Respect for human dignity

Sydney
7 July 2002

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Respect for human dignity

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Respect for human dignity

The human person has primacy over the state, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council says in a new publication.

And, it says, it is not legitimate for nation states to reject refugees out of a narrow sense of their own interests.

The publication, The Call to Hospitality, Catholic Teaching on Refugees, by Sandie Cornish, national executive officer of the council, sets out the position of the Catholic Church on the issue of refugees.

It says Catholic social teaching presents a consistent ethical stance with clear implications for asylum and migration policies.

“At the centre of this body of teaching is the dignity of the human person,” the booklet concludes. “The full range of human rights that arise from this God-given human dignity must be respected in asylum seekers, refugees, displaced people and immigrants, regardless of their legal status.

“Whenever the state cannot or does not protect and foster these rights for all within its jurisdiction, then the international community has a duty to respond.

“The human person has primacy over the state, which exists only to serve the human person by organising and promoting the common good.”

The booklet says that not only must the immediate needs of people on the move be attended to, but the root causes of displacement, such as poverty and repression, must also be addressed.

It also points out that illegal immigration has always existed and has been tolerated when it has served the interests of host nations to have access to a pool of cheap labour.

The booklet opens its argument with an overview of the 1992 Vatican document Refugees: A Challenge to Solidarity, which provides a systematic presentation of the Church’s teachings in this area.

It also examines key documents of Catholic social teaching, analyses the Pope’s World Migration Day messages, and looks at recent Interventions of the Holy See at the UN in the area of refugee policy to provide a scholarly background to its conclusions.

It is, says the chairman of the council, Bishop William Morris, “a very valuable resource for those engaged in work on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers and for the thoughtful Catholic who is seeking the foundation of Church teaching on this divisive issue”.

The booklet is No 44 in the Catholic Social Justice Series and is published by the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, 19 Mackenzie St, North Sydney, 2060.