Throughout all of our European cities it is an evident fact: the number of migrant children is increasing. This is not at all surprising, given that the number of new migrants arriving in European countries has increased considerably, particularly in the south. There is now no looking back; now that their parents have established themselves here, logically so will their children.

This fact bears challenges, especially for those migrant youth who have arrived here in the midst of their teenage years and who may have lived many years separated from their parents. At the same time, the presence of migrant youth presents many opportunities that should be taken advantage of: they offer the youthfulness needed by our ageing European society and Church; they contribute cultural diversity that enriches our environment. The arrival of these youth should be met with great hope.

We have listened to these young men and women, and confirm that they are, above all, youth, who happen to also be migrants. Their worries, their interests, their hobbies are the same as those of the native youth in their host societies. In short, there are more things uniting them than there are separating them.

We affirm that, if the fundamental wish of their parents is to be welcomed in upon arrival, that of their children is to be able to participate and play a greater role in their new societies without losing their culture of origin in the difficult process of forging their identity.

Based upon these observations, we set out the following multiple goals:

For our society and our policy makers:

• That the right to live together as a family be respected, especially by facilitating the fastest possible family reunification in order to avoid the pain that is caused by long separations between parents and their children.

• That the necessary mechanisms be offered to these young people in order for them to achieve a holistic development as individual persons, guaranteeing them true equality of opportunities. This is a question of justice that could help to prevent frustration and possible reactions from feelings of rejection

• That policy makers and other relevant authorities accept that these people have come and that the majority will remain, thereby adapting their migration policies to present realities and promoting policies towards true integration and social cohesion.

• The migration not be instrumentalized nor used as a means of social or political confrontation, as we note happening in our countries today.

To read the full statement, please see the pdf document below (available in Spanish only).

Comunicado encuentro europeo Pastoral Migrantes marzo 2010 (34.63 KB)