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A world on the move: Regional, global networks of concern meet
RED Ecumenica delegates Samuel Lobato, Colombia; Marcela Franco, Mexico; Jose Egas, Ecuador, and Rosa Maria Quedena, Peru, confer during their meeting in Miami. Lobato is CWS Andean Region Director.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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Millions in the world are on the move by force or necessity. September 7-11 in Miami, Florida, the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program hosted meetings of two important ecumenical networks working to assist and protect refugees, migrants, internally displaced, and other uprooted people.
Delegates of RED Ecumenica, a Latin American network, and of the World Council of Churches' Global Ecumenical Network on Uprooted People (GEN) came from countries that are sources, hosts, and/or countries of transit for displaced people.
"By strengthening our collaboration," said CWS/IRP Acting Director Erol Kekic, "we can better serve uprooted people, whether forced to move by violence, persecution, or the economic disparities resulting from globalization."
In its meeting, RED Ecumenica looked especially at how best to protect the more than three million Colombians who have been forcibly displaced by political violence in their country. Many are displaced within Colombia; others have fled to nearby Peru and Venezuela, and to distant Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay.
In 2004-5, CWS/IRP and RED Ecumenica collaborated on a pilot project to help Colombians resettling in Chile, and are working together now on next steps.
Deep concern about "the increasing use of detention to restrict and deter cross-border movement by asylum seekers and other migrants" prompted the GEN to prepare a statement on the issue for the early October meeting of the UNHCR's Executive Committee. This global trend toward "criminalizing" refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants heightens exploitation and does nothing to address the root causes of forced migration, GEN said. Visit www.wcc-coe.org - News and Resources - WCC Press Releases for more.
The CWS/IRP Committee's two international representatives, Vivi Akakpo, All Africa Conference of Churches and Doris Peschke, Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, are among GEN delegates.
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