wfn.org | Statement on migrants

[Miriam REIDY PROST <mr@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
27 November 1997

TREAT MIGRANTS AS PEOPLE NOT COMMODITIES SAYS WCC

To describe someone as an "illegal migrant" is unethical and dangerous. 
That's what Patrick Taran, Secretary of Migration for the World Council of
Churches (WCC) has told the International Organisation for Migration
(IOM).

Taran, addressing the IOM's Council in Geneva on Wednesday 26
November, said "illegal migrant" was increasingly being used even
though it was a term of blatant dehumanisation and exclusion.  "We
recognise that people may commit illegal acts, but to state that a human
being is per se illegal is both unethical and dangerous.  It criminalises
human beings by definition, and puts them in the same category as
commodities, such as illegal drugs or firearms.  In doing so, it provides an
apparent justification to treat such individuals as non-persons, without
any human identity nor basic rights."

"Lamentably, the scourge of violence and abuse against migrants has
become worldwide", Taran added.  "Migrants are becoming the universal
scapegoats on which all sorts of grave social problems can be blamed,
including unemployment, crime, disease, reduced government services
and even terrorism".

Taran called on the IOM to give full support to a working group recently
established by the UN Commission of Human Rights to look into the
obstacles to the protection of migrants rights and to propose remedies to
improve respect for human rights of vulnerable migrants.

Pointing out many churches are marking 1997 as the Year of Churches in
Solidarity with Uprooted People, Taran explained to the IOM that the WCC
uses the term "uprooted people" to describe the many people compelled
by severe political, economic and social conditions to leave their land and
culture.

He said churches in countries as diverse as Canada, Egypt, India, Italy
and South Africa have marked the special year with activities and
liturgies.  Many churches have already announced that they will continue
such activities next year to encourage more church involvement in
meeting the basic needs of refugees, migrants and displaced persons,
and in lobbying governments for humane policies.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

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