Over the centuries, Italy’s image has fluctuated in northern Europe. Italians have been associated with dancing masters, fencing tutors, glass makers, opera divas and tenors – and the provenance of the pizza and ice cream. In Albania, despite Italy’s wartime invasion of that country, the fondest memory retained was that of Italian ice cream, which Read more
Workers at the Warsaw headquarters of Frontex, the European border protection agency, track every single irregular boat crossing and every vessel filled with refugees. Since December 2013, the authority has spent hundreds of millions of euros deploying drones and satellites to surveil the borders. The EU registers everything that happens near its borders. In contrast Read more
Pope Francis has called for much broader involvement from European nations to combat the loss of lives of African refugees crossing the Mediterranean. In the latest incident, hundreds are feared dead after a boat carrying an estimated 700 people capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Nearly 200,000 people have been rescued at sea by Read more
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands is asking the PNG government and the Australian government to give the asylum seekers a full and efficient refugee status determination process in the Manus Detention Centre: To provide safe and humane conditions for the asylum seekers Not to force the asylum seekers Read more
A leader from New Zealand’s Assyrian Christian community is calling for New Zealand to help the hundreds of thousands of their kind displaced by Islamic State militants in Northern Iraq. Assyrian priest Father Aprem Pithyou, of the Ancient Church of the East in Strathmore, Wellington, says his people need more humanitarian aid and wants Immigration Read more
The full text of the Holy Father’s Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees 2015 was published on 23 September: Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is ‘the evangeliser par excellence and the Gospel in person’. His solicitude, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalised, invites all of us to care for the frailest and Read more
Catholic education authorities in Sydney are encouraging students to speak out if they are unhappy with Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Sydney archdiocese executive director of Catholic schools Dan White said these schools have a long-standing tradition of encouraging students to engage with social justice issues. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Read more
A Tuvalu family has won an appeal to stay in New Zealand after they claimed they would be affected by climate change if they went home. This is the first successful application for residency on humanitarian grounds in New Zealand that has featured climate change. The Immigration and Protection Tribunal said the family has strong Read more
“Who says men don’t cry?” is New Zealand Marist priest, Tony O’Connor’s initial reflection of ministering on the border of Mexico and the United States. Part of Fr O’Connor’s ministry, working in the Brownsville Texas parish, is to visit two detention centres, one for captured minor migrants and the other for captured adult migrants. Given their personal circumstance and Read more
The art room at Wellesley College, Days Bay Wellington was a hive of creative activity last Thursday. Children from two schools, St Michael’s and Holy Cross joined a group of students from Wellesley College for a day of art and friendship. This was to mark UNHCR World Refugee Day on June 20. The refugee background Read more