In his latest piece, ANDY HAMILTON SJ writes that World Day for Migrants and Refugees “reminds us that refugees and migrants are not our rivals nor a threat but are our brothers and sisters whom we invite to share our good fortune.”
The World Day for Migrants and Refugees draws our attention to the contribution that they make to the nations that receive them and encourages us to welcome them. This reminder should hardly be needed at Jesuit Social Services. So many of our own workers and the people with whom we work come from refugee and migrant families. In recent years, however, the number of people who have been forced from their own nations to seek a life in a more favourable land has grown.
The last five years have also seen relative hardship in the developed nations to which they flee, due to economic stringency and strain in finding housing. As a result many nations have closed the door to legal immigration, sent back people who arrive by boat, and have needed to respond to resistance and hostility towards immigrants and refugees. In Australia, our cruel policy of refusing entry to people who arrive by boat and paying compliant nations to receive them has been in place for many years
In England, too, huge numbers of people have attempted to come by boat, partly because other ways of arriving by train and in lorries have been cut. The demonising of refugees by politicians and popular alarm at this growth have led to demonstrations, including protests outside hotels in which refugees have been placed. This xenophobia can be seen in many other European nations, too, as they shut their borders in response to people seeking protection.
Such hostility to migrants and refugees has always been latent in most societies, but it has recently been taken to a new level by the actions of the United States Government. It has vilified Latin American irregular immigrants, many who have lived in America for more than ten years and have contributed greatly to national prosperity. Their brutal treatment has been designed to terrify and humiliate them and to inflame hostility to them.
In this harsh climate the World Day for Migrants and Refugees is timely. It reminds us that refugees and migrants are not our rivals nor a threat but are our brothers and sisters whom we invite to share our good fortune. They invite us to reach out to support those who live under harsh conditions in Australia and push back against prejudice in conversation with our friends.
