by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
Today the world observes International Migrants Day, a day when we should commit to stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees to promote their human rights and ensure that there is a place at the table of life for all.
The Gospel of Christ calls us to promote human life and human dignity, and to work towards integral human development – not for some, but for all.
We live in a world today in which the term ‘migrant’ often conjures up negative images. The journalist Barry Malone says: “It has evolved from its dictionary definitions into a tool that dehumanises and distances, a blunt pejorative.”
The writer, Camille Loubignac, says: “Connotations attached to words rest in the populations’ sentiments regarding these corresponding realities: the negative connotations attached to the word ‘migrant’ and ‘immigrant’ is only a consequence of the anti-migrants sentiments of hosting countries’ populations…As long as this underlying negative sentiment towards migration will endure, any term employed will continue to be linked to negative connotations.”
Data in 2015 from the UN Refugee Agency shows that: “War and persecution have driven more people from their homes than at any time since records began, with 65.3 million men, women and children now displaced worldwide.”
A creche titled “Jesus the Global Refugee” is seen outside Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Wyandanch, New York, November 27. The structure, designed as a refugee’s lean-to (shed) was created to call public attention to the biblical mandate to welcome immigrants and give shelter to refugees. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
The UN Women Deputy Executive Director, Lakshmi Puri, said in May 2016 that “of the 244 million international migrants in the world, almost half are women. Similarly, women and girls constitute almost half of refugee, internally displaced or stateless populations. Despite this reality, policymaking at all levels of government tends to neglect a gender perspective and a focus on the specific needs of the most vulnerable categories, including women and children, in migration policies and in urban planning.”
In the midst of the statistics are individual human beings whose lives matter. And while the UN rightly state that “the challenges and difficulties of international migration require enhanced cooperation and collective action among countries and regions,” those who prefer to wage war rather than build peace, stand as obstacles to effective dialogue and collaboration.
Pope Francis is urging each of us to welcome the “stranger”; to play our part to build a world in which migrants and refugees are made to feel welcomed and are treated with dignity and respect. He reminds us of the importance of building a culture of encounter and the unity of peoples and of finding ways of renewing and transforming the whole of humanity: “Migrants are our brothers and sisters in search of a better life, far away from poverty, hunger, exploitation and the unjust distribution of the planet’s resources which are meant to be equitably shared by all…. In our time, migration is growing worldwide. Refugees and people fleeing from their homes challenge individuals and communities, and their traditional ways of life…Increasingly, the victims of violence and poverty, leaving their homelands, are exploited by human traffickers during their journey towards the dream of a better future. If they survive the abuses and hardships of the journey, they then have to face latent suspicions and fear…
“Migration movements are now a structural reality, and our primary issue must be to deal with the present emergency phase by providing programmes which address the causes of migration and the changes it entails, including its effect on the makeup of societies and peoples…Indifference and silence lead to complicity whenever we stand by as people are dying of suffocation, starvation, violence and shipwreck…it is important to view migrants not only on the basis of their status as regular or irregular, but above all as people whose dignity is to be protected and who are capable of contributing to progress and the general welfare.”
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reminds us that today we should remember the “refugees and migrants who have lost their lives or have disappeared while trying to reach safe harbour after arduous journeys across seas and deserts. The IOM invites people all over the world to hold the first global Candlelight Vigil on December 18 to commemorate the migrants whose lives have been lost this year. Each of them has a name, a story and left their homelands seeking better opportunities and safety for themselves and in many cases for their families – aspirations that all of us strive for.”
We have a shared responsibility to work with our Government to develop/implement robust policies that are humane; to work with organisations such as Living Water Community and with those in our parishes to welcome the stranger and to reach out in compassion and love to migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and displaced persons. Each one has God-given gifts which can be used to promote the common good and sustainable development.
