Holy See calls for ‘political priority’ to save refugees
(Vatican Radio) Deploring the worsening situation of growing number of refugees and displaced in the Middle East, especially in the Syrian conflict, the Holy See has called for a political priority to save the lives of those escaping extreme poverty and systemic violation of their human rights. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Holy See’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, made the call on Thursday at a general debate of the UN’s Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
More than 60 million people have been forced to leave their home to escape persecution and war, of which Syrian is a dramatic case, the archbishop said. Some 3000 asylum seekers trying to reach Europe have perished this year in the Mediterranean along with “their dreams of a more dignified life,” he noted. With access to Europe becoming almost impossible, these asylum seekers become prey to smugglers. Most of the Syrian refugees are in neighbouring countries whose resources are stretched to the extreme.
Voicing the recent appeal of Pope Francis to American and European political representatives, Arch. Tomasi called for “adopting fair, courageous and realistic policies which can assist the countries of origin in their own social and political development and in their efforts to resolve internal conflicts – the principal cause of this phenomenon – rather than adopting policies motivated by self-interest, which increase and feed such conflicts. We need to take action against the causes and not only the effects.”
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