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The Irish Anti-War Movement

IAWM Press Statement on refugees crisis and refugee Walli Ullah Saf, 02 August 2015

IAWM Press Statement on refugees crisis and refugee Walli Ullah Saf, 02 August 2015

In a statement issued today the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) criticized EU Governments’ responses to the refugee crisis at Calais and the current treatment by the Irish Government of Afghan refugee Walli Ullah Safi.

The condition in which the refugees in Calais are being kept while denied entry to Britain is sickening according to Glenda Cimino of the IAWM Steering Committee who said that “human beings already traumatised, needy and in desperate circumstances, are being treated in an appallingly inhumane manner, in a ‘supposedly civilised’ part of the world. It is shocking that EU Governments are prepared to spend a fortune on police and barbed wire, but yet cannot give these people a facility to wash their hands, clean food and safe passage.

The IAWM condemns the scaremongering language of British Prime Minister David Cameron who referred to a ‘swarm’ of refugees trying to enter Britain through Calais. The simple facts are that EU countries have taken a minuscule number of refugees compared to countries in the Middle East. It is despicable that EU leaders are using this issue for their own political ends.

IAWM Press Statement on refugees crisis and refugee Walli Ullah Saf, 02 August 2015

In a statement issued today the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) criticized EU Governments’ responses to the refugee crisis at Calais and the current treatment by the Irish Government of Afghan refugee Walli Ullah Safi.

The condition in which the refugees in Calais are being kept while denied entry to Britain is sickening according to Glenda Cimino of the IAWM Steering Committee who said that “human beings already traumatised, needy and in desperate circumstances, are being treated in an appallingly inhumane manner, in a ‘supposedly civilised’ part of the world. It is shocking that EU Governments are prepared to spend a fortune on police and barbed wire, but yet cannot give these people a facility to wash their hands, clean food and safe passage.

The IAWM condemns the scaremongering language of British Prime Minister David Cameron who referred to a ‘swarm’ of refugees trying to enter Britain through Calais. The simple facts are that EU countries have taken a minuscule number of refugees compared to countries in the Middle East. It is despicable that EU leaders are using this issue for their own political ends.

Jim Roche, PRO of the IAWM noted: “David Cameron has now promised more barbed wire and sniffer dogs when what is needed is a serious response to a genuine humanitarain crisis and for Europe to fix its archaic asylum and immigration system. A recent Daily Mirror article noted that five thousand stateless people in Calais represent 0.000078% of the 64 million people in the UK. Cameron’s portrayal of this as a swarm is outrageous and amounts to racial incitement.”

The issue has been brought home to Ireland these days through the awful treatment of Afghan refugee Walli Ullah Safi who was found on the M7 motorway, promptly arrested by the Garda and incarcerated in Cloverhill prison, where he was horribly assaulted by inmates. “Walli should be released immediately and given the support that he needs by the Irish Government. He comes from a destabilised country that was invaded by the US and NATO, aided and abetted by the Irish Government, who provide seven Irish troops to serve under NATO command in ISAF and who facilitate the US military at Shannon Airport. There are several reasons why Ireland should support refugees but having assisted in such a brutal war on a poor country is one of them”, said Jim Roche,

Glenda Cimino noted that:

“With endless wars, and pressures rising due to climate change, the refugee problem will continue to grow. The anti-refugee attitude of the EU, and individual governments including the Irish, has got to change to accommodate and aid these desperate people who are in dire circumstances. Migrants are dying every day trying to get to the UK from Calais. These are human beings like ourselves. Do the authorities really think that treating people so badly will actually curb migration, when people have no other choice but to try to get to a safer place, a place where they can work and take care of their families?”

The IAWM statement concluded by noting that:

“In the short term, refugees need to be helped, not further victimized. In the long term, the best way for western governments to stem the flow of refugees is to stop the devastation that is making their countries unlivable by ending the aggressive military attacks on the countries from which the refugees come, curbing the global production and sale of arms and ceasing to support despotic regimes.”

END

For more information on the IAWM see:

Website – www.irishantiwar.org

@IrishAntiWarMvt https://twitter.com/#!/IrishAntiWarMvt


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