ASILE Civil Society Group
Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe
Description of organisation
The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) is the ecumenical agency on migration and integration, asylum and refugees, and against racism and discrimination in Europe. Members are Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant Churches and Councils of Churches as well as church-related agencies. CCME currently has 28 members and 2 associated organizations in 20 countries all over Europe. The Conference of the European Churches (CEC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) formally and therefore CCME has a European and global outreach though the faith-based organisations.
CCME serves as an umbrella organisation and network of exchange on the one hand. It on the other hands informs churches and Christian organisations in Europe on Policy developments in the European institutions (EU, Council of Europe, OSCE) on the area of CCME s mandate and tries to influence These policies on behalf of the churches in Europe. CCME has been particularly active in advocacy for ‘Safe Passage’ that includes safe, legal and orderly entry channels via humanitarian corridors and humanitarian visas, resettlement, relocation, family reunification, search and rescue and other policy options that are under-used and under-explored in the context of the current Common European Asylum System.
CCME members are active in relevant countries of the Mediterranean receiving large numbers of first time asylum applicants, including Spain, Greece and Italy. In addition, CCME cooperates with Serbian organisations and also could feed in the research on situation about the refugees in the Western Balkans.
Staff Profile
Mr Torsten Moritz
General Secretary of CCME
Torsten Moritz hold a Ph.D. in Political sciences of the Free University Berlin and has broad research experience in Eastern and Central European transformation after 1989. Having been involved in the leadership of various pan-‐European Youth networks in the late 90ies, he is since 2002 working for the Churches´ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) first as executive secretary on EU policy and Projects, since 2018 as General secretary.
He is in this capacity carrying out in CCME´s advocacy work with the European Parliament and the European Commission as well as the Council of Europe and in the interregional global ecumenical network on migration of the World council of churches. He is active in conceptualising and implementing a variety of projects and initiatives, among other issues on migration and (co) development, trafficking in human beings, refugee resettlement and integration of third country nationals
