Above: Rev James Bhagwan, PCC General Secretary. All image credits: Pacific Conference of Churches

Over the past few years the Pacific region has seen a massive flow of migrant and seasonal workers travelling in droves to Australian and New Zealand seeking employment and new horizons. 

Leaders from the Vanuatu Christian Council, Congregational Christian Church in Samoa, Anglican Church of Melanesia,  Methodist Church in Samoa, @Methodist Church In Fiji and Rotuma, United Church in Solomon Islands, Solomon Islands Christian Council, Kiribati Uniting Church, Kiribati National Council of Churches, Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Suva, Fiji Council of Churches, Tonga National Council of Churches, Free Wesleyan Church in Tonga, Samoa National Council of Churches, National Council of Churches in Australia, and representatives from the Pacific Islands Council of QLD Inc., PALMS Initiative - Pacific Islands Council of South Australia, New Zealand High Commission, Suva, Fiji, Australian High Commission In Fiji, Fiji Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Samoa High Commission in Suva, Fiji, Tuvalu High Commission, International Organisation for Migration (Pacific), @International Labour Organization, @Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, @Homes of Hope Fiji,  @Drug-Free World Fiji, PIANGO Pacific 2030 and Fiji Council Of Social Services (FCOSS)  met today at the Jovili Meo Mission Centre in Suva, for the beginning of a four day Consultation with government officials, regional organizations, and Civil Society on the Churches' role in offering Pastoral & Practical Care for Migrant Workers and addressing Transnational Organized Crime.

In recent years, churches, governments and civil society organizations have borne witness to a myriad of issues this overseas labour incentive and the subsequent mass migration has wrought on Pacific families, communities, and societies.

This first day saw church leaders delve into three main sessions looking at the current state of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme presented by representatives from @DFAT, our leaders also had the opportunity to have a talanoa with representatives from the Pacific Islands Forum, ILO and IOM and ended the day hearing stories on the impacts the scheme has had on the families left behind in a panel discussion led by Vani Catanasiga of the @Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) and reps from Ba, Naitasiri, @PIANGO Pacific 2030, and the youth perspective shared by the @Pacific Youth Council.

The next three days of the Consultation, delved into topics ranging from geo-national politics, human trafficking, transnational organized crime and more. But the crux of the four day meet will be to answer the question on the form that the response of Pacific Churches will take. What is the Churches role in providing Pastoral and Practical Care to our people who leave our shores, and the families they leave behind? 

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Follow the PCC Facebook page for more information on the Consultation.