At the end of 2025, an estimated 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence and other catastrophes [i]. Increasingly, displacement is also linked to severe floods, prolonged droughts, rising seas and extreme weather. Whether driven by conflict or climate-related hazards, forced displacement upends homes, livelihoods and communities.
Yet reaching safety does not always mean finding protection. Too often, people fleeing brutality, war, and disasters are turned back at borders, imprisoned indefinitely, or left to perish at sea. Deserving compassion, protection, and humanity, they can instead be branded as “illegal”, their dignity denied, and their need for security disregarded.
A call to courageous humanity
Pope Francis warned of a “globalisation of indifference”, a danger that we grow so accustomed to the suffering of others that it no longer concerns us. [ii] He calls us to choose encounter over indifference and to respond with a courageous humanity.
At Jesuit Refugee Service Singapore (JRS Singapore), our response is rooted in accompaniment: walking alongside refugees, migrant workers, and vulnerable communities as they navigate challenges and rebuild their lives with dignity and purpose.
Hope ignites opportunity
In response to the escalating refugee crisis across Southeast Asia, JRS Singapore launched LEAP@JRS, a community-building and capacity-enhancement initiative focused on professional training, future-ready skills and self-sustainability. LEAP, which stands for Lead, Educate, Advocate and Partner, helps refugees gain certified skills, develop self-esteem and access virtual internships.
For the more than 800 graduates, who hailed from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, now in interim places of refuge across Southeast Asia, LEAP@JRS has opened pathways towards meaningful livelihoods while strengthening confidence and self-sufficiency.
Opportunity builds community
Far from home and family, many migrant workers spend years building the lives of others while longing for community themselves.
JRS creates spaces for friendship, learning, and celebration through shared meals, workshops, and social activities; topics range from AI fundamentals and cybersecurity to outdoor photography and future‑ready skills. These shared experiences of learning and leisure bring people from different backgrounds together to meet, connect, and form lasting relationships.
LEAP graduates Yasmin & Fatima from Afghanistan, now in Bogor, Indonesia
Community enables flourishing
The climate crisis is also a displacement crisis. In the Asia-Pacific region, 95 per cent of the 225 million people forced to flee between 2010 and 2021 were displaced by climate-related hazards. Rising seas, extreme heat, and severe storms are placing additional pressure on communities already vulnerable to geopolitical, environmental, and economic change [iii].
Yet climate displacement is complex: some communities return and rebuild after disasters, others adapt in place, and some are compelled to move; decisions to stay or leave are shaped not only by environmental hazards but also by livelihoods, family ties, history, and deep connections to place [iv].
This is why accompanying communities affected by climate change requires more than emergency response; it means supporting long‑term adaptation and resilience.
Inspired by Pope Francis’s vision in Laudato Sí that the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are interconnected, JRS Singapore works with marginalised communities to Care for our Common Home. Our work includes restoring ecosystems in coastal communities such as Kep in Cambodia, enabling sustainable livelihoods for indigenous people in regions like Bendum in the Philippines, and supporting community‑led adaptation efforts.
Mangrove Planting in Kampot, Cambodia
Even just one
This year’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, on Sunday 27 September, calls attention to “Even just one of these children,” a theme chosen by Pope Leo XIV, as it draws on Jesus’ words in Matthew’s Gospel: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
The theme highlights the particular vulnerability of children involved in migration and reminds us that their dignity cannot be reduced to numbers or statistics. Even one child matters.
We live in a time when borders are increasingly closed and when migrants and refugees can easily be reduced to statistics, labels, or problems to be managed. But closed borders are no barrier to open hands and an open heart. We can still choose encounter over indifference, friendship over fear, and build bridges, not walls.
This November, JRS Singapore invites you to live this spirit of accompaniment by joining our Community on Mission in Kampot, Cambodia. It will be an opportunity to share life with marginalised communities, learn from their resilience and enable hope to flourish.
Amid all that needs to be done, accompaniment is simply about walking alongside people so that no one has to face life’s challenges alone.
Come, journey with us.
[i] UNHCR, Global Trends 2025, 11 June 2026.
[ii] Pope Francis, “Homily of the Holy Father Francis, Visit to Lampedusa,” 8 July 2013, Vatican City
[iii] Bacomo, Saptaningtyas and Soriaga, “Constrained agency of island and coastal communities facing climate displacement.”
[iv] Ibid.
