Urban Church, Global City: Migration and Refugees

10/5

Meeting with CAREF

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:34, quoted by CAREF

When reflecting on the role of the urban church in the global city, it’s important that the church understand the impact of the trends and themes that are shaping the cities we live in. One of the most important of three themes is the presence and reality of migrants and refugees in our midst. We are living in a time when the largest number of people in history are in the process of moving from one  country to another. Its an important part of our work to learn about the current unique dynamics of this reality in Argentina.

To be a migrant is to seek a better life

In the Flores neighborhood of Buenos Aires are the offices of the Comision Argentina para los Refugiados y Migrantes (CAREF).Four churches came together to found CAREF: Iglesia Evangeica del Rio de la Plata (Lutheran/Evangelical), Iglesia Methodist Argentina (Methodist), Evangelical Discipulos de Cristo (Disciples of Christ) and Iglesia Valdense del Rio de la Plata (Wadensians).

CAREF was founded in 1973, as a non-profit civil association whose main objective, in addition to providing direct services and advocacy, is to promote the rights of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers through the construction of social policies and practices that consolidate their integration in conditions of justice and equity.

Its founding was in response to a flood of refugees from Chile resulting from the takeover by the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. Migration in Argentina (and South America as a whole) has differed from the situation in Europe in that most refugees and migrants have been internal South Americans shifting and changing as various political waves have washed over countries. For example, the junta years in Argentina, the long running Columbian civil war,

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and now the rapidly deteriorating social situation in Venezuela.

Migration and Rights poster

CAREF has also been involved in the global crisis. Last June, CAREF, related to the  the commemoration of the International Refugee Day, issued a document in which it reviewed the history of the problem, launched a strong criticism of Europe and the United States, for being responsible for the crises that generate poverty and expulsion and referred to the role of Argentina and the region, as well as some guidelines on state action against the problem. 

Through a document signed by its General Coordinator Gabriela Liguori, CAREF strongly criticized states that do not take refugees seriously: "Europe receives thousands of refugees and expels them. It establishes agreements of international cooperation with countries of its periphery so that they contain the refugees there. A new genocide takes place, and Europe is not immune ... they insist on separating the economic migrant from the refugee as if fleeing from hunger was not also fleeing from death, as if being a migrant deprived you of the status of a person with rights.

 CAREF also pointed out that it is the European countries themselves, together with the United States, that generate the crises that end up driving people out of their places of origin. However, it is then they who demand the countries, to receive the victims: "it seems that there is no interest in addressing fundamental issues such as peace and the fair distribution of wealth at the global level, but to see how to slow down the impact of their somewhat uncomfortable manifestations of pain in the countries of Europe, "they said. In this they echo the sentiments of a sign I saw last April in Hamburg:  “If you don’t like refugees, stop creating them!”

Hamburg banner

Argentina recently committed accepting to 3000 Syrian refugees for humanitarian purposes. CAREF is clear, however, that simply accepting them is not enough. They note that it is essential that there be a clear local integration policy that guarantees the exercise of the rights of this population: access to language training, clear procedures for the revalidation of qualifications, training for work, decent and permanent housing, inclusion of labor, the exercise of their religion and manifestation of their culture, access to education at all levels and health from an intercultural perspective, favoring ties with the rest of Argentine society.

CAREF reports that Argentina currently has a population of refugees and petitioners, of approximately 5000 people. "Among them are Colombians, Syrians, Ghanaians, Ukrainians, Haitians, Ivorians, Nigerians and Peruvians." As hard as CAREF works to assist refugees in gaining legal status, there s great frustration with both the bureaucratic red tape and lack of budgeted funds for the serious essential work of integration. 

 In our conversation with CAREF, we learned about the abuse of migrants in sweat shops (so too in the United States) and that most agricutural work in Argentina is done by Bolivians. Sex trafficking and narco politics also affect the movement of people.(CAREF has allied itself with those fighting against domestic violence and femicide.) CAREF has also recently produced a major report on the phenomenon of migration to Argentina of people from the Dominican Republic in this century. Especially disturbing is disproportionate presence in the sex industry.

CAREF is a real example of the ecumenical work that La Iglesia Valdense has committed to, both in responding to direct human needs and engaging on the all important policy work needed to support just migration.  The Flores Valdense church meets at CAREF and both staff and lay members participate as volunteers in a special relationship. In the future, it is clear that one important area of work for local congregations will be in the integration process for migrants. And again, the Bible is clear:
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.


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For a broadly informative …and profoundly moving… overview of the reality of migrants and refugees around the globe, see AI Wei-Wei’s “Human Flow”

https://www.facebook.com/HumanFlowMovie/