JRS programmes, found in 51 countries worldwide, provide assistance to more than 500,000 individuals, from refugees in camps, to people displaced within their own country, to asylum seekers in cities and those held in detention  . This service provision is overseen by 10 regional offices with support from the International Office in Rome.

The main areas of work are Education, Advocacy, Emergency Assistance, Health and Nutrition, Income Generating Activities and Social Services. It is estimated that more than 500,000 individuals are direct beneficiaries of JRS projects worldwide.

JRS is concerned that refugee protection standards have been eroded in many parts of the world. JRS International has co-ordinated the efforts of JRS national offices to take action through lobbying, submission of policy papers, education, media work, and collaboration with other organisations.

For more information visit: www.jrs.net

In Western Europe xenophobia and resentment against immigrants, asylum seekers and Muslims are on the rise. The church agencies that strive for harmony, integration and understanding are fighting an uphill battle. These issues have gradually come to the fore of policy making in the European Union. Between 2004 and 2007, the EU expanded from fifteen to twenty-seven member states, thus increasing the workload for the European Institutions in Brussels. As a result, the European Commission has explicitly asked for the assistance of NGOs in monitoring the implementation of EU legislation and regulations concerning migration.

JRS is one of the few agencies specialised in working with refugees and migrants that already has offices and contact persons in several of the new member states that have recently joined the EU. These include Malta, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Romania.

in 2007, for the first time in five years, the number of asylum applications in the EU increased by approximately 11%, with the largest groups of asylum applicants coming from Iraq, Russia and Pakistan.  Given current trends, many of these applicants will not be successful in their quests for asylum, and those who are faced with expulsion, will remain in Europe and will face destitution.  Unable to return home, and equally, unable to avail of basic social services in their adopted home.

It must be accepted that Europe is now a continent of immigration.  It is estimated in the coming years 44 million people will leave the labour market and that Europe will face severe labour shortages.  With rising employment, wages and falling immigration rates from Poland , Ukraine and Morocco, EU member states must embrace immigration from outside the immediate borders of the EU.    It is imperative for the welfare of immigrants, and to the benefit of European labour markets, that both migration-producing states and the European Commission make it easier for people to migrate to Europe easily.

The consequence of inaction from European institutions will mean irregular migration remains the rule, rather than the exception, bringing with it all the risks of exploitation and abuse that these migrants face on their searches for a better life.  It is ironic that while awareness is growing that Europe needs migrants, little progress is being to encourage resettlement of refugees from countries outside the EU.

In Europe, JRS works in 20 countries, including Lebanon. Activities include:
- visiting asylum seekers in detention
- giving legal advice to asylum seekers and irregular migrants
- counseling those traumatised by persecution and flight
- serving as chaplains in open reception or accommodation centres as well as in closed facilities or premises (detention)
- providing food and shelter to destitute migrants.

For more information visit: www.jrseurope.org

'The spiritual as well as the material needs of nearly 16 million refugees throughout the world today could scarcely be greater'.

- Fr Pedro Arrupe, in his letter which established the Jesuit Refugee Service