Global compact
(from New York) – The address by Jesuit Fr. Michael Czerny, Undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, at the UN Thematic Session on the contributions of migrants and diaspora to sustainable development, is a staunch defence of the right of people to remain in their home countries. “No one should ever be forced to leave his or her home due to lack of development or peace. The right to remain helps to focus the international community’s efforts on its prior obligation to ensure the sustainable and integral human development of all people in their place of origin and to enable them to become active agents of their own development”, the priest remarked, also decrying the social, economic and cultural costs that migration can mean for a country when its citizens, who are “often the best”, feel forced to leave rather than remain because of poverty and the lack of prospects for development. The Holy See’s representative recalled the tragedy of people crossing the Mediterranean and the exploitation to which thousands of migrants are subject. He then urged to view them not as “objects of emergency care” but rather “dignified subjects of their own development” able to “use the education, skills, ambitions, experiences and cultural wisdom they already have, and those that could be enhanced through further schooling and training”. Fr. Czerny suggested a way to dilute criticism in host countries: setting aside “a percentage of the direct assistance provided to migrants and refugees for local infrastructure and for the benefit of local families and communities experiencing economic and social disadvantages” so that the local poor are not left behind. Finally, Fr. Czerny called for reciprocity, a value that makes it possible for the hosts to open up to “the beneficial contributions” of migrants and for migrants to learn how to “respect the values, traditions and laws of the community that takes them in” and facilitates their integration.
