylum seekers and refugees.
More than 2,000 people were treated at the clinic last year, ranging from
refugees who had fled the Taliban to survivors of Mediterranean shipwrecks and
Ukrainians who left their homes as Russian tanks rolled on to their streets.
Many had experienced violence and torture in their home countries as well as en
route to Europe.
“We are witnesses to the horror of the world,” says the centre’s director,
Giancarlo Santone.
Launched in 2006, the centre was born out of a need to address a gaping void in
the healthcare system: while many of those seeking asylum had faced torture,
persecution or violence, little was on offer to help them move past these
experiences once they started to settle into their new lives.
What has emerged is a one-of-a-kind space: doctors to attend to people’s
immediate healthcare issues; an all female-run gynaecology clinic for women who
are pregnant or survivors of sexual violence; specialised psychologists and
psychiatrists to treat trauma; and a forensic doctor to certify signs of
mistreatment and torture if needed for asylum claims.
The centre, run by a local public health care authority in collaboration with
the Astalli Centre, the Italian branch of the Jesuit Refugee Service, also has
27 interpreters who double as cultural mediators, helping people navigate legal
and social barriers and access the centre’s training opportunities.
Nearly two decades after its launch, its focus has remained unchanged even as
the number of migrants landing on Italy’s shores has swelled nearly tenfold.
As governments across Europe crack down on migration, asylum seekers are taking
increasingly dangerous routes to reach Europe and the centre has been among the
civil society organisations left to grapple with the fallout."
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
