Don’t normalise the suffering of innocent people
REFERENCING the loss of life of non-combatants in Gaza, a terrible nadir of human concern, President Michael D. Higgins last week highlighted the very real risk posed by this conflict to the discourse of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Ongoing complex conflicts are increasingly protracted, leaving civilians without protection, hungry, displaced and dependent on dwindling humanitarian assistance. For example, the Sudan conflict has resulted in the displacement of 7.4 million people, with 17.7 million (37% of the population) experiencing acute food insecurity.
In Ukraine, Yemen, Haiti and across the Sahel – Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso – peace remains elusive and humanitarian needs grow. Concern is responding, wherever and however we can, to reach communities devastated by months of relentless fighting.
The responsibility to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law is shared by all countries. However, the permanent members of the UN Security Council are vested with particular authority. Their adherence to and respect for human rights is critical in setting the tone. The world cannot afford to normalise the suffering of innocent civilians. Nor can the world afford to further undermine international humanitarian and human rights law. DAVID REGAN, chief executive,
Concern Worldwide, Dublin 2.
Apathy about Gaza
RE: ‘Ceasefire hopes high after Hamas response’ (Mail) – the news media I consume daily, even the otherwise progressive outlets, are replacing Gazan suffering with relatively trivial stories.
Perhaps that’s what most of those news outlets’ subscribers or regular patrons want. The apparently growing Western apathy towards the mass starvation and slaughter of helpless Palestinian civilians will only further fire long-held Middle Eastern anger collectively towards us. The actual provision by some countries (mostly the US) of highly effective weapons used in Israel’s onslaught will likely turn that anger into lasting hatred, always seeking eye-for-an-eye redress.
FRANK STERLE JR, White Rock, British Columbia, Canada.
Ireland full... of cruelty
‘IRELAND is full’ is the buzz slogan of 2024. For the 1,440 minutes of the day, Ireland is indeed full – of legal and illegal animal exploitation, abuse and death.
Reviewing an annual compilation: over 6,000 hares are captured to be abused and killed in hare coursing, over 55,000 deer legally shot for recreation, over 5,000 badgers legally snared, for dubious disease control, on behalf of the Department of Agriculture.
Every year, thousands of wild animals and birds are hunted for recreational killing and filed under undocumented deaths.
In 2023, within the factory farming sector, 1.9 million cattle, 3.2 million sheep and 3.3 million pigs were slaughtered.
Also, that year, 33,500 young calves were slaughtered at Irish abattoirs, while the calf export trade continues to expand.
Live exports of farm animals to EU and non-EU countries sees animals dying under skies as diverse as Lebanon, Israel, Hungary and Algeria.
In 2022, 92,939 animals, ranging from mice to dogs and cats, were used in research experiments.
Ireland’s horse racing industry, which has Government support, reported that in 2022, there were 107 horse fatalities at racecourses. Between 2012 and 2022, the total number of horse fatalities at racetracks was 1,060.
As for companion animals, the torrent of neglect, abuse and abandonment never stops flowing. Letting somebody else take care of my wet-nose ‘problem’ is seen as a merit badge for those with the emotional depth of concrete.
Space does not permit a list of all the activities that inflict exploitation, abuse and death on animals in this country. Ireland is indeed full – full of animal cruelty and death carried out by a minority with the support and tacit approval of the Government. It would make you ashamed to be an Irish passport holder. JOHN TIERNEY, campaigns director, Association of Hunt Saboteurs, Dublin 1.