Sir, – I have just returned from five days volunteering in "The Jungle" in Calais and would like to add my voice to Fintan Drury's plea for the Irish Government to take seriously its commitment to act on the European refugee crisis and to move beyond promises and fulfil our pledge to take 4,000 of these suffering people to Ireland ("Ireland has failed Europe's refugees once again", Opinion & Analysis, September 27th).
For too long we have wrung our hands in sympathy, while hiding behind the Dublin Convention or our own internal political problems. It is time for our leaders to act in a humane way and not just in their own interests. We have had no protests from Government at the French authorities’ lack of plans for unaccompanied minors in the Calais camp, no demands that these children be cared for, that their fundamental rights be addressed, and certainly no acknowledgement that we are as liable as any country in Europe, not just the frontline ones, for standing up and taking our share of responsibility in this crisis. – Yours, etc,
Dr FIONA HENRY,
Dundalk, Co Louth.
Sir, – Hungary's establishment of a state body to aid persecuted Christians fleeing the Middle East is welcome ("Hungary to help Christians while rejecting Muslims", September 28th).
According to the Barnabas charity, both the US and the UN have consistently discriminated against Christian refugees. Christians accounted for almost 10 per cent of Syria’s pre-war population and have been, like the Yazidis, specifically targeted by Islamists. Despite this, in the last 12 months only 56 of the 10,801 Syrian refugees accepted into the US have been Christians. Only 17 Yazidis were accepted during the same period. UN refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are mostly under de facto Sunni Muslim control. It is from these camps that the UN selects refugees for placement.
The Czech Republic, Poland, Canada, Brazil and Australia have all agreed to accept Syrian and Iraqi Christian refugees rescued by Barnabas and others. Other governments, including our own, continue to look the other way. – Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.