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Catholic social teaching applies the expression de facto refugee to "all persons persecuted because of race, religion, membership in social or political groups; to the victims of armed conflicts, erroneous economic policy or natural disasters; and for humanitarian reasons to internally displaced persons, that is, civilians who are forcibly uprooted from their homes by the same type of violence as refugees but who do not cross national frontiers".
Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity, (Pontifical Council Cor Unum, and Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, 1992) |
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To accompany, To serve, To advocate |
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The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. JRS undertakes services at national and regional levels with the support of an international office in Rome. Founded in November 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on 19 March 2000 at the Vatican State as a foundation.
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Urgent appeal for the people of Haiti |
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(Washington, D.C.) Jan. 14, 2010 - In response to Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, Jesuit Refugee Service is mounting an emergency relief effort to provide lifesaving aid, including food and other urgently needed items, to the Haitian people. Aid will be provided in partnership with the JRS - Latin America & Caribbean regional office, and distributed through JRS programs in the Dominican Republic, Jesuit parishes and other Jesuit programs in Haiti.
For many years Jesuit Refugee Service has had a grassroots presence in Haiti and has provided humanitarian assistance to displaced Haitians in both the Dominican Republic and along the Haitian border. In addition, JRS has responded to the needs of Haitians following successive natural disasters, a food crisis, and repeated hurricanes.
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Uighurs failed by Cambodia's sham refugee law |
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In June last year a solitary Uighur from Xinjiang Province in China arrived in Phnom Penh seeking asylum. He registered his claim with the Cambodian Government and with UNHCR.
Like East Timor, Cambodia became a signatory to all major UN human rights instruments when in receipt of considerable UN assistance. They, with the Philippines, are the only three of Australia's South East Asian neighbours to have acceded to the UN Convention on Refugees. The Cambodian government has been very slow in setting up its own procedures for refugee determinations, being dependent on UNHCR to provide the service.
UNHCR had been working for many years with the Cambodian authorities to come up with a workable refugee law. UNHCR did not invite input from other refugee or human rights organisations and refused any civil society scrutiny of the proposed law. During the interim refugee status determination process, independent legal representation as requested by asylum seekers was neither permitted nor encouraged.
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Pope Benedict XVI Message for the 96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 17 January 2010 |
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Jesus Himself Experienced Migration
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The celebration of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees once again gives me the opportunity to express the Church's constant concern for those who, in different ways, experience a life of emigration. This is a phenomenon which, as I wrote in the Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, upsets us due to the number of people involved and the social, economic, political, cultural and religious problems it raises on account of the dramatic challenges it poses to both national and international communities. The migrant is a human person who possesses fundamental, inalienable rights that must be respected by everyone and in every circumstance (cf. n. 62).
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