Sir, – According to Robin Hanan, it’s hard to estimate the contribution that Ireland’s work with Afghan and Syrian human rights activists now living here makes toward the future development of both troubled countries (“Migration and asylum policy”, Letters, July 30th).
Surely any such work has little real value in today’s multipolar world?
In 2021, Geraldine Byrne Nason, then Ireland’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council that Ireland would hold the Taliban to account on human rights issues, particularly relating to their treatment of women and girls. Since then, the Taliban have driven women out of education and even health care. Despite UN travel bans and other measures, senior Taliban can avail of health treatment abroad that no Afghan woman can. In October 2023, the Taliban attended China’s Belt and Road Forum, underlining Beijing’s growing official ties with Afghanistan’s Islamist rulers.
As for Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s hold on the country is as firm as ever. In May 2023, he was warmly welcomed at the Arab League summit in Jeddah. – Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Dublin 13.