Where “public opinion and political expediency” have led to harsher treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, people still have an obligation to make special efforts to assist child refugees, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva. Archbishop Tomasi focused on the mistreatment of asylum seekers, especially unaccompanied minors, during an address on Oct. 4 before the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2008, he said, 11,292 asylum applications were lodged by unaccompanied minors in 22 European Union states. With the violence across North Africa and the Arab world this year, he said, “Hundreds of unauthorized lone boys from the Middle East…are making their way across Europe,” facing possible exploitation and requiring special attentiveness from immigration authorities.
Child Refugees at Risk
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
“His presence brings prestige to our nation and to the entire Group of 7. It is the first time that a pope will participate in the work of the G7,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.
“Many conflicting, divergent and often contradictory views of the human person have found wide acceptance … they have led to holders of traditional theories being cancelled or even losing their jobs,” the bishops said.
Robots can give you facts. But they can’t give you faith.
“Irena’s Vow” is true story of a Catholic nurse who used her position to shelter a dozen Jews in World War II-era Poland.