Afghan refugees. Who will accept immigrants? Great Britain, North Macedonia and the mayors of Italian cities declare themselves

“Our new Afghan resettlement program will allow us to accept up to 20,000 people forced to flee Afghanistan. The first 5,000 will arrive next year,” British Home Secretary Priti Patel wrote in Tuesday’s issue of the Daily Telegraph.

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She added that the program would prioritize women, girls, religious and other minorities. The Minister stressed that Great Britain could not act alone and urged other countries to do the same. “The UK is doing everything it can to encourage other countries to help. We don’t just want to lead by example, and we can’t do it alone,” she wrote.

A representative of the North Macedonia authorities stated that “the government has pledged to accept 450 Afghan citizens.” In the first phase, Scooby will employ 180 people. The country will also host a group of 200 Africans at the request of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), an organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting democratic institutions.

It added that most of the 450 Afghan refugees were expected to arrive in North Macedonia “by the end of the week, depending on conditions at Kabul airport.” These are in particular Afghans working for the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, in various NGOs, as well as journalists. This group will remain in North Macedonia until they obtain visas that will help them find their way to the United States. The costs of their stay will be covered by Americans and international organizations.

Albania, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina announced on Sunday that they would accept Afghan refugees, including women, as well as current government officials and others potentially at risk from the Taliban.

“Italian mayors are ready to contribute and welcome Afghan families. There is no time to lose. We know very well that civilians who cooperated with our missions in Afghanistan are at great risk today, especially women and children,” said Prato Mayor Matteo Pivoni. Representative of the Association of Migration Municipalities. He announced that the mayors had expressed their willingness to shelter Afghan families as part of the government’s protection program in a letter to the Italian Ministry of the Interior. The announcement was also made individually on Tuesday by the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, informing the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Referring to the issue of refugees from Afghanistan, the leader of the Right League coalition, Matteo Salvini, said, “I consider accepting dozens of people who have cooperated with our embassy as a duty, but no one is talking about accepting tens of thousands of Afghans.”

On Tuesday, 20 Afghan collaborators arrived with the evacuees from Kabul. In Italy, 35,000 illegal immigrants have already been accepted. Let other European countries deal with it – said the head of the League, recalling the number of immigrants who arrived this year by sea.