Sir, – Dr Frank Giles (November 14th) states that the international treaties relating to refugees were "drawn up in a very different world, of individual dissidents fleeing communism, for example". This is to turn history on its head.
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the “1951 Geneva Convention”) was drawn up specifically to deal with the unfathomable refugee crisis presented by the end of the second World War. Far from being limited to “individual dissidents”, the convention was in fact specifically targeted at events occurring in Europe before January 1st , 1951. This geographical and temporal restriction remained in place until the New York protocol was signed in 1967, and which gave the convention near-universal scope.
Our modern system of international protection was born from the ashes of one of the most destructive wars in our history, and the consequent and staggering flow of refugees which it created. To claim now, in the midst of another brutal war, that the same system of protection was never designed for a crisis like Syria is to forget history, and thereby allow it to repeat itself. – Yours, etc,
CATHAL MALONE, BL
Carrigaline,
Co Cork.