Message
“Protection, integration and long-term solutions” to help child migrants: this is what Pope Francis calls for in his message for the 103rd World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2017, which will be celebrated on 15 January 2017, on the theme of “Child Migrants, the Vulnerable and the Voiceless”. “The condition of child migrants is worsened when their status is not regularized – the Pope writes – or when they are recruited by criminal organizations. In such cases they are usually sent to detention centres. It is not unusual for them to be arrested, and because they have no money to pay the fine or for the return journey, they can be incarcerated for long periods, exposed to various kinds of abuse and violence”. “The right of states to control migratory movement and to protect the common good of the nation must be seen in conjunction with the duty to resolve and regularize the situation of child migrants”, the Pope stresses, asking that their “dignity” be respected and their needs met “when they are alone, but also the needs of their parents, for the good of the entire family”. Sometimes, he continues, “instead of favouring the social integration of child migrants, or programmes for safe and assisted repatriation, there is simply an attempt to curb the entrance of migrants, which in turn fosters illegal networks; or else immigrants are repatriated to their country of origin without any concern for their ‘best interests’”. The Pope also calls for the adoption of “long-term solutions” to address the root causes of child migration, by eliminating “the conflicts and violence that force people to flee”.
