Welcome
On behalf of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Ross Institute of New York, and the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, we welcome you to the Workshop On Humanitarianism and Mass Migration in Los Angeles, California taking place January 18 – 19, 2017. We are convening a two-day Workshop at UCLA involving leading scientists, social scientists, humanists, religious leaders, policy makers, philanthropists, practitioners, and NGOs, on mass migration in the age of climate change, weak and collapsing states, and anti-immigrant fervor.

Message from His Holiness Pope Francis on the occasion of the Workshop on Humanitarianism and Mass Migration at the University of California, Los Angeles on January 18 – 19, 2017

Welcome letter from Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles

Children are the new dispossessed, By Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Roberto Suro

Workshop at UCLA to Examine Humanitarianism and Mass Migration

Background
Global migratory flows involve diverse populations from heterogeneous socio-cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds. Since the dawn of the millennium the world is witnessing a rapid rise in the numbers of a plurality of migrants— voluntary & involuntary, internal & international, authorized & unauthorized, environmental refugees and victims of human trafficking. Today the lives of over a billion people are shaped by migration—they are either international, internal migrants, or family members left behind. All of these flows have intensified under the ascendancy of climate change, rachitic and collapsing states, war and terror, and growing inequality.

At a time when approximately 33,000 human beings are forcefully displaced everyday, catastrophic migrations pose new international risks to millions of migrants and challenge the institutions of sending, transit, and receiving nations alike. While immigration is normative, it has taken a dystopic turn.

The Workshop
Our plan for the workshop is to cultivate and disseminate high quality data and conceptual work, relevant policy interventions, and best practices as a way to shape new practices and inform change.  The Workshop will result, inter alia, on a major scholarly volume.