International Migrants’ Day
The right to be considered a person again this year proves to be a mirage
The UN and all organisations dedicated to the defence of human rights are today promoting a series of actions aimed at safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of human beings, especially those who are forced to move from their country of origin to ensure decent living conditions for themselves and their families.
The words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were significant: “On International Migrants Day, we highlight the urgent need for safe migration governance rooted in solidarity, partnership and respect for human rights.“ These include in particular: the right to life, not to be subjected to torture or degrading human treatment, not to be held in slavery, freedom of conscience and religion. Migrants, in short, have “first and foremost, the right to be considered persons, not illegal immigrants, not invaders, not parasites of society, not criminals and delinquents in the making, not… all those labels that nullify the dignity of the human being in order to make them hostage to prejudices, stereotypes and ideological beliefs” (Source: https://www.focsiv.it/18-dicembre-2023-giornata-mondiale-dei-migranti/).
“…And the year we are leaving behind, especially in the world of politics, has been very generous in examples of how migrants and refugees are not interested for what they ARE but for their manipulability that easily turns them into hostages of partisan interests.” (Source: https://www.focsiv.it/18-dicembre-2023-giornata-mondiale-dei-migranti/)
What happened to the European Union’s commitment at the beginning of the year to approve a New Pact on Migration and Asylum in order to implement adequate policies to receive, accompany, promote and integrate migrants? The year is ending miserably with a generic call for a ‘global alliance’ against human traffickers. This proclamation is, however, “misleading when the aim is not to protect the victims, the migrants and refugees, but to prevent them from leaving or to force them to stay in their countries of origin or, at most, in the detention camps of Libya and Tunisia, artfully declared ‘safe countries’ with which to enter into ‘lucrative’ cooperation agreements, in order to ease the guilt (should it appear) of EU member states that thus keep migrants and refugees away from their borders”. (Source: https://www.focsiv.it/18-dicembre-2023-giornata-mondiale-dei-migranti/).
#let’s make a difference to immigrants
WE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD OPERATE
ACCORDING TO THE POSITIONS OF THE CONGREGATION
LISTENING TO THE MAGISTERIUM OF POPE FRANCIS
“Wherever we decide to build our future,
in the country where we were born or elsewhere,
the important thing is that there is always a community there
ready to welcome, protect
promote and integrate everyone,
without distinction and without leaving anyone out.”
