“...the law of humanity,

which is anterior to all positive laws,

obliges us to afford them relief,

to save them from starving...”

so said an English court in 1803

in a judgment ruling

that poor foreigners should not go hungry,

before the genocide and national flight

of the 20th century,

there was, in this land,

a law of humanity.

 

before the signatures were borne

for international treaties,

to help those travellers

who we know today as refugees

whose destination is the safety they seek

there was once, in this land,

a law of humanity.

but beware the myth of a nation

riding the phoenix road to national pride

it leaves an ashen contempt

for stories from a different side

 

if self-determination and liberty

are ideals worthy of our species,

humanity allocated by flag stripes

should give us pause for sobriety

 

for in the measure of justice

there is a simmering disconnect

can a court offer confidence

without the chance of access

 

refugees are thwarted at borders

and dumped into detention

Parliament argues

while souls float in the Mediterranean.

so it goes

bombs and boats

machine guns and stowaways

missiles

and the economy class of a plane

 

midnight escape from rape

knife in the spine

privilege averts its gaze

red top headline

 

diplomatic communique

rebels in retreat

bribery at the gates

papers are exchanged

 

exhale on terra firma

a new garden called home

now surrounded by racist fervour

the survivor stands alone.

 

all bound by common consequence

 

man-made violence

man-made opportunity

man-made silence

man-made impunity.

but

the law of humanity

the cause of philosophical quarrels

which flows through the ages

and shakes the scales of our morals

 

anterior to all positive laws

etched on stone and parchment

your conscience knew the path

before you drew the quill to mark it

 

obliges us to afford them relief

with bread and shelter indeed

the only conditions relevant

are that you're human and in need

 

to save them from starving

for life is the sacred harvest

no child should become a corpse

because our dignity has departed.

there was, in this land,

a law of humanity

there must be a law

fit to break the boomerang of history

a law of humanity

beyond books and civility

a law that speaks

to our most intimate moments of sanity

a law of humanity

that dwells deeper than our family trees

a law that rips the fiction

out of our hypocrisies

 

the law of humanity

entrenched against the oppressor's creed

the law of humanity

that stands with refugees.

 

Notes

1.   R v Inhabitants of Eastbourne (1803) 102 ER 769, per Lord Ellenborough C.J.

Benson Egwuonwu is a lawyer and poet based in London, United Kingdom. He has worked on international human rights interventions with The Law Society of England and Wales.

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