ecumenism " "
The Protestant Churches are asking the European Union to improve its policies for the protection of refugees and criticise the procedures being implemented by the member states, which by shifting responsibility from one country to another are realizing what is tantamount to a “chain of deportation” in the continent. The plea to the EU is made in the final declaration of the consultation promoted on issues of migration by the European Protestant Churches, which concluded at Liebfrauenberg (in Alsace, France) on 12 May. Actively present at the meeting attended by some 80 church delegates and experts were also exponents of the Commission of the Churches for Migrants in Europe (CCME) and the “Church and Society” Commission of the CEC/KEK. In the final declaration approved by the participants “the Churches resolutely oppose the EU plan to delegate responsibility for the acceptance of refugees to states that do not form part of the European Union”. According to the Churches, the possibility of declaring “unilaterally” non-European states as “third countries of asylum” “shifts responsibility for the protection of refugees to the poorest states. This could encourage these other states not to recognise their responsibility towards the Geneva Convention and transfer their responsibility to others in turn, with the consequence of realising a real chain of deportation. All this contradicts the Geneva Convention and the principles of international law in favour of human rights”. It is calculated that there are 175 million migrants and 20 million refugees in the world. Refugees are forced to seek protection outside their own homeland because they are often the victims of persecution due to their political convictions, religious faith, ethnic origins, or because they are members of a particular social group. Others reasons for flight are wars or grave violations of human rights.
