At the Coal Face

Its one thing to talk about statistics:

But… Just so we know• There are nearly 4 million Syrian

refugees• Lebanon took over 1 million 700

thousand• Turkey has over 1 Million 600

thousand• Over 200 thousand have fled to Iraq • Egypt has over 136,000

Statistics cont…Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide. An average of at least 180 Christians around the world are killed each month for their faith. (Source: Open Doors USA)

More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all other centuries combined [christianity.com] 

IN 2014 THE UK I UNDERSTAND, TOOK IN 50 SYRIAN REFUGEES, YES THAT WAS 50 NOT 50,000 AND MY COMPANY HAD 5% OF THOSE THAT’S 2 PEOPLE BY THE WAY.

In the UK I work with an agency that accommodates UAMs unaccompanied Minors seeking asylum aged16, 17 and 18 year olds.

Greetings from the UK – at the moment the fifth richestCountry in the World. And greetings of Course from London The City That speaks the most languages in the world.

The world currently has more displaced people and refugees than in world war 2

When…

When we spend our time away from the coal face it’s possible to become almost dispassionate about war, and persecution and ethnic cleansing. •When you are in their world, the real world of that pain, when you can taste the dust, when you have a lady thrust her baby into your arms as happened to me on a visit to a refugee camp, saying if you do not take my baby it will die (the picture and the moment is still in my head) then you tend to be more passionate about what you want to say and what you want others to respond to.

When…• When you have had – as I have, a young

refugee, who came into my office one day and said Adrian can I sit by your desk? I am so unhappy, I said yes. He sat on the floor, I asked him what the matter was and he said, “My Mother is very sick, I have run away from the war, I should be there with her I don’t know what to do” – he came and sat on the floor next to me for five days head in his hands rocking backwards and forwards, I did not know what to say to him.

When…• When my daughter teaching an English class to

such refugees came to me one day and said can you help me I have one of my students who is just not engaging he says he is too depressed to work. I sat him in my office and asked what is the matter he said I fled with my two twin brothers they are only 14 and we got separated on our way here and now I don’t know where they are; I asked where his father was and he told me that he was behead for being a collaborator with the US. “And your Mother” I asked, “they shot her in front of us as they said she should have reported her husband, We ran away”. (This story has a happy ending the Salvation Army managed to track the twins they were in Turkey)

•  

We Know…That these things are happening•We see the pictures on the television•We supply tents to tent cities to accommodate them•We talk of them in our committees and deliberations•But none of that is the same as tasting the dust or the cold or the hunger or the pain – or looking into the eyes that have those things daily

WE MUST DO MORE…What must we do•We must make sure the world is aware•We must say where there is the persecution of minorities – be they Christian, Jew, Yazidi. Shia or Sunni it must STOP•Shouldn’t the UN be warning countries, if you do not protect the minorities in your country from persecution be it because of ethnicity, belief, or whatever we will get involved and interfere

The UN has already declared:47/135. Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic MinoritiesThe General Assembly, Reaffirming that one of the main purposes of the United Nations, as proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, is to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion,

Cont 47/135…Noting the importance of the even more effective implementation of international human rights instruments with regard to the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities,Welcoming the increased attention given by human rights treaty bodies to the non-discrimination and protection of minorities,

Cont (2) 47/135…• Article 1

1. States shall protect the existence and the national or ethnic, cultural,

religious and linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and shall encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.

2. States shall adopt appropriate legislative and other measures to achieve

those ends.

Maybe the UN charter needs strengthening and notice given that there will be interference for the protection of minorities in states that do not carry out the said article 1 & 2 of declaration 47/135

IN THE MEAN TIME…• Shouldn’t those wealthier countries

do more to help those persecuted displaced driven out people, helping those countries as mentioned earlier in those statistics we don’t like and help with more than TENTS….

• Shouldn’t the wealthier countries be taking more of the refugees rather than leaving it to the border countries such as Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon who are at the front line of the current crisis.

SHOULDN’T WE…• be looking into the eyes of the

individuals who are at the sharp end of the persecution? People like Asia Bibi in Pakistan or Saeed Abedini in Iran – both in prison for being a minority?

Statistics are one thing…• People are another thing…• People – real people have had an

impact on their lives and freedom even life itself

• Please respond to the people issue.• This is a people issue –we can do and

should do more to help….• We must – each one of us – get

involved – get our own hands dirty!

Adrian HawkesUnited NationsApril 17th 2015