Participants at the two-day Asia consultation for a more effective Church response to issues surrounding migrants and refugees, on Aug. 28 in Makati City.

At the end of a two-day meeting in Makati City Aug. 29, most of the 35 delegates to the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) Asia Consultation agreed to set up the Asian network of the Geneva-based organization.

ICMC, which Pope Pius XII approved in 1951, serves refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants. It sponsored the consultation at San Carlos Seminary southeast of Manila. Thirteen bishops attended with priests, Religious and laypeople representing bishops' conferences in 15 countries, the episcopal hierarchies in Timor Leste, Hong Kong and Nepal, and the Chinese Regional Bishops' Conference in Taiwan.

Philippine Archbishop Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato, Secretary General of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC)< attended part of the first day, while Malaysian De La Salle Brother Anthony Rogers attended the consultation as executive secretary of the FABC Office of Human Development.

On the final day, delegates, except those from Myanmar and Vietnam, agreed that people sent by their local bishops to the meeting would constitute ICMC Asia. ICMC will deal with them directly as representatives of their bishops' conferences and other Church juridical bodies in the region, explained Bishop Precioso Cantillas of Maasin, chair of the Philippine bishops' commission on migration, which hosted the meeting.

He and Bishop Valence Mendis of Chilaw, who chairs the Sri Lankan bishops' commission on migration, moderated the session on regional and international cooperation among ICMC members. The Sri Lankan prelate noted that among "key" issues in discussions and written reports were the building of the local Church's capacity to respond to pastoral needs of migrants and refugees, networking and research.

Reports from the United Nations' International Labor Organization say there are at least 22 million migrant workers in Asia and around 50 million from Asia.

Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of Jaro, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, said in his closing remarks that the Church in Asia should organize common approaches to solving common problems faced by migrants.

John Bingham, ICMC policy head, told the meeting that international debate on the topic focuses on economic aspects, such as labor supply and the remittances of migrants. In his report on the status of the debate, Bingham cited policy changes that France, the United States and other countries have promised to increase migration of laborers without families, for temporary periods and with minimal rights.

Bingham also pointed out that the United Nations held its first "high-level" discussion on migration and development in 2006, in spite of hostility from "so-called industrialized" states to international action on migration.

A hundred and fifty governments then sent delegates to the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Brussels last year, despite opposition from the United States, Canada and Australia. The second such forum, to be held in Manila during the last week of October, will include a formal civil society sector, Bingham reported.

John Klink, president of the International Catholic Migration Commission at the two-day Asia consultation for a more effective Church response to issues surrounding migrants and refugees.

ICMC official Johan Ketelers and president John Klink explained at the meeting that bishops' conferences comprise the ICMC council that drafts the organization's general policies. The Asian consultation was convened to define a structure that "unites" the Churches in the region, Ketelers added.

Meeting delegates agreed that a communique should be drafted to inform the FABC Central Committee about the ICMC Asia network and recommend the federation assign a structure to deal directly with the new entity.

In Brother Rogers' view, collaboration between ICMC and FABC would be a "big achievement." He told UCA News, "Pastoral care in itself is not a sufficient response to the problems of migration in Asia."

ICMC's nearly 60 years of experience in the international arena with states, civil society groups and other "higher bodies" could help deal with the root "disorder" that is prompting people to leave their home communities, he said.

Father John Ty Nguyen, vice chairperson of the Vietnamese bishops' commission on migrants, declined to serve as representative for his country's bishops' conference, explaining that he would need to consult them about such a role.

Myanmar delegates declined to commit for similar reasons.