Ratification of treaty does not mean saying goodbye to UN

CONCERN works with and for the world’s poorest people. Currently, the deteriorating food situation in southern Africa and the Horn of Africa is at the centre of our work.

Concern does not involve itself in domestic political issues except insofar as these issues impact on the interests of developing countries and the people we work with. We have not taken any public position on the Nice Treaty or on any previous referendums. Nor, to my knowledge, have any of the main humanitarian or development NGOs which get support from the Irish public and Government.

One NGO Afri which is involved in development issues has taken a position, summarised in the poster "Treaty of Nice Goodbye UN Hello Nato". Lest the silence of the wider NGO community appear in any way to support this view, I want, on behalf of Concern, to fundamentally disagree.