Caritas Athens distributes clothes and food, provides counselling sessions from social workers, language lessons and a children’s playroom. Photo by Natalia Tsoukala/Caritas Internationalis
Do you want to help child migrants? Here are seven suggestions from Pope Francis.
- Welcome child migrants into our homes, our communities and our nations. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me” (Mk 9:37; cf. Mt 18:5; Lk 9:48; Jn 13:20).
- Guarantee the protection and safety of child migrants in your communities and societies.
- We are called to integrate child migrants into our lives rather than turning them away at our borders.
- Shout out exploitation. Children are vulnerable to exploitation through prostitution, enslavement as child labourers or soldiers, drug trafficking. Their childhoods are stolen.
- Learn about child rights, work for them to be protected in your society. They include the right to a healthy and secure family environment, to education, health.
- Call on your governments to take action on the multiple forms of slavery where children are the victims.
- Work together as people, organisations and networks to help child migrants and combat slavery.
These suggestions were taken from the Holy Father’s message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.