Brussels: The EU unveiled plans Wednesday to take at least 50,000 refugees directly from Africa, the Middle East and Turkey to discourage migrant boats from making the risky Mediterranean crossing.
The proposal involves admitting refugees to European Union countries over the next two years under the bloc’s resettlement progress, which was introduced during the migration crisis that hit the continent in 2015.
“We need to open real alternatives to taking perilous irregular journeys,” European Union Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a news conference in Brussels.
The European Commission said in a statement that it was “recommending a new EU resettlement scheme to bring at least 50,000 of the most vulnerable persons in need of international protection to Europe over the next two years”.
The EU has already resettled 23,000 people from refugee camps in countries outside the EU under the scheme, particularly Turkey and Jordan, which were overwhelmed with people fleeing the war in Syria.
Resettlement would continue from those areas but there would be “increased focus” on Libya, Egypt, Niger, Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia, the commission said.
“This will contribute to further stabilising migration flows along the Central Mediterranean route,” which mainly involves people making the dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy, it said.
The resettlement programme is different from the EU’s controversial refugee quotas, which involved moving refugees who had already reached Italy and Greece to other EU countries under compulsory quotas, and which ended on Wednesday.
Pope Francis on Wednesday launched a two-year activism and awareness-raising campaign about the plight of refugees to counteract mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in the US, Europe and beyond.
The campaign encourages people to actually meet with refugees and listen to their stories, rather than treat them as statistics clouded by negative stereotypes.
Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, launched the campaign during his weekly general audience, throwing his arms open to welcome the many refugees and asylum seekers who filled St. Peter’s Square.
He urged individuals and governments to welcome refugees with similarly open arms and share in their plight, as Jesus did. He said migrants are driven by the very Christian virtue of hope, to find a better life, and said receiving countries should share in that hope by welcoming them and integrating them.
“Brothers, don’t be afraid of sharing the journey. Don’t be afraid of sharing hope,” he said.
The church is undertaking the campaign amid a hardening of anti-immigrant sentiment in the West.
In German elections this week, anti-migrant party Alternative for Germany secured seats in that country’s parliament for the first time. In the US, President Donald Trump is pressing for sweeping limits on immigration, including restricting travel from Muslim and other countries and slashing refugee admissions.
Francis has repeatedly urged countries to welcome migrants and stop collective expulsions, saying migrants’ dignity and right to protection outweigh national security concerns. At the same time, he has acknowledged governments must manage refugee flows “with prudence,” taking into account how many people it can successfully integrate into society.
“Christ urges us to welcome our brothers and sisters with our arms truly open, ready for a sincere embrace, a loving and enveloping embrace,” he said. Pointing to the colonnade that envelopes St. Peter’s Square, he said the embrace of migrants should mimic the colonnade, “which represents mother church who embraces everyone by sharing in our common journey.”
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has a leading role in the migrant campaign along with the Vatican’s Caritas charity federation, has repeatedly condemned restrictions on immigration and has taken a hard stand against some of the Trump administration’s initiatives.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Archbishop Jose Gomez, who lead the bishops’ conference, have met with US Vice-President Mike Pence to discuss “our reasons why we’re so concerned and opposition to some of the ways the administration was deciding” immigration policy, DiNardo said in a phone interview this week.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said this month that bishops support immigrants out of “economic interest” and said “they need illegal aliens to fill the churches.” The statement drew an unusually harsh rebuke from the bishops’ conference. “Our own faith is so clear: how could you not welcome the stranger?” DiNardo said.
The campaign launched Wednesday aims to challenge animosity toward immigrants through websites featuring “myths and truths” about the impact of immigration, personal stories of individual refugees and explanations of church teaching on migration.
Organisers are asking Catholics to take public action in support of refugees, posting pro-immigrant messages on social media and participating in programmes where they can meet refugees.
“He’s very interested in that we change hearts before we deal with policy,” DiNardo said of the pope.
