“In walking alongside young people and others who face systemic injustice, we are reminded that the faces of refugees are not so different from our own. They are a gift to our world—not a threat,” writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ. Let this refugee week serve as a reminder that everyone deserves a safe place to call home on this shared earth.
In recent years, public conversation about refugees has waned—not because there are fewer people seeking safety, but because the global environment has become increasingly hostile to their movement. Across the world, more people than ever are being forced from their homes due to war, persecution, discrimination and climate impacts. And yet, for many, the path to safety is blocked.
Around the world, wealthy nations—including Australia—have tightened borders, turning away people in desperate need. In some cases, governments have even detained and deported people who have built lives, families, and communities over many years.
At the heart of this response is a deeply troubling way of seeing: one that reduces people to numbers, labels and categories. It is a worldview that sees value in some lives over others—those who are citizens, who are white, who belong. Others are cast as problems to be managed, threats to be contained, or burdens to be hidden. In this climate, refugees become invisible—pushed to the margins, ignored, vilified or forgotten.
At Jesuit Social Services, we reject this way of seeing. We believe that every person has inherent dignity and worth. Refugees matter to us because, like the young people and communities we work with, they are often met with stigma, exclusion and hardship. But we do not see a burden—we see resilience, courage, and the possibility of a new beginning.
To open our hearts to those seeking safety is to affirm our shared humanity. It is to stand with those who are vulnerable, not because they are ‘other’, but because they are part of us. In walking alongside young people and others who face systemic injustice, we are reminded that the faces of refugees are not so different from our own. They are a gift to our world—not a threat.
