Hatred towards foreigners is on the rise. Fueled above all by social media and fake news, it is causing the rate of racism and discriminatory conduct to dangerously increase in Italy. This is reported in the 2024 Migrant Report published by Caritas-Migrantes. «Recent studies», we read in the dossier, «suggest that the increase in arrivals of migrants and refugees is among the main factors triggering hate speech. Furthermore, the exposure of young people of foreign origin to online content is more accentuated than that of their peers of Italian origin: among the causes, the massive use of mobile phones, smaller living spaces and a lot of time spent on the internet, even in the absence of alternatives, with the aggravation of the risk of isolation, alienation and increased vulnerability to various forms of violence”. And so, if they do not commit crimes to a greater extent than Italians, foreigners are, however, to a greater extent victims of crime. Furthermore, 49.5 percent of young foreigners declare that they have suffered at least one offensive, disrespectful and/or violent episode from other young people in the last month, compared to 42.4% of their Italian peers. If we narrow the field to women only, one in two has suffered gender violence.
The Report, now in its 33rd edition, and entitled “People on the move”, dispels, with data in hand, prejudices about migrants. He explains that 281 million people are fleeing their countries (84 million in 1970). Of these 5 million 308 thousand units (9 percent of the population) are in Italy. Young people, predominantly male, Christians in 53 percent of cases (Muslims reaching 29.8 percent) are more willing to choose the North (58.6 percent) and the Center (24.5) while just 11.9 percent reside in the South or in the islands. They come mainly from Morocco, Albania and Ukraine, although, in the last year, there has been a return of displaced people to the country invaded by Russia and an increase in arrivals from Peru.
They work, even if they are paid less than Italians and suffer more accidents. Little attention is paid to the integration of minors and at school the normal difficulties of integrating into a linguistic and cultural context different from one’s own are branded as “learning disorders”.
However, they do their best to integrate, especially in the world of work. The employment rate of young migrants is 10 percent higher than that of their Italian peers. Who, however, often don’t look for a job. Of the NEETs, i.e. those who do not study and do not want a job, 85.1 percent are Italians, 2.9 percent are young EU citizens and 12 percent are non-EU youth.
Also due to the contribution they make to our country, the Report relaunches the appeal to modify the law on citizenship. A law that «is stuck in 1992 and no longer responds to the needs of our time. Italian society is proving to be ahead of institutional policies. Sports competitions such as the European football championships in Germany and the recent Olympics and Paralympics in Paris have highlighted the talent of many Italian athletes with a migratory background. These young people represent a significant part of our country’s future but rigid regulations risk slowing down their potential and aspirations. Requests arriving from companies can no longer be postponed. Immigration”, conclude the CEI bodies, “is not an emergency but there are problems that risk becoming emergencies”.