SCHOOLS PORTAL

OUR OBJECTIVES

• Inform and engage

  

  Our present and past actions are based on three key concepts: memory, dialogue, and reception. The Comitato was established to remember those who lost their lives at sea, who were ‘simply’ trying to reach a safe place to live in. We work to make students aware of the stories of surviving migrants and their relatives. We want to be able to provide a new perspective on migration in the public opinion and among institutions, and we decided to do so by raising awareness among young people. So far, we have met over 50,000 students. We want to create intercultural learning opportunities for young European generations and promote a culture of reception and solidarity to fight against intolerance, racism, and discrimination while promoting migrants’ inclusion and social integration.

• Day of Remembrance

  

  “The Italian Republic officially recognized October 3rd as the National Day of Remembrance to commemorate the victims of migration and "those who lost their lives in the journey towards our country to flee from wars, persecutions, and poverty"."
  
  On March 16, 2016, the Italian Republic officially recognized October 3rd as the National Day of Remembrance to commemorate the victims of migration and ‘those who lost their lives in the journey towards our country to flee from wars, persecutions, and poverty.’ The Italian Senate approved the proposal of Comitato 3 Ottobre to establish the ‘National Day of Remembrance and Reception’, intended to create a collective culture of information and reception. Several Municipalities, local communities and, more specifically, various national and European partnering schools celebrate the Day of Remembrance and Reception on October 3rd every year.

• Bodies identification

  

  Comitato 3 Ottobre is constantly committed to identifying victims at sea. Hundreds of unknown migrants who died at sea lie in unnamed graves across the Italian cemeteries, yet to be identified. Comitato 3 Ottobre carries out body identification procedures in partnership with the Commissario Straordinario per le Persone Scomparse (Special Committee for Missing Persons) and the Labanof Institute. Our goal is to find and reach the family members of the victims of the shipwrecks in the Mediterranean sea as they are the only ones who can provide relevant ante mortem information to give a name to all the bodies currently classified with a number. To inform the competent authorities and carry out the identification procedures, an identification sheet is provided to the family members, friends, and acquaintances of those who lost their lives in the Mediterranean sea. In 2021, we helped ten families with the identification procedures and managed to ascertain the identity of three family households.

• The Museum

  

  The Museum of Trust and Dialogue for the Mediterranean Sea opened in 2016 in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Since then, several initiatives have been organized in partnership with the main cultural entities of the Mediterranean Sea and, at the same time, the Museum has contributed to promoting solidarity and inclusiveness. The Museum hosts two permanent exhibitions. The archaeological exhibition (ground floor) collects precious historical remains found on Lampedusa island and dating back to the Roman and Etruscan periods; the Migration exhibition (first floor) gathers the stories of migrants with a focus on the shipwreck of October 3, 2013. Along with the ‘remains’ of the journey, there are personal objects that belonged to 52 people who died of asphyxia in the hold of a boat in 2015. This is well narrated in the final part of Fuocoammare, the film directed by Gianfranco Rosi, awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Over the last six years, Comitato 3 Ottobre and the Associazione Nazionale Vittime di Guerra (National Association of Victims of War) have run the exhibition on the first floor.