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Spanish Bishops raised the need to regularize the status of undocumented migrants and address factors driving migration as parliamentary debate was to begin on a citizen initiative for legal recognition of certain groups of irregular migrants, a move supported by the Episcopal Conference.

Bishops in the Philippines are defending the right of return of the Ati people who have been displaced from their ancestral lands on the island of Boracay by property development. “The Ati are the rightful owners of the land,” who live there and earn their livelihood, said Bishop Valentin Dimoc.

As violence mounts in Haiti, steps by the U.S. state of Florida to shore up its border in anticipation of increased forced migration were critiqued by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami. “Right now, to deport people back to Haiti … is just like putting people back into a burning building.”

Bishops in England and Wales are urging renewed focus on the “world’s displacement crisis” as Syria marks 13 years of civil war and aid funding has sharply decreased. A whole generation has been displaced and denied a right to education, said a representative from the Episcopal aid organization.

The Bishops’ Conference in the Central African Republic has been acompanying the government to encourage the return of refugees who fled the country following the outbreak of conflict in 2013 by listening to their needs and providing support for them to reintegrate and rebuild their lives.

Costa Rican authorities need to act to protect migrants in transit, who often must depend on gangs for transport, says Red Clamor, a Church-led regional migrant rights group that includes several ICMC members. Migrants who can’t pay to ride government buses are “put into the hands of the criminals.”

In a message ahead of the first World Children’s Day to be marked by Catholics in May, Pope Francis urged young people not to forget their peers forcibly displaced by war and violence. “We need to hear those voices, for amid their sufferings they remind us of reality,” the Holy Father said.

Migration is a “human issue, specifically about the human rights and human dignity of the person,” said U.S. migrant lead Bishop Mark J. Seitz at a recent webinar on border management. He called for bipartisan action to find humane solutions that serve the interests of both the nation and migrants.

In a rare political comment, German Bishops spoke out against the far-right Alternative for Germany party and its “nationalistic attitude,” condemning in particular extremism and hostility towards refugees and migrants. Such beliefs are “incompatible with the Christian image of God and humankind,” they said.

Care for forcibly displaced people is a priority of the Church, Pope Francis’s envoy to Ghana stressed on a recent mission to the West African nation. Archbishop Henryk Mieczyslaw Jagodzinski visited reception centers in northern Ghana and heard reports of Catholic support for IDPs and refugees.

The lead migration Bishop in Italy roundly denounced a plan recently approved by the country’s Senate that foresees Albania running centers to receive migrants rescued at sea by Italian vessels. Archbishop Gian Carlo Perego said the scheme hid “the government’s inability to deal” with migration.

U.S. Bishops have called on legislators to pass a proposed bill that would finance anti-human trafficking measures and support survivors. “It is incumbent upon all of us to unite in promoting efforts that prevent the evil of human trafficking,” said Episcopal migration lead Mark J. Seitz.