It needs to raise US$7 million to aid Rohingya refugees.

The refugees are victims of conflicts in Myanmar.

"We must not forget the Rohingya people or take the support of the Bangladesh Government for granted" says Alistair Dutton, Caritas's secretary general.

Help the most vulnerable

Rohingya families are "among the most vulnerable people in our world today without the right to work" Dutton told media on 6 June.

He had just returned from visiting Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee settlement.

Over a million Rohingya refugees from neighbouring civil war-hit Myanmar are existing at the camp.

Teenagers "have now spent half of their life in camps" he said.

Global aid is desperately needed.

Pope Francis is renewing appeals to solve the Rohingyas' refugee crisis. He met a Rohingya group during his visit to Bangladesh in 2017.

However, global aid for the refugees has decreased with other emergencies like the Ukraine war and the Palestine conflict taking centre stage.

Caritas Bangladesh says global funds to meet refugees' food expenses have reduced from $12 to $10 per month per person. Bangladesh is facing a foreign currency crisis and skyrocketing inflation.

Caritas plans to give the Rohingya community $7 million in aid this year.

Since 2017, Caritas has spent $45 million on Rohingya refugees and host community members in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh does not allow the refugees to work and their mobility is restricted within the camps.

Stateless child refugees

"Over the past six years, more than 200,000 children have been born in these camps" Dutton says.

They are stateless; they have never seen their home country and have no nationality.

How the aid is used

Dutton says temporary camps made of bamboo and plastic sheets can perish quickly.

There have also been two fires in the past fortnight that damaged hundreds of camps.

In the Rohingyas' home state on the southeastern Bangladesh border, the United Nations says 15,000 Rohingyas have taken shelter.

Caritas Asia says Caritas is working with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and India to help repatriate Rohingya refugees.

Given the current situation in Myanmar, repatriation is unlikely Dutton said.

In Myanmar Dutton plans to meet leaders of the bishops' conference where Caritas runs similar aid programmes for refugees.

Source

• UCA News

To help counter this, at his weekly audience on Wednesday Francis launched a two-year education campaign "Share the Journey" which is about the plight of migrants.

Aimed especially at countering mounting anti-immigrant sentiment in the US and Europe, the campaign urges the world: "Don't be afraid!"

Spearheaded by the Vatican's Caritas Internationalis charity, the campaign encourages people to meet with migrants and listen to their stories rather than treat them as statistics clouded by negative stereotypes.

It focuses particularly on providing practical ways for Catholics to meet migrants and refugees, and help families forced to leave their countries.

"Brothers, don't be afraid of sharing the journey. Don't be afraid of sharing hope," Francis told the crowd in St. Peter's Square.

"Even hope, like all good things in this world, has enemies."

Francis went on to explain hope is "the most divine thing that exists in the heart of man," because it allows people to believe that tomorrow will be better despite the pain and disappointment of today and "...it is a two-way street when it comes to migration.

"It's also the push in the heart of those who welcome: the desire to encounter, meet, talk together … hope is the push to share the journey."

Francis posed for selfies, shook hands, kissed babies and hugged migrants at the end of his weekly general audience, teaching by example that "others" are not to be feared but embraced.

Source

• Crux
• Crux
• UCA News
• AP
• Image: Caritas Internationalis