Two Sides of One City: Rural Youth, Urban Migration, and the Search for Balance
Every year, a large number of people leave their home to pursue better opportunities. While many cross international borders, others prefer to move within their own country, from a struggling village to a growing city. Although the nature of the journeys varies, they all pose the same question: how do young migrants and the cities that receive them find their footing together? A recent study of Hawassa, one of Ethiopia’s fastest-growing cities, offers a grounded look at this...
Waiting for Years and Feeling Stuck
Obtaining official refugee and asylum documents in South Africa is a constant challenge for migrants. Imagine a queue forming outside the refugee reception office before the sun rises, with some people having travelled to the office for long hours and with others who have stood in different versions of this queue for years. And many are usually turned away and asked to come back another day. This scene is the focus of a recent study by Pineteh E. Angu, published in the African Human...
News from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development - June 2026
Magnifica humanitas. Two words that defend every person on this planet, celebrating their beauty, dignity and identity as created and loved by God. Two words that stand as a bulwark against standardisation, discrimination, exclusion and exploitation, rejecting every attempt to manipulate the human person, so as to reduce humanity to the service of economic or ideological interests. The Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV is striking for its realism...
Navigating Livelihood and Belonging: The Everyday Realities of African Migrant Women in Cape Town
“When I hear the word Home Affairs I run the other way.” – Patricia, a Zimbabwean migrant woman Patricia’s words capture both a personal fear and a systemic reality. They reflect not...
Migration in Somalia: People on the Move
Somalia has long been a country in motion. Its people move within its borders, across to neighbouring countries, and along major international migration routes, driven by a mix of necessity, aspiration, and circumstance. Understanding migration in Somalia means listening to two voices at once: the migrant seeking safety or opportunity, and the communities and institutions that receive, support, or manage their movement. A Developing Migration Policy Framework Somalia has...
Research Findings Verification Workshop: Legal Frameworks for Refugees/Asylum Seekers and Children on the Move in Malawi
Malawi continues to play an essential role as a transit destination for international migrants mainly from other African countries including asylum seekers and refugees in need of protection. Children on the move including children of refugee and asylum seekers, separated and unaccompanied children also contribute to the share of people on the move in the country. The protection of asylum seekers, refugees and children especially unaccompanied and separated minors on the move remains a fundamental right...