Pope Francis has urged governments to help economic migrants travel to wealthy counties, to defeat the scourge of human trafficking.
In a letter to a meeting of the International Labour Conference, the Pope wrote that mass migration is a “grave issue”.
Pope Francis called for a “concerted effort . . . to encourage governments to facilitate the movement of migrants for the benefit of all, thus eliminating human trafficking and perilous travel conditions”.
Last month, there were two shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea of vessels carrying migrants from Africa.
The Libyan Government said it could not cope with numbers arriving at their borders from sub-Saharan African countries and would be forced to “facilitate” the movement of migrants to Europe.
But Italy, with its southern-most island of Lampedusa just 80 miles off the north African coast, is overwhelmed by migrants arriving at its shores.
It said that unless it receives more help with sea patrols, it would defy European Union rules obliging migrants to stay in the country where they land and allow them to travel further into Europe.
Some 40,000 people have made the crossing in recent months, often on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.
Hundreds of thousands more said to be awaiting a passage to Europe, in camps run by criminal gangs, on the coastline of Libya.
In his letter, Pope Francis said people in mass migrations often encounter “mistrust and exclusion” and often fail to find dignified work.
Echoing a phrase he used during a visit to Lampedusa last year, the Pope wrote that such people often fall victim to a “globalisation of indifference”.
In his letter, the Pope also lamented that unemployment is “is tragically expanding the frontiers of poverty”.
It is time, the Pope wrote, “to reinforce existing forms of cooperation and to establish new avenues for expanding solidarity”.
Among measures he recommended were: “A re-evaluation of the responsibilities of international corporations in the countries where they operate, including the areas of profit and investment management”.
Sources
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News category: World.
