File:ΕΠΙΣΚΕΨΗ ΥΦΥΠΟΥΡΓΟΥ ΕΞΩΤΕΡΙΚΩΝ κ Γ. ΑΜΑΝΑΤΙΔΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΔΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΓΚΟΣΜΙΟΥ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟΥ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΩΝ, ΓΕΝΕΥΗ, 2.3.2016 (25172563810).jpg

English: Following the international World Council of Churches (WCC)/United Nations Conference on the Refugee Crisis in Europe, hosted by WCC in mid-January, Deputy Minister Ioannis Amanatidis, from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 2 March.

Received by WCC deputy general secretary Georges Lemopoulos, the Greek minister expressed a key interest in finding ways to cooperate with the WCC, stressing the value of the support the WCC has offered people and churches in Greece over the past years, especially in connection with the refugee crisis.

Peter Prove, director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, noted that “the WCC’s approach to the refugee crisis insists that we not only talk about the symptoms being experienced in Europe. Instead, we must look across the whole trajectory of the refugee journey, from point of origin, to point of transit, to point of receipt. And any attempt to address the issue only within Europe, fails to address the real causes of the crisis”.

“However,” Prove continued, “the suffering that you are going through in Greece is symptomatic of the failures in Europe to address the crisis, and you should be in no doubt that the WCC will do everything in its power to share the stories of the crisis, and continue its work also towards more concrete and effective ways to alleviate the suffering caused by the crisis.”

Alexandros Alexandris, Greece’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, commented that a critical issue is also that of the European countries that are now closing their borders. “These countries do not do justice to our European traditions”, Alexandris said, then continued, “but we believe that there is still another Europe”, and “you as the WCC have the possibility to touch people, and to encourage those people who have human values at heart to come out”.