21 Organization (ILO), namely Convention 97 (1949) and Convention 143 (1975) on migrants. Saint Pope John Paul II summarized that: “A person has the right to leave his native land for various motives – and also the right to return – in order to seek better conditions of life in another country”19. Everyone deserves to enjoy these rights regardless of their citizenship, employment and any particular status. No person or organization can be deprived of their human rights because they have entered or remained in a country in violation of the immigration rules of the country. Furthermore, no one can be deprived of these rights based on age, gender, sexuality or for any cultural reasons including speaking their native language or adhering to traditions. This principle, the universality of human rights, is particularly valuable for migrants.20 The Catholic Social Teachings and Migrants. CST has evolved in addressing issues of the dignity and rights of migrants, but also in defending migrants forced to seek a living abroad. Vatican Council II in its Encyclical Gaudium et Spes views migration as a sign of the times. Popes John XXIII and Pius XII stated that, “It is necessary to treat all [migrants] as human beings, not as instruments of production, and to help them bring their families to live with them” (Gaudium et Spes, n. 66). All people have the right to enter a country where they hope to be able to provide adequately for themselves and their families. CST has reiterated this on many occasions and in different forms. Human beings have the right to live in a way worthy of being made in the image of God, fulfilling their vocation through the duty of honest work, to participate in God’s creative work, by being fruitful. Work is not only about earning a living but also about developing personal talents, family, culture, and socio-political life. CST states that the three-fold value of work is to ‘achieve fulfillment as a human being’, a way to provide ‘a foundation for the formation of family life’, and a way to contribute to the common good.21 Based on these reasons, CST insists on “the ethical responsibility of an organized society to promote and support a culture of work”22. Accordingly, every human person has an inalienable right to life and to the activities necessary to support and develop life. Thus, if these rights are continually impeded, people have the right to go to a place where they hope to start a new life more worthy of the human person. The protection of human dignity and life becomes even more evident in tragic 21 Kerwin and Gerschutz, And You Welcomed Me: Migration and Catholic Social Teaching, 70-71. 20 International Commission of Jurists commission members, Migration and International Human Rights Law - A Practitioners’ Guide, 37. 19 Donald Kerwin, and Gerschutz J. Marie, And You Welcomed Me: Migration and Catholic Social Teaching (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2009), 71. http:// site.ebrary.com/id/10361349 22 Kerwin and Gerschutz, And You Welcomed Me: Migration and Catholic Social Teaching, 71.
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