Letter to the Editor, Irish Examiner, 18 August 2008

IT is an absolute travesty that while the PR coup that is the Beijing Olympics continues, thousands of Burmese children remain abandoned and alone.

Recent reports detailed how more than 2,000 children remain separated from their parents and face an uncertain future in government-run homes. The children could easily be reunited with their families but cannot afford the bus fare to return to their homes.

When Cyclone Nargis struck Burma earlier this year the situation warranted a major international reaction. But due to the callousness of the Burmese authorities towards the suffering of their own people and the indifference of the Chinese to force their neighbour's hand, many thousands of people were forced to suffer needlessly. Aid agencies such as GOAL were able to trickle aid in but we were never permitted to establish the large-scale response that was needed.

The reports of these children who have been separated from their parents is just one of the repercussions of this needlessly constrained response.

Had China put pressure on the Burmese to allow the international community establish the humanitarian programme necessary, then it is certain that many more lives could have been saved.

Instead, China held to its policy of non-interference with the affairs of other states — no matter what the cost — and got on with planning their precious games. The Olympics represented an unparalleled opportunity for the world to show China that it cannot simply reap the rewards of its burgeoning economic and political clout without addressing human rights and humanitarian issues.

However, once again, there was a shocking lack of moral fibre on the part 'of our political leaders. But it is not the politicians who are paying the price. Instead, it is the innocent children of Burma who are left to suffer.

John O'Shea
GOAL
PO Box 19
Dun Laoghaire
Co Dublin