When tear gas is fired at children we have to accept our world is failing

 

By Lucette Davies

This world is no stranger to horror and devastation.  After World War I we said it had been the ‘war to end all wars’.  After World War II many people said ‘never again’. We started the beginnings of the EU by forging economic and political co-operation across Europe to try to prevent another war. We formed the United Nations from a commitment to prevent any repeat of such a humanitarian disaster.  But how quickly we have forgotten!  We now sit by watching the huge exodus of people from Africa and the Middle-East that so often proves fatal with a staggering lack of empathy.  But now that police are firing tear gas and water cannons at already traumatised children surely it is time we all stopped and changed our direction?

Extremism must not be allowed to prevail following attacks in Cologne

 

By Matthew Hynds

It has been reported that male asylum seekers have been banned from using a public swimming pool in Bornheim, Germany. Women at the swimming pool had complained of harassment. This follows the outbreak of assaults against women that took place in Cologne on New Years’ Eve, and revelations that similar crimes were covered up by police, at a music festival in Stockholm. What unites these, and other disturbing cases, is the fact that the alleged attackers are asylum seekers.

Our language shows a lack of humanity towards people fleeing persecution

By Jamilla Hekmoun

 

With the so-called “migrant crisis” getting ever more severe and dangerous, more and more questions are being raised over the government’s inaction.  Governments and the EU have failed to tackle both the root causes of this sharp increase of migration in recent years, and also the  fact that hundreds that die every week on its borders.  But everyone has a responsibility to help ensure that the human rights of these people are respected.  When I listen to the language used by many people in the British public and read media reports relating to the refugees seeking safety in Europe it is hardly surprising that our government has shown little desire to help.