World Day for Migrants and Refugees
Pope Francis uses the occasion of World Day for Migrants and Refugees to highlight the reality of child migrants.
Pope Francis pictured with migrant children at the Vatican. Source: L'Osservatore Romano
In his message ahead of World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Francis has called on everyone to assist child migrants. He stressed that children are the most vulnerable group among all migrants, many of whom are journey unaccompanied.
“I ask everyone to take care of the young, who in a threefold way are defenceless: they are children, they are foreigners, and they have no means to protect themselves. I ask everyone to help those who, for various reasons, are forced to live far from their homeland and are separated from their families.”
He continued:
“Childhood, given its fragile nature, has unique and inalienable needs. Above all else, there is the right to a healthy and secure family environment, where a child can grow under the guidance and example of a father and a mother; then there is the right and duty to receive adequate education, primarily in the family and also in the school, where children can grow as persons and agents of their own future and the future of their respective countries. Indeed, in many areas of the world, reading, writing and the most basic arithmetic is still the privilege of only a few. All children, furthermore, have the right to recreation; in a word, they have the right to be children."
The Pontiff went on to offer three ways in which we can respond to migration:
- Recognize that migration is not a new phenomenon and always has been part of history.
- Respond to the root causes which results in the forced migration of children.
- ‘Authentic development’ for regions which are characterized by great injustices and instability.
The Pope thanked those who ‘walk alongside migrant children’ for their ‘precious help’. Referring to children as ‘humanity’s hope’, he concluded by entrusting them to the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
According to recent figures from Unicef, nearly one in every 200 children is a refugee with children also accounting for more than half on the entire number of refugees in our world. The full Unicef report is available here.
Click here to read Pope Francis' message in full.
