Letters to the editor: Humanitarian access point to Syria must be protected

The UN-run Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees, north east of the Jordanian capital Amman. 10 years after the start of the conflict, civilians continue to endure unimaginable levels of suffering. Picture: AFP PHOTO / KHALIL MAZRAAWI 

As we mark the 10th anniversary of conflict in Syria, civilians continue to endure unimaginable levels of suffering. What is especially heartbreaking is the impact on children who have suffered grave violation, who know nothing but war and who have been denied access to education.

Today, 13m Syrians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, living in crowded camps or cramped and dangerous urban dwellings, both inside the country and in the wider region.

They are exposed to harsh winters and intense summer heat. Water and sewage infrastructure is very poor, making basic hygiene such as hand washing during this time of Covid-19 difficult. An estimated 3m now have some form of disability or lifelong impairment due to a combination of hostilities and a health system shattered by years of war.

While the Irish Government and the Irish public have been consistently generous in their support of the aid effort, global humanitarian funding is not keeping pace with increasing need. Non-governmental organisations working inside Syria have an impossible task of reaching growing numbers of desperate people with limited assistance.

Aid workers face enormous security challenges as Syria ranks first in the list of the most dangerous places to deliver humanitarian assistance. More than 400 aid workers have lost their lives in Syria since the conflict started.

The humanitarian situation is worsened by a surge in cases of Covid-19 and economic collapse, leading to high inflation and food and basic commodity price increases. Eighty percent of Syrians live below the poverty line and 9.3m people are dependent on food assistance.

The displaced population is living with endless uncertainty over when or if the war will end, and if they can return safely home.

Ireland, a newly elected member of the UN Security Council, is playing an influential role in efforts to resolve the crisis. An immediate priority for Ireland is ensuring humanitarian access is protected. With Norway, Ireland is leading on negotiations to renew the UN Security Council resolution and prevent the closure of the only remaining UN access point for humanitarian aid from neighbouring Turkey into northwest Syria. This access point is a lifeline for more than 4m people many of whom depend solely on aid to survive. The deadline for the renewal of this resolution is July 10.

In addition, Ireland can show leadership in conflict resolution and peace building that is inclusive of all Syrians.

The people of Syria have endured enough. Ten years on, it is time for universal efforts to foster peace and to meanwhile ensure everything possible is done to reduce the suffering.

Niall McLoughlin

chief executive, World Vision Ireland

Jim Clarken

chief executive, Oxfam Ireland

Siobhan Walsh

CEO, GOAL

Dominic McSorley

CEO, Concern

Caoimhe De Barra

CEO, Trócaire

Abortion services must be improved

We are pleased to hear that the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 has started.

Having campaigned for the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018, we believe that if Ireland is to have an abortion service, it should be a world-leading abortion service, which leaves no-one behind and delivers the care and compassion we were promised.

There are issues with the current operation of the legislation which should be rectified without delay:

• Abortion must be safe: Medically unnecessary waiting periods, arbitrary gestational limits, and medically ambiguous legal constraints are not acceptable;
• Abortion must be legal: This means full decriminalisation, removing the criminal penalties on doctors, and making the legislation gender-inclusive
• Abortion must be available locally: Care must be available in every
  county and in all our maternity hospitals. We cannot continue sending those who fall outside the boundaries of our legislation overseas;
• Abortion services must be free: Those without PPS numbers, including migrants and people from Northern Ireland, should be able to access abortion without cost and without fear of deportation.

As long as people still have to travel for abortion care, our legislation is not working as it should.

We call on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to support improvements of abortion services in this country.

Bernie Linnane

Leitrim Abortion Rights Campaign

Chance to fix flaws in abortion laws

We urge TDs to respect the wishes of the Irish electorate as expressed in the landslide vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment in May 2018, and to resist attempts to use the legislative review later this year to roll back our hard-won access to abortion.

Moreover, with many people in Ireland still unable to access abortion and still having to travel to England or further afield, even during the pandemic, TDs must use the review process to listen to the experts and fix the many flaws in the current legislation. 1,429,981 pro-choice voters will be watching.

Doris Murphy

co-convenor, Rebels4Choice

Glanmire

Co Cork

Contentious issues of adoptee’s rights

Your recent editorial — ‘Let adoptees trace their true identity’ (Irish Examiner, March 4) — endorsed a plea that persons born to unwed parents in mother and baby homes, and perhaps to wedded mothers in clandestine circumstances, should be allowed access to information which reveals their parents’ particulars.

However the State would need to address contentious issues like the implications of the Succession Act, 1965, and inheritance; the different rights, if any, of these persons who were born before any amending legislation was passed and afterwards. It would have to deal with such contentious issues as forced adoptions or fraudulent creation of orphans; stolen and sold babies, in addition to regular adoptions, etc

.

John Colgan

Leixlxip

Co Kildare

Unionist anger with NI protocol

On The week in Politics on RTÉ EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said unionist anger regarding the Northern Ireland protocol was “inappropriate”.

The reality of this current situation which Irish politicians fail to address is that this protocol breaches the concept of consent which is central to the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

The fact that a British prime minister signed up to this protocol is irrelevant. Northern Ireland has a different constitutional relationship to other parts of the UK, it being in the EU customs union.

People rant on about Boris Johnson breaking international agreements but conveniently forget that the GFA is an international treaty too. Failure to address unionist feelings could have very serious repercussions.

Tommy Roddy

Ballybane

Co Galway

International women’s weekend

I see that International Women’s Day has now turned into a long weekend starting with your Irish Examiner ‘Weekend’ supplement on Saturday (even though the ‘Weekend’ turned into a women’s magazine a long time ago).

Sean Kennedy

Carrigaline

Co Cork

Davy not fittest

Considering the Central Banks damming report and the €4.1m fine handed down last week. Can we now safety say that Davy is no longer Ireland’s Fittest Financial Family?

Paudie Moriarty

Lissyclearig

Kenmare

Respect for animals

Have we become a country of ostriches? For over a week there’s been a big fuss and sanctimonious outrage in the media about a man sitting on a dead horse (disrespectful and regrettable as admitted by the man).

But must an animal be dead to be respected? It seems to be acceptable to saddle, mount and even whip the horse while alive so long as you respect him when dead.

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t really matter to the poor horse at that stage.

How is it OK to exploit, torment and slaughter living animals for their produce, their flesh, their fur, or for sport, if it is so awful to disrespect them when they are dead? The time to show real respect is surely while the animal is alive. If we genuinely want to do so might it not be a good place to start, for example, if we stopped eating them?

JE Norton

Dublin

Cruel sport indeed

So many poor horses have died in what I consider to be a cruel sport. People like Gordon Elliot then turn a dead horse into a figure of fun.

Someone who would sit on a dead horse couldn’t be trusted to be kind to a living one.

Mr Elliot should be permanently banned from dealing with horses.

Dr Florence Craven

Bracknagh

Co Kildare