I recently had the privilege of addressing the United Nations in New York on the subject of Persecution and refugees and asylum Seekers, many have asked me what did you say there so here is what I said from my presentation notes.

1. At the Coal Face
Its one thing to talk about statistics:

2. 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

3. 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]

4. 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 richest
Country in the World. And greetings of Course from
London The City That speaks the most languages in the
world.

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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)
•

9. 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

10. 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

11. The UN has already declared:
47/135. Declaration on the Rights of
Persons Belonging to National
or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities
The 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,

12. 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,

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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?

17. 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!

18. Adrian Hawkes
United Nations
April 17th
2015