FRONT PAGE
Today almost 200 million people no longer live in their native country. Many of these persons were compelled to leave their homeland because of destitution, poverty, environmental problems or political strife. Recent images of migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands impress on us the urgent need for new and imaginative policies. Trafficking in human beings and attendant evils need to be addressed by robust policy measures. To date, policies adequate to deal with these global issues have not been developed. Thus, it is encouraging that the international community is showing signs of tackling the phenomenon of global migration and of forging a closer link between migration policy and development policy. Some recent developments in this regard are worth noting and supporting. At the recent United Nations’ General Assembly on 14 September, its Secretary General, Kofi Annan, welcomed Belgium’s offer to host the first meeting of his proposed Global Forum on Migration and Development in 2007. Addressing the same UN High-Level Dialogue on behalf of the Eu, Mr. T. Filatov, Finland’s Minister of Labour, stressed the need for dialogue and co-operation between governments and international organizations regarding the intrinsic link between migration and development issues. Almost one year earlier, on 5 October 2005, the Global Commission on International Migration launched its report, ‘Migration in an interconnected world: New directions for action’. The latter provides new impulses for addressing migration issues as shared concerns of states and governments to be dealt with on the international level. For its part, the European Union has sought to take account of the external dimension of migration. The Tampere Programme on justice and home affairs (1999-2004) promoted a comprehensive approach to migration addressing political, human rights and development issues in countries of origin and transit. However, with the drive for security provisions, the Hague Programme (2004-2009) took a more restrictive approach. Thus, for example, the Eu promoted the improvement of migration management and the fight against “illegal immigration” in third countries. The Global Approach to Migration adopted by the European Council in December 2005 follows the same restrictive logic in order to hinder migrants from entering into the EU. Obviously these policy approaches fall regrettably short of some of the more inspired aspirations set out in the European Commission’s Communication on Development and Migration, published in September 2005, which should be given greater consideration and support by the Member States. The pastoral care of migrants, whatever their origin or legal status, has always been a primary concern of the Church. The Christian Churches with their innumerable organizations, present in countries of origin, transit countries and in the receiving countries, are key actors at local, national and international levels in the search for greater coherence and integration in the governance of the phenomenon of global migration. In the light of the aforementioned developments on the international political scene, Church migration and development agencies might evaluate their present co-operation strategies to improve the efficiency of their service on behalf of our migrant neighbour.
