Sir, - With reference to your editorial on Kosovo (May 11th), we applaud the welcome and positive media coverage of the plight of the Kosovar refugees.
We are however concerned that the spirit of generosity is not being extended towards those refugees fleeing conflicts which are not under the steady gaze of the world's media. Asylum seekers, particularly those from Africa who have never been accorded the protection of programme refugees, are still treated with suspicion, despite the fact that the upheavals in their countries of origin have created equally as much misery, suffering and displacement of people as the situation now being played out in the Balkans.
The same Minister, John O'Donoghue, who was so eager to be seen standing at Farranfore Airport promoting a welcoming attitude to the Kosovars, is inconsistent in his treatment of other categories of refugees - including some 200 Kosovar Albanians who arrived in this country as asylum seekers before the escalation of the current crisis and who are still awaiting a decision. As J. Johnson points out (May 12th), the pending Immigration Bill will grant him unprecedented powers over those asylum seekers who have escaped persecution in countries which now only receive sparse media attention - such as Sudan, Congo, Somalia, Eritrea, Angola, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, etc.
Surely a first step towards "parity of esteem" would be to grant the right to work to asylum seekers, and a fair and independent hearing to those who have also escaped traumas in their home countries in other parts of the world? - Yours, etc., Katrina Goldstone,
Comhamh Refugee, Solidarity Group, Upper Camden Street, Dublin 2.