“Right from the dawn of creation, particularly when Adam and Eve were ejected from Eden, up until the present day, the story of humanity has fundamentally been the story of migratory movement. Whether they were fleeing from famine, ecological disasters, persecution and war or relocating in search of better living conditions, people have sought and continue to seek refuge either temporarily or permanently in strange territories very remote from the place usually called the ancestral homeland.”

“God, the creator and owner of the universe, underscored the inevitability of immigration as an instrument of the salvific plan very early in the creation story when, in Genesis 12:1, He instructed Abram: 'Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.' In total submission, Abram left his native home in Ur to settle in the foreign land of Canaan. Driven by famine, he would still move on to Egypt.”

“Based on many more Biblical references the “fruits of Christianity of which we are all beneficiaries today, it can be argued that migration was ordained by God for his own grand salvific designs. 'Go to ...the ends of the earth'."

These are excerpts of a presentation delivered by Professor Bernard Nnamdi Emenyeonu, a Nigerian Professor, who teaches media and communication studies as well as research at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Nizwa, in the Sultanate of Oman. His  paper themed: “The Realities of Migration and the Role of Journalists and the Media in Preserving the Dignity of Migrant Workers,” was delivered during a refresher programme organised in Kampala, from the 5^th to 11^th November, 2023, by the Union Catholique Africaine de la Presse (UCAP), that is, the African Catholic Union of the Press, in conjunction with UCAP Uganda.

Professor Nnamdi noted that in our world today, people migrate in search of better economic and living conditions in various parts of the world. He said that others are forcibly displaced by conflicts, persecution, ecological disasters and the accompanying poverty and hopelessness.

The Communications lecturer said that the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that between 2017 and 2019, the number of people who migrated in search of work internationally, increased from 164 to 169 million, constituting nearly 70% of all working age migrants. He said that, according to the report, it also meant that one out of every 20 workers was a migrant worker, who contributed to essential jobs and the world’s economic growth and recovery.

“Ironically, it is this quest for dignity that often robs humanity of dignity,” remarked Prof Emenyeonu.

On the question of what media and journalists can do towards preserving the dignity of migrant workers, he suggested intensive sensitization of groups mostly at risk, especially young women.

He advocated a “relentless advocacy for the rights of migrant workers through the use of social media to document rights and abuses and expose merchants of death such as the agents exporting young women abroad for prostitution, as well as the agents sending young women to work as house maids in the Gulf states with false promises of white collar jobs and fantastic salaries.”

He advised that migrants within their own countries, such as street beggars and job seekers, should be included in the discourse on the protection of the rights and welfare of migrants.

Professor Emenyeonu called on the media to refrain from cheap stereotyping, stigmatization and promotion of xenophobic values and attitudes, in reports and other contents on migrants in traditional and social media.

He said that media must help prevent reckless migration by harping relentlessly and exposing the push factors that fuel migration among the youth. He enumerated these push factors as bad governance, extreme economic hardship, continuous depreciation in the value of local currencies leading to the clamor for Euros and dollars, the culture of greed and the get-rich-quick mentality, societal pressure on material wealth as the sole standard of success in life, etc.

Professor Emenyeonu concluded his presentation by citing the following quotations from the Bible:

Hebrews 13:2: "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them."

Leviticus 24:22: "You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.”

Matthew 25:35: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."

The Refresher programme which was organised for Catholic Media Practitioners in Africa, had as its theme: "Contribution of Journalists and Media Practitioners Toward an Integral Ecology According to the Encyclical 'Laudato Si' of Pope Francis". Participants came from Ghana, Togo, Nigeria/Oman, Germany, Brazil and Uganda.