World Migrants Day focuses on harnessing human potential

His Holiness Pope Francis meets with refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos on 5 December 2021 (Vatican Media)

December 18th marks the United Nations International Migrants Day focusing on “Harnessing the potential of human mobility.” The Catholic Church's International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) supports projects around the world with that goal in mind.

By Thaddeus Jones

December 18th marks the United Nations International Migrants Day. The world day aims to raise awareness and sensitivity on the many millions of people on the move either voluntarily or by force due to war, conflict, or extreme poverty. UN agencies point out that in 2020 alone there were 281 million international migrants, over three and half percent of the global population.

The theme for the 2021 annual day focuses on “Harnessing the potential of human mobility”. This means looking at how migrants can contribute to the communities they live in with their knowledge, skills, and vitality.  In a tweet earlier today, Pope Francis said, “Let us look into the eyes of the discarded people we meet, let us be provoked by the faces of children, the children of desperate migrants. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by their suffering in order to react to our indifference.”

The Catholic Church's global migration agency, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), is working to help alleviate the suffering people on the move and to help create opportunities for societies to “harness” this enormous potential from human mobility, since migrants can provide communities with needed help in all sectors of the economy.

Monsignor Robert Vitillo is ICMC Secretary General and spoke to Vatican News about the importance of this World Day and this year's theme in particular which puts the focus on the great contributions migrants can provide to their transit or destination societies. He notes that too often, migrants are only seen as a burden, rather than a potential help to societies in which they can contribute their skills and move societies forward with renewed energy and optimism.

Recalling the Christian perspective on migration, he pointed out that the Holy Family was a migrant family and that the migration of peoples has been a reality of human civilization since time immemorial. At the same, ICMC is well aware of the need to handle the crisis situations there are around the world, providing emergency help and trying to stop the trade in human trafficking.

Full Interview with Msgr. Robert Vitillo, Secretary General of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC):

How important is "Harnessing the potential of human mobility" for ICMC in assisting migrants and refugees?

First of all, I think it's an excellent theme that was chosen for this day. And the day itself is very, very important, because, so often in the world today, migrants are seen as a burden or a problem. Yet migration has been around since the beginning of the human family on earth. We shouldn't forget that the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, were forced migrants, refugees to Egypt shortly after Jesus was born, because King Herod was afraid that the new King of the Jews would displace him in his worldly kingdom. I'm sure that Saint Joseph, a carpenter didn't just go to Egypt and sit around or ask the Pharaoh for some support, but he did his trade, carpentry, when he was in Egypt, as he was doing it in the Holy Land.

So, the idea of harnessing human potential of mobility is very important, and, at ICMC, we do just that in our humanitarian programs. We help people build skills so that they either could begin working while they are waiting for some durable solution, whether that is resettlement in another country, or it’s integration in the country where they first thought asylum. We teach them skills and languages. We get them ready to begin working even while they are waiting for a durable solution. Then they're all the more ready if they go to another country or they get a more permanent status in the countries where they first sought help. Those skills are usually quite basic, like barbering, carpet weaving, tailoring, beautician work. Also, a very, very popular area that we have always found is motorcycle repairs. And so it is in this way that we, at ICMC, help to harness the human potential of mobile or migrant peoples.

Also, in Malaysia where we have a program that focuses mainly on the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, there migrants are not allowed to work for money. So, there we’ve trained a group that we call our “Refugee Protection Corps”. They're refugees themselves. They volunteer, but we help them with travel expenses and things like that. They've become the best social workers we could ever find, because they're from those very communities of the people that have been affected. They are able also not only to help those, especially women and children who have been victimized by sexual and gender-based violence, but they're also able to change the culture that permits or even promotes that kind of behavior, especially among the men. And so, we have some men as a part of our Refugee Corps, and they tell me about how much their friends, when they come to visit them, say, why are you helping with the dishes? Why are you changing the baby? That's not part of our culture and the men tell them, no, this should be a part of our culture because we need to help our wives in the role of parenting …

This interview was originally published on Vatican News website. Please click here to read the full text and listen to the interview.