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Bishop says Europe must take refugees
Germany and Europe should open their doors to refugees fleeing North African unrest and instability rather than barricading the borders, according to the Evangelical Bishop of Central Germany, Ilse Junkermann

Junkermann said in an interview that those fleeing violence in places such as Libya should be granted safety and help.

“That we should help civil war refugees should not be put under question,” she said. “That is Christian duty, citizens’ duty in a global society.”

Europe must help – not only in Libya itself but also here in accepting refugees.

Referring to the current arguments over what to do with the illegal immigrants who have already landed in Italy, she said, “I find it disturbing how politics is being conducted on the backs of those people concerned.”

It is not possible to simply refuse entry, she said. “That is too little in a globalised world where one demands the ability to act as free as possible worldwide in ones own interests.”

Junkermann said the European Union should develop a migration and integration policy for refugees. “There is a clear policy which grants freedom of movement within the European region, and that the borders are open. But the price is high – the borders are as good as closed to the outside.”

This was unfair, she said, and said that a “certain permeability of European borders,” should be the aim.

Posted by: tipper 2011-04-24
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=321136