Addressing a session of the International Organization for Migration, a Vatican diplomat said yesterday that states “have both the right to protect their borders and the duty to respect the rights of those who arrive at their borders.”
Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, said that “it is essential to remember that each person on the move is first and foremost a human being whose rights and God-given dignity must be at the care of international cooperation and migration governance. Regrettably, today’s debates are all too often clouded by stereotypes and polarized narratives.”