By Rani HCM
Rome: Father Jaison Vadassery, secretary of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Labour, has been elected as the secretary of International Catholic Migrants Commission (ICMC) by its Governing Council meeting concluded in Rome last week (June 6 – 8).
Father Vadassery is also director of Workers India Federation, a nationwide labour organization.
Dr. Anne Therese Gallagher AO (Australia) had been elected as the President during the General Council meeting held in Rome in March 2018. The Council also elected Bishop Giorgio Bertin (Djibouti/Somalia) as Vice President and Sr. Maryanne Loughry (Australia) as Treasurer and ratified the appointment of Msgr. Robert Vittillo as its General Secretary.
Initiated by the joint efforts of Pope Pius XII, Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini (Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and future Pope Paul VI) and layman James J. Norris, ICMC was precisely created to support Catholic organizations in responding to the needs of the displaced persons and refugees.
Following the conflict, the efforts of Monsignor Montini and James Norris for the displaced victims of war assumed an even greater urgency with the growing exodus of refugees fleeing to the West from the Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe.
Shortly after its creation, the ICMC Secretariat was established in Geneva, Switzerland, with the aim of collaborating closely with the newly created United Nations bodies on migration and refugee issues. In 1952, ICMC was granted consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
In its early years, the work of ICMC focused on the administration of migrant travel loan funds. ICMC soon gained comprehensive expertise in assisting the migrants and increased its network of member organizations and local partners, thus becoming a worldwide movement.
In 2008, ICMC was officially granted public juridical status by the Holy See. In 2011, ICMC was selected as the leading organization in charge of coordinating the civil society network of the Global Forum for Migration and Development, which gathers more than 700 organizations globally; it has maintained this role to date.
Today ICMC continues to respond to the needs of uprooted people and their communities by implementing and advocating for rights-based policies and sustainable solutions through its worldwide membership of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences, and alongside governmental and non-governmental partners. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, ICMC has affiliated entities in Brussels (ICMC Europe), Washington D.C. and Boston (ICMC Inc.), and operational offices in Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Malaysia, and Pakistan.