Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights

(letter published in the Guardian May 6th 2005)

Geoffrey Robertson (Humanityís core principle is not safe in their hands, The Guardian, April 30th 2005) is right to remind us about the consequences that await us if Britain withdraws from the 1951 Geneva Convention.  He is also correct in questioning the paucity of responses from religious leaders generally. However, it is worth pointing out that faith communities themselves have not been silent. A joint statement on the importance of upholding the convention was recently issued by the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, the Muslim Parliament for Great Britain and the Churches Commission for Racial Justice and published as a letter in The Guardian.  Since the Convention was created as a response to the Holocaust, the Jewish community, in particular, belongs in the forefront of the campaign not only to save the Convention but also to reactivate a positive agenda on the rights of asylum seekers and refugees.

The community should also work with others to rehabilitate the very notion of asylum which certain sections of the press and some politicians have done their best to delegitimise, no more so than during this election campaign.

Whatever the outcome of the election, much damage has already been done to the integrity of the asylum system.  One of the first tasks of any new government is to revisit, rather than retreat from, the 1951 Refugee Convention. Inevitably, the world has changed since then. Today people need more, not less, protection; the 1951 Convention should still be the instrument that provides it.

Dr Edie Friedman, Director,                              Antony Lerman
Jewish Council for Racial Equality                    Jewish  Forum for Human Rights and Justice
P O Box 47864                                                    
London NW11 1AB