How do we treat refugees?

The treatment of refugees has become more brutal, their sufferings have grown and their protection under the rule of law has been shredded. Internatio

Aug 31, 2017

By Andrew Hamilton
The treatment of refugees has become more brutal, their sufferings have grown and their protection under the rule of law has been shredded. Internationally, refugee organisations, founded in the hope of soon being redundant, now face an avalanche of refugees.

Nations that once offered hospitality to refugees are now investing their resources in exacerbating the conflicts that produce refugees. Fear has made a desert.

We have built fences between races, hammered laws into trenches to trap transgressors, locked freedom behind armour plate. Fear made people focus on the possessions they could lose and blinded them to the possibilities of the world in which they lived and the graciousness of the peoples with which they shared it. They lived encaged.

In such moments, it is easy to cede the struggle, we give in to fear. But let us defend them and stand by them. Let us attend to the small fidelities of visiting, caring for and respecting refugees, remembering the lives that fear has scarred and calling for a better way.

This challenge invites us also to dream of a world where people can laugh, stand silently, be moved and give their hearts, free from fear.

Therefore, it is no accident that in such a fearful world for refugees, Pope Francis, focuses on vulnerable children. His appeal is practical.--Eureka Street

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