RMG – Unaccompanied Minor Refugees: for a Qualified and Competent Salesian Commitment

16 December 2016

(ANS – Rome) – It is over 150 years that the Salesians of Don Bosco consider minors as the active holders of rights and look in each one of them for the positive potentialities that must bloom through education. However, all over the world there are millions of Unaccompanied Minor Refugees (UMR), one of the categories that are more at risk of violence, exploitation and violation of their rights. On the occasion of the International Migrants Day, that is celebrated on December 18th, Don Bosco International presents some guidelines so that the Salesian work with these minors may always be qualified and respectful of their specific exigencies.

According to a report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) those who fled from wars, persecutions and violence in the world at the end of 2015 were 65.3 million people, of whom about one half are minors: children and teenagers among the most defenceless and needy.

Many are the Salesian works active all over the world with minor migrants and refugees: in Istanbul, in Turkey, the Salesians for the past 20 years have been accepting over 1.000 children and youth who fled from the wars in Iraq and Syria; in Lebanon, the Salesians host them at the Oratory in El Houssoun; in Kenya they do so in the displaced mega-camp of Kakuma; in Germany they accompany about 500 young refugees, the majority of whom are in Munich and Nuremberg; young migrants are helped in Tijuana, in Mexico, on the US border; and in Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Malta… and in many other countries, where the communities welcome from some families up to tens of refugees, providing also for their social and labour integration.

In order to ensure that each minor migrant or refugee be given the best possible protection, on the occasion of the Migrants International Day, Don Bosco International, an agency that represents the Salesians in the European Institutions, issued some guidelines for the Salesian work with UMR, that require:

An appropriate support towards UMR starting from their treatment as individuals, from the first contact and beyond the age of 18;
The commitment to cooperation with other qualified institutions;
Integral education;
The promotion of the human dignity of the UMR;
Specific integration through proper structures, fit to avoid the creation of “ghettos”;
Support in the learning of languages;
Paths of ongoing formation for those who are committed with pedagogical roles with the Salesians.

For the Salesian Family, gender, creed, education, origins or passports are not relevant … Each minor is an active holder of their rights, a protagonist of their history and the core of their entire educative process. They are not considered only as beneficiaries of services, but also as persons with their own opinions, that must be listened to and respected. “It is enough that you are young for me to love you very much”, Don Bosco used to say.

The full text of the declaration is to be found on the site of Don Bosco International.