At G20 Symposium in South Africa, Catholic Bishop Calls for Urgent Response to Cries of Refugees, Migrants

Johannesburg, 25 June, 2025 / 9:45 PM

Bishop Sylvester David has urged delegates at the June 23-24 International Symposium on Global Justice and Solidarity in South Africa to respond swiftly to the cries of the refugees and migrants displaced by violence in various parts of the world.

In his remarks on June 24 at the two-day symposium held at the University of Cape Town, Bishop Sylvester emphasized that the ongoing violence across the globe violates the fundamental principles of humanity.

“The cries of the refugees and migrants displaced by violence or abandoned in despair echo through the conscience of our global community,” the Auxiliary Bishop of South Africa’s Cape Town Archdiocese said at the event that the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) organized under the theme, “Global Justice and Africa’s G20 Priorities – Linking Moral Vision with Policy Strategy.”

In the face of the cries of the displaced, he said, “we must rise with urgency and offer bold responses to humanize our world. In other words, to give a human face to the space occupied by human beings.”

Bishop Sylvester urged the G20 Symposium delegates to engage directly with refugees and migrants to gain firsthand insights, emphasizing that “if there's anyone in doubt about the need” for an urgent response to the plight of those displaced by conflicts worldwide, such encounters would provide clarity.

Citing Isaiah 43:18, “Behold, I make all things new,” the South African member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) expressed confidence that even amid the cries of refugees and migrants, “we are not without hope.”

The words of Isaiah, he said, speak “to the possibility of new beginnings, even in the most difficult of circumstances. It challenges us to perceive the opportunities hidden within a crisis.”

“The 2025 G20 gathering occurs at a time when the human family is scarred by conflict and division—the latest having started on Saturday night (June 21-22). War continues to destroy our lives and our futures,” he said referring to the Iran and Israel conflict.

For Bishop Sylvester, Isaiah’s call for renewal is not only of “our economies and institutions but of our hearts and our shared vision for our common humanity and our common home.”

In hosting the symposium that brought together intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU), popularly known as the G20, he said that “Cape Town stands as a living testament to the power of reconciliation, justice, and rebirth, even.”

“May this summit be a place where nations choose peace over war, hospitality over exclusion, and sustainability over short-term gain—especially for the billionaire communities of the world”, Bishop Sylvester, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2019 implored.

Organized in partnership with the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network–Africa (JENA), the symposium sought to present bold and “actionable proposals on the establishment of an Ecological Impact Fund (EIF) to accelerate climate innovation in the Global South.”

Founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis of 1997 – 1998 as an informal forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability, the G20 has membership from the “world’s major economies, representing 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.

The 19 countries of the G20 include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (U.S.). Other entities are the EU, and from 2023, the AU.

Initially, the forum focused largely on broad macroeconomic issues. It has since expanded its agenda; it includes in its agenda trade, climate change, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption.

The outcomes of the G20 Johannesburg Summit which is the 20th G20 meeting, “will be consolidated into the Cape Town Declaration on Global Justice and Global Solidarity, which will be submitted to G20 Sherpas and national leaders ahead of this year’s G20 Summit.”