Visit to Sicily by members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Migration on 8 September 2016

In the second in a series of visits to migration hotspots across Europe, a high-level delegation of OSCE parliamentarians will be in Sicily this week to see first-hand the challenges faced by refugees, migrants, aid workers and authorities related to the ongoing migration crisis impacting Europe. Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration will meet with officials from the Italian Interior Ministry, Port Authorities, UNHCR, International Organization on Migration and others in a fact-finding mission intended to inform recommendations to be presented to governments, parliaments and the international community.  

• WHAT: Official visit to Sicily by members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration
• WHO: Committee Chair Filippo LOMBARDI (MP, Switzerland), Committee Vice-Chair Alain NERI (MP, France), Committee Vice-Chair Guglielmo PICCHI (MP, Italy), Committee Vice-Chair Makis VORIDIS (MP, Greece), Committee Members Geir Joergen BEKKEVOLD (MP, Norway), Elvira DROBINSKI-WEISS (MP, Germany), Nahima LANJRI (MP, Belgium), Ignacio SANCHEZ AMOR (MP, Spain), Georgios VAREMENOS (MP, Greece)
• WHEN: Thursday, 8 September 2016
• WHERE: Pozzallo and Catania
• WHY: The purpose of the visit is to see first-hand the challenges faced by Italy in hosting migrants and refugees, as well as witness the conditions of the migrants themselves, in order to provide recommendations on improved migration management and responsibility-sharing. 

For more information, including interview availabilities, please contact OSCE PA Programme Officer Farimah Daftary, who is accompanying the delegation, at +45 6010 8890 or farimah@oscepa.dk. Media inquiries can also be directed to OSCE PA Head of Communications and Press Nat Parry, at +45 6010 8177 or nat@oscepa.dk.