Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, March 30, 2917 – As a clear sign of support for the call of Pope Francis to look back at migrants, displaced persons, victims of trafficking and refugees, the Department of Justice and Solidarity (DEJUSOL) Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) brought together, between the 27th and 30th March, a large number of organizations of human mobility, shelter and trafficking in persons of the Catholic Church of Latin America and the Caribbean to form the Latin American and Caribbean Migration Network, Shelter and Human Trafficking (CLAMOR for its Spanish acronym).
The meeting included a working day on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Dajabón and Ounaminthe), where participants could visit the missionary works for migrants and share with displaced and Haitian migrants living in so-called shelters or bateyes in the area of Guayubin.
Among the participating organizations are: International Scalabrini Migration Network (SIMN); Jesuit Refugee Service (SJR) in Latin America and the Caribbean; Latin American and Caribbean Secretariat of Caritas (SELACC); General Secretariat of the Latin American Council of Religious and Religious (CLAR); Solidarity Network for Migrants and Refugees of Brazil; Department of Human Mobility of the Episcopal Conferences of the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti; General Counsel of Apostolate of the Scalabrinian Sisters; Franciscan Brothers; Chilean Institute of Migration; Foundation Un grito por la Vida; Network for the Freedom of the Congregation The Good Shepherd; Congregation of Adoratrices; Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Evangelist and the Direction of the Boys and Girls Project with Don Bosco.
In addition, as participating special guests were, the Human Mobility Department of the Spanish Episcopal Conference and the Catholic Missions of Spanish-speaking migrants in Germany. Also participating the members of the Refuge Program of Caritas Venezuela, in the figure of Monsignor José Luis Azuaje, who, despite not being present, appointed a team that virtually followed up on the day and signed important agreements.
With this meeting, what was once a proposal was consolidated and a road in Catholic unity began. From the presentations made by the participants at the meeting, the various lines of action that were developed as ecclesial actors in favor of migrants, displaced persons, refugees and victims of human trafficking could be identified.
Finally, the members of the CLAMOR Network want to be a “field hospital” where migrants, displaced persons, refugee and victims of human trafficking find, in the words of Pope Francis, welcome, protection and healing of their wounds, recognition of their dignity and promotion, integration and insertion in the communities and countries to which they arrive.