Pope Francis urges Europe to keep welcoming migrants

AFP: Pope Francis on Monday urged European governments to keep welcoming migrants while acknowledging security and other concerns over the recent mass influx of people mainly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Addressing ambassadors to the Holy See in the aftermath of the New Year’s Eve mass assaults in Germany’s Cologne, the pontiff said the present wave of migration seemed to be undermining the foundations of Europe’s “humanistic spirit”.

He urged European leaders not to to lose “the values and principles of humanity ... however much they may prove, in some moments of history, a burden difficult to bear.”

Francis said Europe was struggling to cope with the unprecedented wave of refugees, which saw over a million people arrive on the continent’s shores in the course of 2015.

“Many migrants from Asia and Africa see in Europe a beacon for principles such as equality before the law and for values inherent in human nature,” he said.

“All the same, the massive number of arrivals on the shores of Europe appear to be overburdening the system of reception painstakingly built on the ashes of the Second World War, a system that is still an acknowledged beacon of humanity.”

He said the sheer size of the influx was causing “inevitable problems” and raising concerns about “changes in the cultural and social structures” of host countries.

“Equally significant are fears about security, further exacerbated by the growing threat of international terrorism,” the pontiff added.

The migration crisis – Europe’s worst since World War II – has caused deep rifts between EU member states and left the bloc’s Schengen system of open borders on the brink of collapse.

And the shock generated by events in Cologne at New Year has piled pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her liberal stance towards refugees.

Pope Francis said EU governments could welcome people fleeing conflict, repression and hunger whilst also ensuring the security of their own citizens.

“Europe, aided by its great cultural and religious heritage, has the means to defend the centrality of the human person and to find the right balance between its twofold moral responsibility to protect the rights of its citizens and to ensure assistance and acceptance to migrants,” he said.

One in four children in conflict zones “risk losing their future”: UNICEF

Reuters (London, Thomson Reuters Foundation): Nearly one in four children growing up in conflict zones are missing out on education, with South Sudan, Niger, Sudan and Afghanistan the worst-affected countries, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

An estimated 24 million children of school-going age are out of school in 22 countries affected by conflict, according to the agency’s research.

South Sudan has the largest proportion of children out of school, 51%, followed by 47% in Niger, 41% in Sudan and 40% in Afghanistan.

“When children are not in school, they are at an increased danger of abuse, exploitation and recruitment into armed groups,” said UNICEF’s head of education, Jo Bourne.

“School equips children with the knowledge and skills they need to rebuild their communities once the conflict is over, and in the short-term it provides them with the stability and structure required to cope with the trauma they have experienced,” said Bourne.

If children grow up without an education, their future prospects are bleak, UNICEF said.

“Unable to learn even the basic reading and writing skills, they are at risk of losing their futures and missing out on the opportunity to contribute to their economies and societies when they reach adulthood,” said Bourne.

Education is one of the least funded sectors in humanitarian appeals. In 2014, it received 2% of humanitarian aid, the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO said in June.

UNESCO said 10 times as much – anadditional $2.3 billion – isneeded for education in conflict zones.

UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown, UNICEF and others have called for a multi-million dollar humanitarian fund for education in emergencies to be set up, that can be mobilised quickly in a conflict, natural disaster or other humanitarian emergency.