Churches in Europe are to campaign throughout 2010 for the right of migrants to obtain long-term resident permits.

The Year of European Churches Responding to Migration 2010 will see churches come together to advocate the right to long-term residence status for migrants who have stayed legally in a country for five years.

The campaign has been welcomed by the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM).

"This is a courageous and very much needed initiative by the churches in Europe, which could be a model for churches in other regions on the 'receiving end' of migration flows", said Sydia Nduna, WCC programme executive for migration and social justice.

"Welcoming the stranger is not optional, but central to Christian identity."

The year-long campaign is being coordinated by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME).

The initiative will also attempt to raise the profile of the work being done by churches across Europe to help migrants, refugees and ethnic minorities.

"Thanks to the presence of the GEM our deliberations gained a sense of urgency", said Torsten Moritz, from the CCME.

"Hearing from the Pacific about the effects of climate change and displacement of people in their region and about the humanitarian crisis in Colombia underlined that migration is becoming more globalised, so needs to be the churches' response."