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THE RESULTS OF a major survey that shows young people have a high level of support for refugees is evidence that governments are out of touch with the views of citizens, Amnesty International said today.
According to the survey, released by the World Economic Foundation (WEF), 72.6% of people aged between 18 and 35 would welcome refugees into their countries, with 27.3% willing to take refugees into their homes.
However, many governments around the world have been hesitant to accept large numbers of refugees as the migrant crisis continues.
“People fleeing violence and persecution around the world have repeatedly had doors slammed in their faces by wealthy governments who claim they cannot help them. WEF’s research shows that young people aren’t buying it, and are dismayed by the heartless attitudes of their leaders,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.
Almost two years after the tragic photo of Alan Kurdi shocked the world, many governments are still failing to live up to even their own paltry resettlement commitments and 2017 looks set to be the deadliest year on records for migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean. But it doesn’t have to be this way – all too often laws and policies are the main obstacles to the compassionate responses of ordinary people.
An Amnesty International survey of more than 27,000 people published last year found that four in five around the world would welcome refugees into their countries.
Only 3.5% of respondents said that governments should “expel/deport” refugees.
In the US, 85% of young people said they would welcome refugees to their country, according to the WEF survey. This is an increase on 10% compared to last year’s survey.
“This gives the lie to Donald Trump’s claim that his hateful anti-refugee rhetoric represents the US population. It is encouraging to see how many young people are resisting President Trump’s poisonous narrative – and shows how vital it is that their voices are heard,” O’Gorman said.
Amnesty International has been running an international campaign, using public pressure to motivate countries to welcome refugees. The I Welcome campaign also seeks to build grassroots solidarity with refugees.
French president Emanuel Macron is today hosting a summit that will assess how Europe can deal with the ongoing crisis. Germany, Italy and Spain are in attendance, as well as the leaders of Chad, Niger and Libya.
In Ireland, almost 40,000 people signed a petition in September 2015, calling on the government to take thousands of refugees, rather than the hundreds that had been committed to.
Under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, the government promised to welcome 4,000 refugees to Ireland by the end of 2017.
As of last May, a total of 1,259 refugees arrived to Ireland under the programme.
A restored hotel in a Co Roscommon town has been used as an integration centre for many of these. In Ballaghaderreen, stories have emerged of a large “buy-in from the community”.
In 2016, a poll of 12 European countries found Irish to the most sympathetic towards the arrival of Syrian refugees.
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No Stock Shortages by the looks of things in Super-value, Lidl and Aldi….. Plenty of Irish Produce on display…
@Dave: same in Tescos
@Dave: agreed anyway M&S too expensive for what it so …
@Dave: there wouldn’t be at this stage. If things continue like this, I’d gives it a couple of weeks.
Buy Irish and there wont be a shortage. Why anyone would pay over the odds for imported British food is beyond me.
@Aaron Forde: Not sure, struggling to get meat in a lot of places and bread in some. Brexit or covid related?
@Niall O: Struggling to get bread and meat???? Whete are you shopping my man??
@Dave:
It was the same for me also @Niall O.
Empty shelves in Dunnes today. No bread, no vegetables, not even a decent cut of meat. Plus the selection in the both the fridges and freezers were very limited.
I asked the girl doing a stock take if there was a reason for the lack of food and she told me it was due to people panic/bulk buying as we’re in a level 5 lockdown caused by the steep rise in cases of the Covid-19/China virus.
No mention of Brexit at all.
A logical unbiased answer to the question I asked I thought… She’s probably not a Journal.ie commenter.
M&S bring everything in from the UK. Not one thing is Irish in the shop. Nobody should be shopping there buy Irish support Ireland not the UK
@Colm Sheehan: I will buy whatever I like with my money be it Irish, British, European or whatever. Who do you think you are telling people what to do with their money?
@Colm Sheehan: Are you sure about that ?
@Leonard Barry: He is suggesting that you might like to support your local economy. I know, I know, he is wasting his time trying to talk sense to an utter tool like you!
@Leonard Barry: he represents most people. Buy Irish and stop fooling yourself about your money. If we keep sending it to uk we won’t have any money to spend
@Ken Sullivan: sure buddy, when foods in Supervalu are as good as in M&S, I will ;) And by the way, Colm is wrong, I think you can buy at least Irish eggs in M&S.
@Colm Sheehan: M & S should British food copy to made in Ireland would support Irish job
@Mike: What are you buying in M&S that is better than any other super market?
@Brian Flavin: Huh?
@Dave: their mince pies are to die for. Nobody else is even close…
@Leonard Barry: don’t be that foo,l Leonard. I guess you already are. By the way why are you so angry Leonard?
@Tony Harris:
Sticking to Irish products only huh?
Won’t be much on the menu in your gaff.
@Mike: I wouldn’t be bleating about their quality I worked next door to a major bakery supplier for M&S in the UK. Place was always getting raided by border immigration with vans of workers removed and also environmental health shut downs, I wouldn’t be in any rush to eat their stuff after that experience, overpriced and overhyped
@Leonard Barry: Leonard likes to buy in M and S to make himself feel better than everyone else . You dare not suggest that he support Irish produce as it is beneath him
@Dave: for instance, my entire breakfast: orange juice with bits, cherry yoghurt (pinkish) and Fruit, Nut and Seed Muesli. You _can_ mimic this with any other major chain. But gosh the difference in flavor and taste is just immense. Short shell life products like fruit are just way better there as well. I mean, they in 99% of cases will last longer than the same from e.g. Tesco. preserving their taste, shape etc. Can’t compare to Dunnes, as I don’t buy there but SV, Tesco, Centra – IMO are way behind.
@Woolly: over the years I had a luxury to compare food in several chains in Ireland, and your post makes me ask a simple question: if what you say is true for M&S, and their produce is still so much more to my liking than Tesco, Centra and SuperValu — then what conditions are products made for those chains in, and what suppliers do they use?! :)
@Mike: So you think M&S is high quality food? Each to their own I guess. Enjoy your processed garbage and stale sandwiches.
There’s far better food to be had . And it doesn’t cost that much more.
Not a result of Brexit, but was instead caused by the UK departure from the EU
Dunnes Stores in Kilnamanagh had empty shelves yesterday evening, now what was that about….surely not brexit !
@Honeybee: New lockdown perhaps?
I was wondering that earlier as was doing my Tesco online shopping and loads of items not available.
@Niamh Brady: Similar experience in Drogheda, surprised to see several shelves empty, though more Irish sourced goods missing than imported goods, i.e. bread, milk etc.
@Niamh Brady:
Of course the level 5 lockdown has absolutely nothing to do with it.
*RollingEyesEmoji*
@Marc Byrne: I can assure you this was a result of panic buying because the forecast suggested we might have some snow. People go crazy for bread and milk when we get weather warnings, add in lockdown and it’s just off the scale panic. If only people would buy there usual amount there would be no out of stock issues.
Oh no. Thousands of Brown Thomas-er’s will go hungry until they can eat their pride.
Overpriced nonsense
@Batster: but lovely food
@Batster: maybe, but nice for a treat and I’ve never ever got sh!te food there.
@JongaFe: then don’t try their potato salad made with creme fraiche, pure muck. The rest of their food is nice though.
And one was on my way to fetch a nice bottle of red to supplement the quail , One had on the range ,crisping up.Somehow Dutch Gold doesn’t quite hit the spot.
Why is Ireland not getting its food supply from Europe?
@Cooking School: Well said, This country looked over their shoulder too much to the UK. We are in the EU, we should be buying more of our things from the EU. Of course we can also use food produced in Ireland.
@Cooking School: Surely the question should be
‘Why is Ireland not getting its food supply from within Ireland’
M&S just over hyped muck in my opinion.
@Paul Gorry: Absolutely. It’s muck, cleverly packaged to appeal to the Hyacinth Buckets of this world, you know the ones who couldn’t be seen dead in a Sainsbury’s or Tesco even though they are pushing the same muck
@Colm Sheehan: I will buy whatever I like with my money be it Irish, British, European or whatever. Who do you think you are telling people what to do with their money?
Well said Leonard Barry, it’s seems a lot of people totally forget the massive employment British companies provide in Ireland. Abandon them and unemployment will increase significantly and Government tax revenue will fall. Why is it few people think of that?
Regards, British citizen resident in Ireland over 5 years.
@Dave Maini: America is the big employer here. We can lose your crappy Debenhams jobs, as we have done and keep pressing on. Britain is losing its relevance along with its empire. That’s not the fault of Irish people.
@Fidgenti:
You’re some cu%t.
Apologies to all UK citizens who might read the comments vomited from this dope.
We are not all racist and if anyone feels like they would want to box the lights out of this tool I will gladly join you.
A sure sign of the times that is here, post-Brexit.
@C_O’S:
A sure sign of being in a level 5 lockdown I’d say.
Please do let me know what time I can expect your next daily comment of uneducated scaremongering bullsh!te.
It’s really quite fascinating.
M&S heading for the exit door no longer viable in Ireland IMO.
They’ve started to discover that products made with non-uk items – don’t comply with the EU’s rules of origin. Don’t forget that BSE came from GB, as did the last outbreak of foot & mouth, ditto Avian flu. Eat traceable food.
Shelf shortage caused by brexit described as not a result of brexit at all.
I remember the shelves of supermarkets were often empty in January. This was before the pandemic or Brexit.
Well buy Irish so, plenty of stock and much better quality….
Shelf shortage described explicitly as a result of Brexit described as not a result of Brexit at all.
@ciaranactually:
Couldn’t possibly be another anti-British, Brexit scaremongering headline from the Journal.ie could it?
Jeez
No more Percy Pigs? Disaster!
Dunnes, Donnybrook Fair, Fallon Byrne, Fresh St Market, all good options, what exactly are you finding in M&S that you can’t find elsewhere? Dunnes has a lovely selection of organic meats and aged steaks these days. Fruit and veg is generally a loss leader for all supermarkets, so generally you won’t find a great quality or variety in any of them. Produce should be sourced from a produce shop if you need top quality for the most part.
As to the buy Irish crowd, from an economic perspective that it senseless. A buyer should maximise utility and value for each Euro spent. If that happens to be an Irish product then great. You don’t go around shopping for Irish made cars, TV or cell phones. If Irish producers are making products that, like for like, offer more value, then buy by all means
have your say