On the occasion of International Migrants Day 2022 on December 18, Caritas Internationalis, together with RED CLAMOR and the Africa-Europe Network for Human Mobility (RAEMH), are urging governments and international stakeholders to promote the full inclusion of migrants and refugees by recognising and supporting their key role in building fraternal and inclusive communities in our society.
In response to Pope Francis’ call for all people to “Build the future with migrants and refugees”, Caritas Internationalis, RED CLAMOR (a Catholic network that works to welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants, displaced persons, refugees and victims of trafficking in Latin America and Caribbean) and RAEMH (an Africa-Europe network that strives to respond unconditionally to the social, health, psychological and educational needs of people in mobility) held a webinar on 14th of December, titled Building the future today with migrant and refugee community organisations.
The focus of this international webinar was to recognise, value and support our migrant brothers and sisters as protagonists in decision-making and the political debate that directly affects them. By supporting migrant and refugee-led organisations and community-based initiatives, Caritas Internationalis, RED CLAMOR and RAEMH are working together to put Pope Francis’ message for this year’s International Migrants Day into action by creating space for those who are “most vulnerable” and “living on the existential peripheries” to voice and share their experiences.
This seminar promoted the full inclusion of migrants and refugees as a priority for the pastoral and civic engagement of Church institutions and initiatives. Migrant and refugee communities based in Mauritania, Ecuador, Mallorca, as well as voices of new generations of migrants in Italy, participated in the webinar.
According to the most recent estimates published in this year’s World Migration Report, there were approximately 281 million international migrants in the world, a figure equivalent to 3.6% of the world’s population in 2020.
Today, more than ever, there is a great need to build community together, to speak and live as “we” and not only as “I”, to redefine relationships on the basis of trust and solidarity, looking at the other as a brother or sister who has a treasure of knowledge, skills, culture and spirituality to share.
Therefore, Caritas Internationalis, RED CLAMOR and the RAEMH network take this special opportunity of International Migrants Day 2022 to call on governments and the other society stakeholders to promote the full inclusion of migrants and refugees; to support and give effective space for their organised participation and thus recognise the central role they play in building fraternal and inclusive communities.