Welcoming Strangers as Citizens

From Ekklesia:

Backing the 4 May 2009 'day of action' calling for undocumented migrants in the UK to have the opportunity to become citizens, Simon Barrow, co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia, commented:

"We need to understand that people movements are a fact of modern life. The problems around migration are caused by injustice and prejudice, not people. Poverty, violence, racism, human rights abuses, economic dislocation and environmental destruction uproot the vulnerable and enable criminality to prosper. These are what we should be targeting, not the vulnerable themselves."

Barrow says the Strangers into Citizens campaign - backed by senior church leaders and others - represents a "vital step in the right direction" toward a just migration policy. He adds that "welcome for the stranger, hospitality for the oppressed and justice for all regardless of nationality or ethnicity are moral imperatives deeply rooted in the Christian tradition, alongside those of other faiths and good faith."

More on Strangers into Citizens: http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/