By Verghese V Joseph –
As a follow up of the relief services provided during COVID-19 pandemic by various stakeholders, a Zoom meeting was held for the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) Secretaries of the regions, Diocesan Commissions, among others on June 15.
In his opening message, Archbishop Victor Henry Thakur, chairman of CCBI Commission for Migrants gave an overview of human migration from an historical perspective. “Migration is old as old as human history as we see in the life of Abraham in the Bible. Migration takes place due to poverty, better avenues for themselves and their families.”
From an India standpoint, he said, “The context of the migrants in our country is different from rest of the world. It is indeed sad to consider the migrants as beggars.” He reminded the participants that poor migrants contribute in many ways to the nation and economy; and highlighted their right to life which needs to be protected. He lauded not only the church but also the civil society groups and laity and associations who came out spontaneously to help the poor in different parts of India
“We need to keep in mind that the migrants exhibit several challenges – from not knowing the local language, to cultural differences and insecurity issues. Our responsibility to reach out to them is the need of the hour,” he urged.
Fr. Stephen Alathara, deputy secretary general of CCBI, outlined the mandate of the commission and highlighted the exemplary activities of the Catholic Church and its personnel in reaching out to the needs of migrant workers, students, families and children. “So much has been done and yet more is to be done,” he remarked.
Ms. Christine Nathan, International Catholic Migration Commission member from Asia Pacific region, in her interaction shared the plight of the migrants who were forced to return to their home village due to the pandemic which forced their work places to be shut.
“They are the builders of our cities. Cheap labour in the cities are carried out by the migrants who are estimated to be huge in number. They are used by recruiting agencies without proper legal frameworks. The returnees needs to be rehabilitated and this is an imperative in the days to come,” Dr Nathan said.
Ms. Nathan made particular reference to construction workers — most whom worked without the safeguard of any legal instruments. Several thousands of the migrants in the construction sector are not even signatory to any labour contracts which makes them even more vulnerable.
“Awareness of their issues, especially related to social security, sexual exploitation needs to be confronted from two fronts; rights based and charity based,” she added.
Archbishop Elias Gonsalves, Bishop Shyamol Bose, Sr. Rani Punnaserril HCM, secretary, Commission for Migrants North Region and Archdiocese of Delhi and Sr. Prema from Amrat – Talithakum India made notable interventions during the meeting. The participants were unanimous of the opinion that the challenges of the migrants needs to be amplified by the Catholic Church and this is possible through the collaborative efforts of like-minded individuals and associations in the country.
A notable suggestion was made for short stay home for the migrants who are returning to their homes. Examples of networking with civil society groups like Delhi-based Distress Management Collective, Amrat – Talithakum India (a network of women religious in India), ecumenical alliance which launched toll-free helpline services in association with North East India Regional Bishops Commission for ecumenism and Hope Charitable Foundation were cited as examples.
Some of the suggestions that came about were to change the words like migrant workers to guest workers; social distancing to physical distancing and receiving states to beneficiary states.
There was also another suggestion to influence Members of Parliament to bring about a separate Central and state governments legislation on poor migrant issues.
There was a call to further strengthen networking within southern state dioceses to cater to the pastoral needs of guest workers.
Fr. Jaison Vadassery, executive secretary, CCBI Commission for Migrants facilitated the meeting.