ICMC Joins Colombia Gathering of Global Church Networks Focused on Refugees and Migration
Ahead of the 110th Vatican World Day of Migrants and Refugees, celebrated on Sunday 29 September, ICMC joined two international meetings of Church and Catholic-inspired organizations, held in Bogotá, Colombia.
A longer version of this article is available on the website of the ICMC-coordinated “The Future of Work – Labour after Laudato si’” (FOWLS) Project.
On 24-28 September 2024, ICMC joined Church and Catholic-inspired organizations from around the world in Bogotá, Colombia, for two international meetings of Church networks focused on refugees and migration, in the Latin America and Caribbean region and worldwide.
The 7th General Assembly of the Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network on Migration, Displacement, Refuge and Human Trafficking (Red CLAMOR) took place on 24-26 September, followed by the first edition of the MigraRed international meeting on migration and asylum, held on 27-28 September. The joint programme culminated with a celebration of the 110th Vatican World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) at the Cathedral of Bogotá on Sunday 29 September, enabling delegates of both gatherings to participate in this annual event that calls on Catholics around the world to remember those displaced by conflict and persecution.
ICMC was represented in Bogotá by Mr. Ignacio Alonso Alasino, Project Manager of the network of Catholic-inspired organizations around the world, coordinated by ICMC, and known as the “The Future of Work – Labour after Laudato si’” (FOWLS) Project. The FOWLS Project proposes a “Care is Work, Work is Care” approach, highlighting work as the core of a transformation to respond to Pope Francis’ call to “care for our common home”.
An Enduring and Worsening Crisis: Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024
In 2024, the Latin America and Caribbean region continues to experience a severe and enduring migratory crisis, with more than 41 million Latin Americans living outside their country of origin. Most people on the move in the region are aiming to reach the United States, including ‘extra-continental’ migrants, predominantly from African countries, who are arriving into countries across in the region to attempt land journeys to the U.S.
In 2024, the situation of migrants in the region continues to be characterized by multidimensional violence, a lack of access to legal status, basic rights, and services, and widespread social exclusion, while the hardening of State policies has brought about the militarization and closure of borders, an increased focus on deportation measures, and a lack of opportunities for migrants to regularize their status and successfully integrate.
Restrictive policies have led people on the move to travel via increasingly dangerous routes, most notably via the Darién Gap, the jungle region between Colombia and Panama. Just over 520,000 migrants transited this highly dangerous region in 2023, while a further 187,000 did so in the first half of 2024. Migrants moving on this route are highly vulnerable both in terms of their individual status, such as the 160,000 children who crossed in the first six months of 2024, and their vulnerability to the risks of trafficking and other violence and exploitation by organized criminal gangs operating across this area.
7th General Assembly of the Red CLAMOR Network, 24-26 September 2024
The Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network on Migration, Displacement, Refuge and Human Trafficking (Red CLAMOR) is a ‘network of networks’ that promotes and develops the pastoral work of Church and Catholic-inspired organizations engaged in welcoming, protecting, and supporting the integration of migrants, displaced persons, refugees, and victims of trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. Red CLAMOR was established in 2017 as an initiative of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM).
Convened under the title of ‘God Walks With His People’, the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 110th Vatican World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR), the overarching objective of Red CLAMOR’S 7th General Assembly in Bogotá was to “continue listening to the cries of people in situations of migration, refuge, displacement, and human trafficking”. The agenda included contributions from migrants and border Bishops, updates from national Red CLAMOR networks, reports from Red CLAMOR Commissions covering areas including advocacy and anti-trafficking, and the presentation of the new Red CLAMOR resource New Guide to the Pastoral Care of Human Mobility.
Also presented were multiple actions by Catholic organizations to welcome and support migrants traveling through the region on their way to the U.S. The services they provide include the delivery of food, clothes, shoes, and medicines in parish communities, providing parish canteens and medical clinics, running shelters and migrant homes on migration routes, providing legal assistance for regularization, and advising on socioeconomic integration.
“Only through listening can we try to give an effective and fair response to the needs of refugees and migrants. By actively participating in the Red CLAMOR network, ICMC will continue to join forces and share with all participants our work in humanitarian assistance, the creation of ecclesial networks, our role in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), as well as our research and focus on matters related to the world of work.”
Mr. Ignacio Alonso Alasino, ICMC Project Manager, “The Future of Work – Labour after Laudato si’” (FOWLS) Project
First MigraRed International Meeting on Migration and Asylum, 27-28 September 2024
MigraRed is a global initiative bringing together human mobility networks and Caritas worldwide in an international space to share knowledge on challenges and good practices related to different migration contexts around the world.
The first international meeting of the MigraRed network took place in Bogotá directly after the Red CLAMOR General Assembly. Titled ‘International refugee protection and mixed migratory flows: A question of humanity’, the MigraRed meeting focused on migration situations in all regions of the world, and the work of the Church and Catholic-inspired organizations to advocate for, support, and ensure the dignity of refugees and migrants.
The MigraRed agenda was structured around a series of roundtable discussions on migration situations and challenges in all regions of the world, taking in policy and legislative changes, migratory routes, humanitarian and protection situations at borders, peacebuilding, integration, climate displacement, and trafficking, and featuring expert presentations and reflections from a diverse range of stakeholders. Roundtables focused heavily on the presentation and sharing of good practices implemented by Church and Catholic-inspired organizations.
Former ICMC Secretary General and current Consultant of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, intervened in an expert panel discussing the cooperation of church and faith communities in countries of origin, transit, and origin. “The participants in this MigraRed meeting come from a wide range of organizations that work to welcome, protect, promote, and integrate migrants, refugees, displaced persons and survivors of human trafficking,” he reflected. “Migrared places forced migrants themselves at the center of all our reflection and analysis, as well as strategic action planning, providing a very meaningful way to prepare for the 110th World Day of Migrants and Refugees observed by the Catholic Church.”
Rachel Westerby
Independent writer and researcher on migration, refugees, and human rights.
