Irish Examiner view: Global refugee system risks fall into chaos

A worrying report states that the accommodation system for asylum seekers  is at 'breaking point and that Ireland may shortly be unable to fulfil its international obligations. 

Britain has also taken in more than 330,000 people from Ukraine, Hong Kong, and Afghanistan. Alongside Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, Britain is the most popular destination for asylum seekers. File picture: Panagiotis Balaskas/AP

It is unlikely, given the perspective of the past decade, that any Western democracy would now sign up for the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This was a post-1945 agreement, established in a Cold War era, which is now an anachronism unsuited for modern, interconnected, and turbulent times. A system created to offer protection to people at risk of persecution in their own countries, a noble objective, is now overwhelmed by numbers, and a flexible range of jeopardies.

A worrying report states that the accommodation system for asylum seekers — there is a difference in definition between these people and refugees — is at “breaking point” and that Ireland may shortly be unable to fulfil its international obligations.