Cardinal Turkson: address the causes of migration from Africa
May 25, 2015
“The human person-- human capital-- is one of the greatest assets we have for development in Africa,” Cardinal Peter Turkson said in a Vatican Radio interview on May 25, as many African nations celebrate African Freedom Day.
Cardinal Turkson, a native of Ghana who is now the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that the education of young people is the best investment that can be made in Africa’s future. These young people, he observed, will guide the future of the continent.
Questioned about the flood of refugees leaving Africa for Europe, Cardinal Turkson said that he appreciates the steps some European countries have taken to rescue migrants on the Mediterranean and integrate them in European society. But the larger challenge, he said, is to stem the tide of migration by addressing the problems that cause people to leave their native lands. “It is of paramount importance,” he said, “to investigate questions about where the migrants are coming from and what is making them flee.”
Cardinal Turkson also spoke about the challenges of building nations in Africa, where many countries were created by colonial powers, with boundaries that ignore tribal and cultural distinctions. It is difficult, under these circumstances, to build up a sense of national identity, he said. But he suggested that Christians should play an important role in that process. He said that “one would expect that at least in the Church our sense of communion would supersede that of our tribal belonging.”
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