“Migration is a phenomenon that has always existed. Climate change, demographics, instability, increasing inequalities and aspirations for a better life, as well as unmet needs in labor markets, tell us that migration will continue to exist”
UN,International Migrants Day
In 2000, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day. This is the result of a long humanist journey and international legislation, such as the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees. For Latin America, the Declaration of Cartagena of 1984 provided the terms for protection of refugees from the perspective of political, military repression and criminal groups in these territories. In 1990 the UN declared the International Convention which addresses the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and their families. In this same sense, the 2014 Declaration of Brazil emerges, in order to respond to the refugee crisis, in conjunction with the OAS, CELAC and MERCOSUR. In 2016, the UN took another step forward with the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants, the result of the first summit in history that addresses this human drama. This latest declaration will produce, “two new global agreements in 2018: one on refugees and one on organized, regular and safe migration.”[1]
Human mobility is a reality in the history of HUMANITY, one that can be seen in all the histories of the different cultures and peoples that have inhabited this single planet. Human mobility has always been caused by multiple factors: one by motivations of adventure, expedition and search for new horizons; the other, because of situations that violate, affect and destroy the quality of life of the particular population that has been forced to migrate. Since the two world wars ending in 1918 and in 1945, the end of the last century and the beginning of the 21st century have been marked by human mobility filled with pain and blood, which has torn, divided and decimated many villages along with families. From the territories, with their natural assets and the millions of impoverished, comes a cry out to “heaven” for justice. Some data demonstrate that there is not only increased human mobility in the world, but also the dramatic and dehumanizing situation of this reality:
“In 2017, the number of migrants reached 258 million, compared to 173 million in 2000.”[2]
“In 2019 the number of migrants reached 272 million, 51 million more than in 2000. There are approximately 68 million forcibly displaced people, including 25 million refugees, 3 million asylum seekers and more than 40 million internally displaced persons. In 2018, around 3,400 migrants and refugees lost their lives around the world. There are an estimated 36.1 million migrant children. “[3]
This reality seen in figures shows the injustice, impunity and poverty of the population, causing many families to be desperately seeking to migrate or fleeing the established violence and dispossession in their countries.
In addition to this reality, there are the policies and legislation decreed by the countries through which the migrant in an irregular situation goes in transit and seeks a destination to live in, which are hostile, violate human rights and which criminalize migration, turning the migrant into a criminal, and hindering their migration route. This institutional persecution has caused each migrant to search for routes, roads and ways of traveling that endanger their lives, as was the recent case on December 9 in Chiapas, where more than 160 migrants who were traveling in a van that overturned, and 55 people died, and hundreds were injured.[4]
Christian believers have a biblical heritage, marked by migration or displacement of families and peoples. From chapter 12 of the book of Genesis a whole story of migration begins. The book of Exodus tells us how as migrants different tribes ended up as slaves (human trafficking) in Egypt, then they dared to migrate with an organized sense and as a people (the Central American and Venezuelan caravans); hence the books that legislated from a human rights perspective, such as Deuteronomy, which highlights the defense and care of the “foreigner” (migrant). The book of Leviticus likewise presents legislation that promotes justice.
All biblical history shows a God who walks with his People. This means that God is a migrant with his people, who was forced to move and migrate. And in this trajectory, the people who are already established in some territory, have to seek to care for and protect those who are migrants on their lands (Ex 22.20-21. 24-25; Ex 23; Dt 24.10-15.19- 21; Lv 19.33-34; 22.21; 23.9-12. 22). The legislation of the People of God always understood that God asked us to take care of the weakest, most fragile and needy that is found on the roads, such as the migrant. Even more, Jesus affirmed that in each face of a migrant was his face, his presence (Mt 25,35).
Pope Francis has shown in his speeches, gestures and actions a sensitivity committed to the care and defense of migrants, refugees and displaced persons. His word updates us on the novelty and Christian solidarity, as he expressed it on the 107th World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2021, which has as its motto, “Towards an ever wider WE.” This is why he expressed that, “his Spirit enables us to embrace everyone to create communion in diversity, harmonizing differences without ever imposing a uniformity that depersonalizes. In the encounter with the diversity of foreigners, migrants, refugees and in the intercultural dialogue that may arise, we are given the opportunity to grow as a Church, to enrich each other.”[5]
René Arturo Flores, OFM
RFM – Team El Salvador
Photo: EFE
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[1] Ibid.
[2] https://ormusa.org/18-de-dicinternacional-
[3] https://www.diainternacionalde.com/ficha/dia-internacional-migrante#resTit_5
[4] https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-59614936
[5] https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/es/messages/migration/documents/papa-francesco_20210503_world-migrants-day-2021.html