Plea for understanding for refugees

A Syrian human rights defender who spent three years in jail under the Assad regime has appealed to the public in Ireland and other European countries for understanding for refugees.

But Anwar Al-Bunni also said the only real solution to the refugee crisis was for an international military force to remove Assad and enable the Syrian people take back their own country.

“Syrian people do not go to Europe to take from your economy, to take your livelihood, to take your food. They want to go back to their home, “ he said.

“So yes I want acceptance for refugees but that’s not the solution. Make Syria safe, that’s the solution.”

Mr Al-Bunni, aged 56, who escaped to Germany in 2011, is in Ireland for the first time since winning the Front Line Defenders Award in 2008 when his wife received the honour on his behalf as he was serving a jail sentence for “weakening national morale” .

He is one of 120 activists from 100 countries attending the Front Line charity’s Dublin Platform, a biennial gathering of human rights defenders categorised as “at risk” because of their work. Many have served time in prison, suffered physical attacks and intense harrassment and intimidation, are living under threat or have been forced to into exile.

Peruvian participant, Cesar Estrada Chuquilin, a journalist and environmental rights campaigner who has exposed abuses by mining companies, survived an assassination attempt on his way to the gathering. In the latest of a series of incidents, he was approached by two gunmen on a motorbike at a bus station where he was to depart for Limaand was only saved by the intervention of two companions.

The platform gives human rights defenders a chance to network, raise their profiles , and receive practical help with security.

Addressing the gathering, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Seán Sherlock was critical of countries that failed to recognise the rights of those who work to protect the rights of others. “I am deeply concerned by the threats facing human rights defenders today. The work and very existence of defenders is under threat from some governments, which through laws, policies and practices are restricting the promotion and protection of human rights,” he said.

“Defenders have the same rights as every other individual. We hear governments insisting on the need for defenders to be responsible, and for defenders to be accountable, when justifying restrictions or repression.

“In doing so, they fail to remember one of the most fundamental principles of democracy; that the State is accountable to its citizens and that the primary responsibility to promote and protect human rights lies with the State.”