The council of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) has, for the first time, elected an Asian as its new president.
Christine Nathan from the Archdiocese of Bombay was nominated by the migrant commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
The ICMC, which was established in 1951, is an international organization that serves and protects uprooted people, including migrants, refugees, and internally displaced people, regardless of faith, race, ethnicity or nationality.
The ICMC’s 58-member council, the policy-making body of the commission with members from national episcopal conferences around the world, elected Nathan on June 1 during its meeting in Rome.
Nathan, a member of the Migrant and Labour Commission of the Archdiocese of Bombay, is a senior education specialist in Adult and Workers Education with more than 40 years experience.
She has worked with the International Labour Organisation and is a regional specialist on adult education, occupational safety, and health.
Nathan has engaged herself with NGO’s and civil society organization’s on social issues, especially on the eradication of child labor and the promotion of laws and legislations for migrant workers.
She also worked on issues concerning the trafficking of children of migrant workers, poverty eradication, providing decent work for workers and their families, and gender equality and equity.
In a media statement, the ICMC said Nathan believes that working with the the labor and migrant sector “would be following the path of Jesus who liberated the people from every form of exploitation.”
Her association with ICMC started in 2016 when she attended a meeting in New Delhi to look into the work done by NGO’s on issues that include migrants and refugees.