How Refugee Children Are Bearing the Brunt of the COVID Pandemic
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Refugee Sponsorship Promotes Acceptance, Integration in Host Communities
At a time in which the world has the largest number of refugees since World War II, community-based programs are providing people forced from their homes with resettlement and integration opportunities. Responding to the needs of uprooted people may seem an overwhelming task when a record 65.6 million people had been forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2016. Among them, nearly 22.1 million were refugees.
Humanitarian Corridors Are Helping Change How Europeans See Refugees
Largely unnoticed by the mainstream media, an innovative private-public initiative involving faith-based communities and government is facilitating refugees enter Europe since 2015. The year 2015 saw an unprecedented number of refugees arriving in Europe. More than one million people were risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea with thousands perishing in perilous journeys at the hands of people smugglers.
The Vatican Launches New Website for Its Migrants and Refugees Section
The Vatican’s newly-established Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, operational as of January 2017, includes a section on Migrants and Refugees, which recently launched a new website available in five languages, to highlight the Church’s efforts to ensure that those forced to flee are not left behind.
After Fighting Between Life and Death, Parisa Can Now Support Her Family Again
Parisa* is a 17-year-old girl from Afghanistan, currently living in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Together with her mother and four siblings, she fled her home country at age 15, escaping not only conflict and persecution but also unbearable domestic violence.
ICMC Secretary General: Migrants Are No Different Than Our Family and Friends
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.
New Branches, Far-Away Roots: Iraqi Yazidis Thriving in Nebraska
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.
ICMC Urges Governments to Protect Migrant and Refugee Children
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”.
Elena, Associate Asylum Expert in Rhodes, Greece
Elena Janniki is one of ICMC’s Associate Asylum Experts currently working at the Regional Asylum Office in Rhodes, Greece. As part of her daily activities, Elena is in charge of making sure that the reception of asylum seekers and their status determination is carried out according to the appropriate procedures and law requirements.
ICMC Releases Its Annual Report 2015
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) published today its Annual Report 2015, together with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Performance Report 2015. The Annual Report 2015 highlights ICMC’s activities and achievements during the past year, which witnessed a number of dramatic developments in migration and refugee movements, particularly from the Middle East.
