LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Donald Trump is a danger to planet earth and targeting the world’s most vulnerable people, according to Ireland’s Catholic international development agency.
The U.S. president was arriving in Ireland on Wednesday when Trócaire issued a statement calling on Ireland’s leaders to “use whatever influence they have to urge the U.S. to move away from policies that divide people, undermine peace and threaten the sustainability of our planet.”
“At Trócaire, we envisage a just and peaceful world where people’s dignity is ensured, and rights are respected. Under Trump, the U.S. is pushing the world in the opposite direction,” the organization said.
Trump arrived in Ireland after a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom, where he encountered hundreds of demonstrators in London – a fraction of the crowd that protested his visit to the UK last year.
Trócaire – the Irish bishops’ equivalent to Catholic Relief Services – is known for being more politically active than its U.S. or British counterparts.
In its June 5 statement, it listed five reasons why Trump “endangers people and the planet.”
1. Trump “undermined international action on climate change” by pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate deal.
2. The Trump administration “has done huge damage to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process” by cutting funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency and deciding to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
3. The Trump Administration “has supported the Saudi-led coalition’s four-year war in Yemen,” which Trócaire said “has exacerbated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
4. The aid agency claims that Trump has “contravened international law on refugees” by insisting Central American asylum seekers make their claims in Mexico. Trócaire also complained that Trump has cut the numbers of refugees allowed into the U.S. and refused to support the UN’s Global Compact on Migration.
5. Finally, Trócaire said Trump’s “America First” approach has undermined international cooperation by exhibiting a “hostile” attitude to multilateral institutions such as the UN.
“This approach threatens global peace and security and the very basis of international cooperation,” the Catholic aid agency said.
The U.S. president has avoided most of the public during his visit to Ireland and is staying at a golf resort he owns in County Clare. He met with the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the VIP lounge at Shannon Airport. On Thursday, Trump went to France for D-Day celebrations before returning to Ireland for the night. He was scheduled to return to the U.S. on Friday afternoon, after playing golf at his resort.
Follow Charles Collins on Twitter: @CharlesinRome
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