Sir, – The massacre of more than 100 people in Houla in Syria, including 30 children under the age of 10, represents a singular indictment of the UN and the international community, in failing to protect the most vulnerable. This is another Srebrenica, with the UN standing idly by as the innocent are slaughtered. How many more will be brutally tortured and killed before action is taken to protect civilians, especially children?
Ireland has dispatched UN monitors. Monitors that are now being forced into watching massacres as their UN colleagues shamefully did at Srebrenica.
Indeed, our presence in Syria as part of the UN monitoring group is now probably aiding Assad in his brutal terror, as it is giving the false impression that something is being done to stop these crimes, which have claimed thousands of lives including 1,200 children so date, many of whom were also tortured.
The Dáil and Seanad should pass an emergency resolution condemning the latest massacre, and all of the other crimes against humanity committed by Assad and his regime, and call on Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore to immediately seek to pressure other EU states to take effective action to protect civilians. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Syria isn’t the problem, the power of veto vested in permanent members of the UN security council is. The idea that an organisation consisting of 193 member states can be paralysed by any one of the five permanent members of the security council practically amounts to built-in impotence.
True, the council can discuss motions, but their adoption can be vetoed by the US, UK France, Russia or China, a group which seems to me to be based on the end of the second World War. Time it was ended. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It seems once again we are to be treated to “strong statements” that “something needs to be done” by the UN Security Council and other powers in relation to Syria. This is usually code for turning our back on massacre and genocide. It is surely the ultimate condemnation of our international system of security that hundreds of children can be murdered by the leader of a country and it can be considered a matter of little urgency. People in Syria want somebody to speak up for them to say this is unacceptable and that the consequences for the regime are clear and immediate.
Ireland should be in a position to take up this call. To insist that Syria will be referred to the International Criminal Court, consistent with the call by Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Ireland is seeking election to the UN Human Rights Council, so surely we should show we are a country prepared to take a stand on a human rights issue of some importance. – Yours, etc,