Violence at the border is intolerable, inhumane and cannot be justified. As we can see, it is never a long-term solution, nor will it stop migration.

Europe and Croatia, on the other hand, have at their disposal a number of mechanisms for regular, secure and solidary ways of managing migration – saving lives, ensuring a dignified reception and integration of migrants and refugees.

These are programs of resettlement, relocation, humanitarian visas and corridors, which have been successfully applied and have borne fruits of security and well-being, both for the refugees themselves and for the society and the countries that receive them.

JRS has many years of experience in concrete and successful work in the field of reception and integration of refugees.

We call for cooperation and are ready, once again, to provide support and make ourselves available to all policy makers and stakeholders in making and implementing these extremely important decisions for encouraging solidarity and inclusion in Europe and Croatia.

There are parish communities throughout Croatia that, at the invitation of Pope Francis and on their own initiative, are ready to fully, with the assistance of the JRS, take care of refugee families and support them on their path to integration. As in countries affected by war, violence, years of destruction, persecution and extreme poverty, there are families waiting for the opportunity to start building a new life in Croatia, in peace and security, with the right to education and work.

Following the example of this tried and tested integration model, which has been successfully implemented by church organizations in other countries for years, JRS could offer accommodation for several of the most vulnerable refugee families in cooperation with parish communities that have expressed a desire to join the solidarity and concrete support movement.

With an extensive network of JRS families around the world and a common belief that a fairer and more solidary world can be built in small but sure steps, we call on the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of the Interior to reactivate and make new decisions that will enable solidarity programs, legal and safe migration routes for refugees who suffer daily on their way to freedom, often losing their lives in search of a place where they will have the right to live a normal life.