EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

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The causes of forced displacement: the breakdown of sustainable global community Mark Raper SJ Extracts from a talk given at ‘The prophetic mission of Churches in response to forced displacement of people’, a global ecumenical consultation, Addis Ababa, 1995 To know our sorrow is to know our joy - Somewhere a mother will rejoice. from Somewhere, by Es’kia Mphahlele One eloquent sign of our times is the mass displacement of peoples, a warning sign to us all. The population flows that are visible, a tenth of the iceberg, conceal vast personal and national tragedies, economic inequality of catastrophic proportions, collective violence, and nation-states bent on denying human rights and repressing their own citizens. Once alerted, our faith compels us to seek justice. But first we must unearth the causes so that our work for justice and our compassion are well targeted. Our world is changing. Old explanations must be discarded and new ones discovered. Accurate analysis and informed reflection are then available as a basis for our prayer lives to face the contemporary mystery of suffering. We need to scrutinise tragic situations and discover their meanings. The refugee, too, asks for an explanation and has a right to it, even more than food or shelter. Knowing what is happening, and why, makes it less likely that helpers will be co-opted into conflicts. Our role is to be objective about their situation and question their ideological interpretations. If we understand the factors operating, we are in a position to act more precisely and devise better strategies of presence and assistance. We will avoid treating symptoms as causes, and not blame victims for what is outside their control. 136
We will have the chance to advocate appropriate policies, develop useful structures and challenge unrealistic procedures. We will have what it takes to prepare our field workers. We will be better prepared to intervene earlier and to act in the refugees’ long term interests. We will be less afraid. Genuine reconciliation requires a process from truth to justice to reconciliation. Nothing worthwhile can happen until the truth of what really happened, and may be still happening, is acknowledged. In each place of pain and within each crisis the truth must be revealed. Then justice will not be sold short, nor reconciliation short-circuited. Individual and communal factors causing displacement Refugee flight, according to the UN Convention on Refugees, must take place as a result of persecution. To be legally recognised under the convention, a refugee must prove well-founded fear of persecution. Some countries use the convention definition to restrict the right to asylum. Most European countries, and the USA as well, require that persecution be individually based. The fact that someone’s uncle was tortured, or that her ethnic group was under attack, is not considered an adequate reason for flight unless she can show that she was personally targeted for persecution. Clearly not every experience of forced flight matches these legal requirements. Today’s conflicts are rarely aimed at individuals. In Guatemala whole communities are targeted. Communal fields are razed, communal medical centres destroyed, villagers en masse are forced off their land. In any case most lives are communal, not individualistic. And reasons for flight are generally communal. It is the rich countries that ask for individual proof before granting refugee status. Meanwhile 90 per cent of the world’s refugees struggle to survive in other poor countries that adjoin theirs. Few individual questions are asked of them. Meanwhile regional definitions, like that formulated by the Organisation of African Unity for Africa, and in Cartagena for Latin America, acknowledge a broader range of reasons for flight. Experience shows that any refugees’ right to asylum should be linked to their government’s failure to protect them, rather than to their experiences as individuals. 137
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EVERYBODY’S CHALLENGE Essential D
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Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an
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Mark Raper SJ/JRS Liberia 2000 JRS
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in this service. As one JRS group r
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Mario Almeida SJ/JRS Albania 1999 T
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20 years of JRS Letter sent by Fr G
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I wish all the courage and strength
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new 3 , the 33rd General Congregati
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esponsibility. The 34th General Con
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5. JRS gives priority to accompanim
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c. A written understanding or a par
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lies with the Provincial or Confere
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JRS communications to the Province,
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Michael Campbell-Johnston SJ in El
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The Society of Jesus and the refuge
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It is not intended that the JRS bec
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August 6 was the Feast of the Trans
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Now it is time to consider the kind
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egions outside Thailand; for the bi
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Pedro Arrupe SJ (seated, left) at C
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What Don Pedro had in mind when he
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land. Fr Mark Raper of the Asian Bu
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the local church had to be involved
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Review of the Jesuit Refugee Servic
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vegetables and firewood. At night t
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cution, as understood in the releva
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In the local context, the role of t
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through learning packets containing
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Mark Raper SJ/JRS Rwanda 1998 The m
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The history of JRS begins with the
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ment to Vietnamese refugees had dec
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After the end of Russian hegemony i
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2. A changed world for refugees Whi
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Kuangchi Program Service/JRS Thaila
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A more personal approach Dieter B.
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A vision for JRS At the end of thei
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structures that guarantee their wea
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advocates actions for justice and f
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The mandate given for Jesuits enter
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JRS must be flexible: closing down
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Jenny Cafiso/JRS Tanzania 1996 Radi
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William Yeomans SJ Waiting in joyfu
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Pastoral accompaniment among refuge
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Page 98 and 99: Jenny Cafiso/JRS Colombia 1998 Near
Page 100 and 101: Mark Raper SJ/JRS India 1996 JRS So
Page 102 and 103: The specific Jesuit identity of JRS
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Page 108 and 109: The stress on co-operation with lai
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Page 112 and 113: Michael Coyne/JRS Uganda 1994 Celso
Page 114 and 115: Virgin’s feet in the chapel at Mo
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Page 118 and 119: Put simply, JRS is a network of pro
Page 120 and 121: Mark Raper SJ/JRS Nepal 1999 Around
Page 122 and 123: Peter Balleis SJ/JRS Angola 1996 Th
Page 124 and 125: Displacement now Mark Raper SJ Extr
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Page 130 and 131: New scenarios for old: populations
Page 132 and 133: nal, national and personal security
Page 134 and 135: Christian reflections and responses
Page 136 and 137: Elena Marioni/JRS Albania 1999 When
Page 140 and 141: Many valid reasons for flight fail
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Page 144 and 145: Jenny Cafiso/JRS Zambia 1999 Attend
Page 146 and 147: Ban Vinai William Yeomans SJ Ban Vi
Page 148 and 149: Jan Cooney/JRS Thailand 1987 Gettin
Page 150 and 151: Each of us spoke of our own work, s
Page 152 and 153: Quentin Dingham/JRS India 1996 A Sr
Page 154 and 155: The personal story of refugees is o
Page 156 and 157: Stephen Power SJ/JRS Nathaniel at a
Page 158: Mark Raper SJ/JRS Timor 1999 A joyf
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EVERYBODY'S CHALLENGE - Jesuit Refugee Service | USA

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