15-05-2025
Letters to the Editor: From Sudan to Gaza and beyond, international law is being flouted
The United Nations states are meeting in New York for the annual Protection of Civilians Week (May 19-23) at a time when the world is witnessing large-scale attacks on civilian populations on a daily basis.
There is no absence of data or proof. There is only an absence of accountability, adherence to international law, and sufficient political will to put the protection, safety and dignity of civilians first.
In Sudan, 26 months of fighting have forced more than 12.4m people to flee their homes. Half of the population (nearly 25m people) are facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
Famine was confirmed in North Darfur in August 2024 and has since spread to nine more areas of the country, placing hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. Unicef has reported that, in just four months, more than 1,000 children have died from hunger and disease and, with no alternatives, mothers are now feeding grass to their hungry children. Despite the heroic efforts of agencies on the ground, like Concern, more children are dying needlessly every day.
In Gaza, after 19 months of conflict, approximately 2.1m people are at critical risk of famine. Nearly half a million people (one fifth of the population) face starvation.
Food scarcity has resulted in soaring prices — a 25kg sack of flour now costs between $235 (€210) and $520 (€465) — an increase of up to 3,000% in just three months.
But it is not just in Sudan and Gaza that civilian populations are suffering the consequences of conflict.
It is in Yemen, South Sudan, Haiti, Ukraine, and too many of the world's neglected crises — places where people are living, not just day to day, but hour to hour, hoping for moments of peace to find food, medical help, or to just rest before bombardment begins again.
Conflict-affected countries are the ones with the greatest level of human suffering and humanitarian needs.
A basic principle of international humanitarian law, the law of war, is that of distinction. This requires all parties to conflicts to ensure they distinguish between the civilian population and combatants. It prohibits indiscriminate attacks or the deliberate targeting of civilian populations.
Yet attacks against civilians are escalating. Between 2022 and 2023, the UN recorded a 72% increase in civilian deaths in armed conflict. It is estimated that one in every six children in the world now lives in an area affected by conflict.
International efforts have been made to address this. In 2022, Ireland led a process to develop an international declaration to strengthen the protection of civilians arising from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. This declaration was signed by 88 countries, including the US, the UK, and France — three of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
It is difficult then to reconcile how almost half the countries in the world signed up to this declaration, yet the increase in violence against civilians now rarely attracts condemnation, outrage, or reaction.
Despite such political declarations, some governments and non-state actors are openly and intentionally undermining international humanitarian law, eroding the minimum standards of protections owed to civilians. The silence and support of other governments contributes to the growing culture of impunity.
We must end this silence. Ireland has spoken up. Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris, the foreign affairs minister, have condemned the infliction of hunger and suffering on civilian populations, whatever the circumstances. More countries must do likewise to ensure the protection, safety and dignity of civilians.
Critically, member states must address the deadlock at the UN Security Council. Urgent consideration must be given to the permanent members of the Security Council suspending their use of the veto in the Security Council in mass atrocity situations to ensure the protection of civilians and their safe and unfettered access to principled humanitarian aid.
Millions of people experiencing the horrors of conflict are depending on them to do so.
Dominic Crowley, CEO, Concern Worldwide, Dublin
Central Bank and Israeli bonds
I note that Coimisiún na Meán has awarded the Central Bank of Ireland the status of 'trusted flagger' under EU legislation on digital services, with Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf proudly noting 'this accreditation marks another milestone in the Bank's commitment to protecting consumers and strengthens our efforts to disrupt the activities of unauthorised providers of regulated financial services'.
Ordinarily, this move — which sees the Central Bank become the first Irish organisation to be granted this status — would be something to welcome.
However, Mr Makhlouf's words ring hollow in the light of the Central Bank's controversial regulation of EU sales of Israel bonds, vaunted by Israeli president Isaac Herzog as a way to provide 'unwavering support' to the Israeli state 'during this time of conflict and war'.
Numerous TDs and senators have already noted the Central Bank's lack of 'commitment to protecting consumers' on the basis that the submitted bond prospectus made no mention of the gamechanging genocide charges faced by the Israeli state at the International Court of Justice.
It is difficult to celebrate the Central Bank, while it continues to facilitate a stream of funding for the shocking slaughter and cruel starvation the Israel Defence Forces is wreaking in Gaza.
As its leadership have refused to invoke the powers at their disposal, the government must take action. The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers have advised that Dáil Éireann could resolve the matter with a private members bill 'rooted in the Ireland's fundamental interest in pursuing its international law obligations'.
Inevitably, the Central Bank will have to step — or be dragged — onto the right side of history. I call upon the government to resolve this fiasco sooner rather than later.
Brian Ó Éigeartaigh, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
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Wolf extinction
I'm disappointed to learn Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael MEPs have voted to downgrade the protected status of wolves in the EU.
Despite all the evidence indicating a severe threat to the conservation status of wolves in Europe, the EU parliament has opted to allow these animals to be legally culled. Political interests and pressure from powerful lobby groups, have trumped logic, science, and the increasingly urgent need to preserve biodiversity.
The vote amounts to an abandonment of the hard-won protection for wolves under the EU Habitats Directive and could potentially lead to the wolf's extinction Europe-wide. This retrograde step weakens the EU's flagship conservation law that was supposed to be a beacon to the world in the battle to conserve endangered species.
But perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised at the stance taken by FF and FG in Brussels. These two parties have refused to back a ban on hare coursing or fox hunting here in Ireland, or even to allow a free vote on them in the Dáil.
Maybe it's just as well that there are no wolves in Ireland, because if we still had these wonderful creatures, clubs would undoubtedly be set up to torment and kill them for sport. We might even see them running for their lives in parks, with fans cheering or placing bets.
Oliver Cromwell, one of Ireland's deadliest foes, played a prominent role in the disappearance of wolves from this island. In 1652, he set bounties on them that resulted in widespread killing of the animals. They survived, just about, for another century, and the last recorded sighting of a grey wolf here was in 1786.
FF and FG have followed in Cromwell's draconian footsteps in giving the wolf a bad name. They should hang their heads in shame for joining in the attack on this much maligned creature.
It's depicted in fairy tale lore as the 'Big Bad Wolf' and is the bugbear of many a horror movie, but in reality it plays a vital conservationist role in maintaining healthy eco-systems in the terrain it inhabits.
Unfortunately, party animals who put political self-interest before ecology are not yet on the endangered list.
John Fitzgerald, Callan, Co Kilkenny
Trump's new words
The English language is complex and apparently difficult to learn as a second language. Wikipedia says it has more than a million words, many archaic, technical, or obscure but the printed Oxford dictionary only has 171,476 major words apparently.
There however may need to be a few words added to the dictionary, both from the mind of president Trump, 'covfefe' which nobody seems to have a definition for.
The second word is 'equalising' which he says he created. 'There's a new word that I came up with, which is probably the best word,' although this word gets a mention in the Oxford dictionary already, both online and in print. Well done, Oxford, to move so fast.
There have also been Trump related health phrases including 'Trump derangement syndrome', which I, and millions of others seem to suffer from. Apart from mood swings and frustration, I am not sure what the other effects are.
When will the pain end?
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
