The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) accompanies the Atlantic Hospitality project, an ecclesial network formed by 10 countries and 32 dioceses in Africa and Spain to promote and coordinate the protection of migrants.
The Atlantic Hospitality Guide was recently published, which offers reliable resources to help migrants who choose the Atlantic Route and seeks to facilitate access to information and communication in transit and destination countries.
The Atlantic Route is known as the migratory route used to reach Europe from the African continent via the Canary Islands. The following countries are involved in this project: Senegal, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara and Spain.
The project is promoted by the Migration Commission of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (SEC), a representation of African dioceses and the Africa-Europe Network for Human Mobility (RAEMH).
In addition to the support of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the “Atlantic Hospitality” project has the backing of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the Working Group on Migration of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM).
The three objectives of the Atlantic Hospitality project are: to provide accurate information, both in the countries of origin and transit, about the dangers of the route, legal difficulties in Europe, as well as their rights at the border; to save lives, as it seeks to facilitate access to safe spaces for the comprehensive care of migrants in transit; and to work in a network, as it promotes communication between development projects in dioceses and countries.
In addition, the project has teamed up with the ‘RefAid’ mobile application, which maps out support services for migrants and refugees via a simple interface available on smartphones. This application is useful both for people on the move, and for aid services close to them.
Previously, the Spanish Bishops' Conference (SBC) published the first Resource Guide for Migrants 2024, which brings together in a single document the resources for the reception, protection, and integration of migrants available to dioceses in Spain.
Among the accompanying activities promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, two consultations were held with bishops to discuss this project to better respond to pastoral challenges. The first took place in January 2022 and the second in May 2024.