Shima* is a survivor of early marriage and sexual violence. A 30-year-old from Homms, Syria, she left her country for Jordan in 2012, due to the ongoing conflict. After years of suffering from social stigmatization, she finally sees herself as ‘an equal’.
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Reporting back about ICMC’s global leadership of civil society in international migration governance, ICMC Head of Policy John K. Bingham presented summaries of the extensive work done during meetings at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
“Be not afraid” were the words with which St. John Paul II greeted the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square on the night that he was chosen as Pope. Today, those words seem more important than ever, as our world confronts, with much fear and dread, the destruction of life and homes during wars, conflicts, and random acts of terrorism.
19-year-old Leen, a young Syrian mother whose baby suffered serious health complications right after being born, has finally been able to head back home together with her child after receiving assistance and medical care through the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC). Leen, who is originally from the city of Alhajar Alaswad in southern Syria but has long been displaced in Damascus due to the ongoing conflict, approached ICMC’s local health workers the month before her delivery, being very anxious for her baby’s health.
Raphaëlle Goyet is an Operations Officer at ICMC’s Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. She spent several years in the field as an ICMC Resettlement Deployment Scheme staff member, working in collaboration with the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Uganda, Sudan, and Iraq. Currently, she oversees the implementation of ICMC’s programs in Pakistan and Syria.
On International Migrants Day, we recall both the challenges faced my migrants as they move from their home territories to other places in their own countries or elsewhere in the world. We also should be mindful of the contributions which migrants bring to their places where they migrate – strengthening the labor force, mutually exchanging cultural traditions, cuisine, and values with their hosts, and contributing to the overall common good among the whole human family.
More than 200 representatives of civil society from over 50 countries, as well as representatives from governments and international organizations, gathered in Bangladesh this week to deliberate on action needed for inclusion, protection and empowerment of migrants, and the governance of migration.
Jane Bloom, ICMC’s Head of Office in the United States, was surprised to learn that nearly 40% of all the Yazidi refugees resettled by ICMC out of Turkey landed in one city in America: Lincoln, Nebraska. She decided to find out why – and traveled to Lincoln in September to meet with these refugees and the provider network that serves them.
On the occasion of Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and other 8 civil society organizations stand in solidarity with all migrant and refugee children whose lives are threatened by conflicts, persecution, and poverty. The organizations joined Pope Francis in his appeal to protect children as they “constitute the most vulnerable group because as they face the life ahead of them, they are invisible and voiceless”.
