Protect Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families

VATICAN CITY, JUL 11, 2007 - Made public yesterday afternoon was a speech delivered by Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, during the Global Forum on Migration and Development, held in Brussels, Belgium from July 9 to 11.

Speaking English, the archbishop recalled how "migrants contribute to their host country's well-being, and also because of this their human dignity must be respected and their freedoms guaranteed: the right to a dignified life, to fair treatment at work, to have access to education, health and other social benefits, to grow in competence and develop humanly, to freely manifest their culture and practice their religion. "But rights and duties go together," he added. "Therefore, at the same time, migrants have the duty to respect the identity and the laws of the country of residence, strive for proper integration (not assimilation) into the host society and learn its language. They are to foster esteem and respect for their host country, even to the point of loving and defending it.

"Unfortunately, among them there are immigrants in an irregular situation, who, however, independently of their legal status, have inalienable human dignity. Therefore their rights must be safeguarded and not ignored or violated. An irregular migration status, in fact, does not mean criminality. The solution is better international cooperation that discourages irregularity, with increased legal channels for migration." Archbishop Marchetto concluded his talk by renewing the call made by the Pope in his Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees for "governments who have not yet done so, to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and the Members of their Families."

Nairobi (ENI). Churches around the world are concerned about the fate of migrants fleeing poverty or violence in their home countries. In Africa, many young people are lured to Europe and the United States by the promise of a better life there. However, many who make the journey end up as illegal migrants. In Sri Lanka, the armed conflict between government forces and Tamil rebels is producing displaced people by the thousands. In Jordan and Syria, some Iraqi Christians have waited for immigrants' visas for more than 10 years.
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