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“To Know in Order to Understand”: Faith and World Refugee Day 2020

The global COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the situations of some of the world’s most marginalized people, among them 80 million children, women, and men who are refugees or displaced within their own countries. Ironically, as Pope Francis observes in his 2020 message on refugees, the crisis has relegated to the bottom of national political agendas the urgent international efforts essential to saving lives. But, he calls, “this is not a time for forgetfulness.”

Pope Francis’ 2020 call focuses on those who have fled in the face of violence but have been unable to cross an international border (known as Internally Displaced Persons, or IDPs). Theirs is an often unseen tragedy, with human beings and their stories hidden behind the statistics. Humanitarian organizations and communities accompany, serve, and involve IDPs around the world. In an appeal on World Refugee Day 2020 (June 20), a diverse group of organizations are issuing a call to policymakers and practitioners to listen to IDP needs and draw attention to their struggles.
 
What do they call for? Enhanced legal protection, non-discriminatory access to services, respect for their dignity, and the enactment of peacebuilding and reconciliation programs. They engage with the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs, the Global Protection Cluster, and the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. They remind all that they are likely to have displacement of some kind in their own family histories. They call for opening eyes and minds, leading to a clearer idea of what we need to do to help. They build on Pope Francis’ call “to know in order to understand.”
 
Many Catholic entities are involved in direct support to refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 crisis. Among examples cited in a recent report are: Caritas (South Sudan, Mali, Niger, and Ukraine), the Instituto Católico Chileno de Migración, the Chilean dioceses of Rancagua and San Bernardo,
Caritas and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), churches in Malaysia, the Community of Sant’Egidio in Uganda, and Jesuit Refugee Service in Ireland. The report also highlights that Catholic actors have advocated for migrants’ release from detention centers since the pandemic outbreak, including in the United States, as the COVID-19 pandemic places detained immigrants in a very vulnerable situation.

(Based on: April 21, 2020, Migrants and Refugees Section Vatican Office blog series; June 18, 2020, UNHCR article; and June 20, 2020, Faith-Based Organizations on World Refugee Day 2020 statement.)