With information from the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brasilia
The Justice and Peace Conversation, promoted by Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brasilia, The event took place on September 14 in the Dom José Freire Falcão Auditorium of the Metropolitan Curia. The theme was “Migrations and the Social Teaching of the Church”, with the aim of debating this issue of growing global importance in the light of the Church's teaching and applied to the context of the Federal District.
The guests were researcher Roberto Marinucci, from the Scalabrinian Center for Migration Studies and director of the Multidisciplinary Journal of Human Mobility, and Sister Rosita Milesi, director of the Migration and Human Rights Institute and a member of the Pastoral of Human Mobility of the CNBB and the Archdiocese of Brasilia. In addition to the guests, the President of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Brasilia, José Márcio de Moura, and the coordinator of the session, also a member of the Commission, Agnaldo Portuga, made up the table. Around 80 people were present.
Researcher Roberto Marinucci presented the phenomenon of migration and the Church's view of the problem from the perspective that migration is not a new reality, but one that is simply getting more press attention these days. Presenting data on the phenomenon of migration on a global scale, he showed that it is not restricted to the current crisis, nor is it limited to Europe. It is an ongoing issue on a global scale. Examples beyond the European continent include migration to the United States, especially from Latin America, and flows of minorities in Southeast Asia, generating dramas such as whole ships of migrants who are not accepted by any country in the region.
In addition to presenting some data on these global flows, Marinucci showed how much the problem has intensified in recent decades due to the growing legal barriers to contain this migratory phenomenon, which in turn has increased due to the growing economic inequality between countries and regions of the world. The situation is aggravated by wars and political instability, which has also led to the phenomenon of “extended borders”, i.e. non-transparent political agreements between rich countries and dictators in poor countries to contain the flow of migrants from poor nations to economically well-off countries at any cost - especially by violent means.
The researcher also presented some topics from the Church's teaching on the subject, which has been the subject of various encyclicals and other official documents, always drawing attention to the need for merciful reception of those without a place to live, one of the most central Christian teachings since the earliest communities. Pope Francis joins this long tradition by drawing attention to the danger of indifference in the face of this enormous human tragedy, calling for immediate action by rich countries and international organizations.
Rosita Milesi complemented the presentation with information on the situation of foreign immigrants in the Federal District. The work of Institute for Migration and Human Rights (IMDH) has been precisely to provide shelter and especially legal assistance to the growing number of migrants arriving in Brasilia from different parts of the world. People from Haiti, Africa and even the Middle East and Asia have increasingly sought out Brasilia as a place to live in peace, work and raise their children. In addition to providing information about the current situation and recent developments, Sister Rosita brought along some of the migrants who have arrived in the DF and have been assisted by the IMDH. An immigrant from Congo and one from Ghana spoke about the political and economic difficulties in their countries and the importance of the welcome they received in Brazil to work and live in freedom. A family from Pakistan also spoke, whose mother was killed in the conflict in the country, and who managed - the father and two children, one eleven and the other fifteen years old - to get to Brasilia to try to rebuild their lives. The need for public policies to welcome and train them (teaching them Portuguese, getting them into the job market, improving Brazilian legislation, among others) was pointed out as a major challenge for this increasingly present reality in Brazilian life, which is the arrival of foreign immigrants in recent times.
The conversation ended with the words of the President of the Commission, José Márcio de Moura, who thanked the guests for their presentation and the lively participation of the audience. “A gigantic crisis like that of migration in today's world demands from Christians an attitude of charity and firmness in the sense of the Church's teaching since the first communities: welcoming the vulnerable and prophetically denouncing injustice,” he concluded.
Watch the meeting in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE1Rwd_zo8A