Imagine a migrant’s rights protected: Caritas in action
Caritas organisations belong to ERSO (European Reintegration Support Organisations). Led by Caritas Austria, it offers counselling to migrants before they leave their country. In 2008, the project focused on assisting migrants on their return home, especially those who had been rejected for asylum.
The book “The Travails of Sri Lankan Migrants” by Fr George Sigamoney, director of Caritas Kandy in Sri Lanka, shows the hardships faced by women who migrate and their families. Caritas Sri Lanka also released a DVD docu-drama about the plight of migrants called, “The House of the Arabian Child.”
Caritas Dakar engaged in support of women from rural areas. They received microcredit to be able earn their living in their villages rather than be forced to migrate to urban areas. They were also encouraged to create women’s organisations.
- Migrants represent 3 percent of the global population
- An estimated 2.4 million people are trafficked at any given point in time every year. Half of them being minors
- 49.6 percent of migrants are thought to be women
- In over 21 countries Caritas is an implementing partner of UNHCR – providing assistance to refugees
- Nearly 14,000 people have died since 1988 along European frontiers during migration
- Remittances sent home by migrants to developing countries totalled US $305 billion in 2008. For a country like Tajikistan, they constitute 45 percent of GDP.