wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Migration: churches as bridges over fear and prejudices

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>World Council of Churches - Feature

MIGRATION: CHURCHES AS BRIDGES OVER FEAR AND PREJUDICES

>For immediate release: 07 July 2010

>By Annegret Kapp (*)

In times of exploding budget deficits and unemployment figures,  migrants
are often used as scapegoats for all the ailings and failings of  society.
In such a context it is the task of the church to uphold the human  rights
and dignity of all, the members of the World Council of Churches  (WCC)
Global Ecumenical Network on Migration have insisted during their  annual
meeting.

"We believe that churches have the mandate and the biblical mission  to
foster the creation of a society where all peoples of the planet  enjoy the
gifts of God, created for all, in the spirit of love, justice and
equality," Seta Hadeshian reminded fellow members of the global  network,
which met in Geneva, Switzerland from 24-30 June. Hadeshian is the
director of Diakonia and Social Justice at the Middle East Council  of
Churches.

The Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM) is made of members  drawn
from churches, church-related organizations and ecumenical bodies  working
on migration. It aims to deepen their understanding of global migration
issues, set priorities, pool their advocacy resources and better  impact
global policy discussions.

One of the obstacles to the churches' vision is, in the words of  Franca Di
Lecce, director of the Service for Refugees and Migrants of the  Federation
of Evangelical Churches in Italy, that "contemporary societies are
dominated by fear".

Reflecting on her experiences in Italy, Di Lecce said that the church  needs
to draw attention to the hidden logic behind migration policies.  It is "a
logic of war" that serves to hide "the failure of government" to  provide
"security, work, justice, peace and development".

For Di Lecce, promoting security really means "to promote legality,  to
punish organized crime, corruption, to combat unemployment and poverty
through policies of social, economical and cultural inclusion directed
towards all citizens, migrants and local people." Instead, security  is
often used as a slogan stigmatizing migrants.

>European refugee crises are created crises

"Refugee crisis" is another catch phrase that irritates the migration
experts. "Over the past ten years, every year until last year the  [numbers
of] asylum applications have gone down" within the European Union,
explained Doris Peschke, general secretary of the Churches’  Commission
for Migrants in Europe.

By 2008, the number of applications reached "a level of 10 percent  of what
we used to have 20 years ago," she added. While the number of people
seeking asylum in some countries who joined the EU in recent years  has
gone up, numbers have been decreasing even in countries such as  Spain,
Portugal, Italy and Greece.

Therefore "the detention conditions in Greece, the deportations  from
Italian shores have [no] justification in terms of mere numbers,"  Peschke
said.

There are, however, "created crises", for instance on Lampedusa.  The
reception centre on this island has become seriously overcrowded  following
a decision of the Italian government to no longer transfer refugees  to the
mainland. "If they had continued to transfer, there would never  have been
a crisis in that camp," Peschke explained.

The fact that in several countries undocumented migrants are detained  under
"conditions [that] can be worse than those for convicted criminals"  poses
a threat to the rule of law. At the same time it has the effect  that
migrants are increasingly perceived as criminals. The wide-spread  view is
that "if they are put in detention centres, there must be something  wrong
with them".

On the other hand, many undocumented migrants do not trust and are  fearful
of the host country's authorities. That hinders their access to  education
and health services even in places where these are provided by the  state.

>A bridge between the communities

In a situation where locals and migrants are cut off from one another  by
prejudices and fear, "the church needs to act as a bridge holding  the two
communities together," believes Apostle Adejare Oyewole, of the  Council of
African and Caribbean Churches in the UK.

To help churches accomplish this, the Conference of European Churches  (CEC)
invites its members to use the holiday season to promote encounters
between migrant and local communities through summer camps and
festivities.

This invitation to facilitate encounters is part of the CEC campaign
Migration 2010 (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cba1c9a27 
25c7cf68a6f ). Throughout
this year, European churches use each month to highlight migration-relate d
issues. During the Time for Creation, which churches celebrate between  1
September and 4 October, the focus will be on environmental displacement.
Contemporary forms of slavery will be highlighted around the European
Anti-Trafficking Day on 18 October. And migrants' rights will be  promoted
around the International Migrants Day on 18 December.

According to Di Lecce, it is also for the sake of mainstream society  that
churches must protest when cruelty against strangers becomes "normal".  She
told the members of the network about a sailor who had been involved  in
the deportation of migrants to Lybia and was too ashamed to tell  his son
about his work.

She then spoke about the case of a father and son who had jointly  killed an
Italian of African origin in Milan, because they suspected him of  having
stolen biscuits. "What kind of a society are we?" Di Lecce asked,  calling
for repentance.

Bringing her insights as a professor of ecumenical social ethics  to the
table, Dr Amélé Ekué of the Ecumenical Institute  Bossey invited her
listeners to discover vulnerability as a common human characteristic,
shared by migrants and non-migrants, and even by Jesus Christ.

Ekué reads the crucifixion as an "act of reconciliation" in  which "we are
exposed to God's own vulnerability, which implies with the resurrection
that victims of any inhumane treatment will be raised up again."

In a theological reflection at the end of the meeting, Bishop Francis  S.
Nabieu, of the All Africa Conference of Churches, said that churches
should see migrants not just as a burden: "We all have gifts that  we can
bring to the table. The immigrants and the refugees bring the spirit  of
endurance."

>[965 words]

(*) Annegret Kapp, WCC web editor, is a member of the Evangelical  Lutheran
Church of Geneva.

More information on Migration 2010 (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a2a8eed614845ada9522 )

Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=064ffaae69f06d26b013 )

Listen to recordings of theological reflections and presentations  on
regional experiences in different parts of the world presented at  the
meeting. (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=dff10f60f67155f03d75 )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

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