Human Rights in Ireland

We are delighted to welcome this second guest post from Anne Neylon. Anne is a PhD candidate at University College Cork. She is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford.

On October 31^st last, eighteen year old Angolan Mauro Manuel, who arrived in the Netherlands aged 10 as a separated child seeking asylum was told by the Dutch parliament that he may not remain in the state now that he is an adult. Although Mauro Manuel now sees the Netherlands as the only state with which he identifies, this attachment has not been deemed sufficient to allow him to stay on an indefinite basis. The case of Mauro Manuel raises questions about what citizenship really means and how the advance of globalization has acted to challenge the way in which one’s identity and ability to acquire citizenship is constructed.

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 As announced in August, the Human Rights in Ireland blog will host a performance on 10 December at 6pm in Druid Theatre, Galway to celebrate Human Rights Day. The event is called 'Whoop it up for Liberty!' - an ironic quote from Connolly's Reconquest of Ireland. As part of the performance, actors, local people and community activists will read aloud from texts commemorating key moments in Irish history which relate to the theme of human rights. The performance will feature first person narratives which highlight the experiences of workers, women, people with disabilities, travellers, language rights activists, asylum seekers, children, prisoners and many others as they relate to human rights in Ireland – from historical perspectives right through to the present day. Thomas Conway, literary manager of Druid Theatre, will direct the performance, which will be followed by a question and answer session where the texts and themes will be further discussed.
 

Since this is a not-for-profit event, we are seeking support to cover our production costs. The director and actors involved are generously volunteering their time, and in order to do justice to the inspiring texts used to create the script, we would like to make this as professional an event as possible. The event has been listed as a creative venture on Fund It to secure crowd source funding for the performance. This link will take you to the Fund It page for the event where you can watch a video clip of some of the actors involved reading from a draft script - and we would appreciate if readers of the blog could repost the link via social media. Donations received will go towards the cost of hiring the venue and rehearsal space, lighting and sound, recording the performance, providing catering for the cast and crew after the performance, producing programme notes for the event, and making the performance accessible to all.

 

This will be the first time an event of this kind has been performed in Ireland, using first-person narratives to explore historical and present-day experiences of human rights across a broad range of issues: identity, belonging, democracy, politics, solidarity, and exclusion. We hope that people will contribute what they can to make the event a success – and we hope to see as many of you as possible on 10th December in Galway!

Today, is the final day of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Do 1 Thing campaign. UNHCR Ireland’s campaign site can be viewed here. In previous posts I have :

• Defined the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’;
• Examined decision making in the status determination process;
• Considered subsidiary protection status; and,
• Focused on sexuality and refugee status.

Needless to say, there are many other issues in relation to asylum seekers and refugees in Ireland, such as the direct provision system and issues surrounding deportation of unsuccessful asylum seekers. However, for my final contribution to UNHCR’s #do1thing campaign, I will outline the rights of those recognised as refugees in Ireland. (It should be noted however, that Ireland has the lowest refugee recognition rate in the whole of the European Union at first instance). Section 3 of the Refugee Act 1996 provides refugees with rights to Read Full Post »

In an earlier post, I outlined the core meaning of the terms refugee and asylum seeker. In addition to refugee protection in Ireland, an asylum seeker who fails to fall within the terms of this definition may be entitled to subsidiary protection. Subsidiary protection came about as a result of European Union law. Where an asylum seeker can show that she will face a real risk of serious harm in her home country, she will be entitled to subsidiary protection. Serious harm is defined as the:

• death penalty or execution;
• torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and/or
• a serious and individual risk to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence Read Full Post »

The definition of refugee includes those who are members of a particular social group. Section 1 of the Refugee Act 1996 defines this ground as including (amongst others) those persecuted for reasons of their sexual orientation. In a recent United Kingdom Supreme Court decision, HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department the question that arose was whether a person had to be ‘discrete’ in relation to their sexuality so as to avoid persecution by the state. The High Court and Court of Appeal for England and Wales response to this question was ‘yes’. The UK Supreme Court, however, rejected this approach. Lord Roger (at para. 76) inverted the question posed in this case, questioning whether:

a straight man or woman could find it reasonably tolerable to conceal his or her sexual identity indefinitely to avoid suffering persecution.

Fiona de Londras noted in a previous post, how Irish decision makers were finding against the credibility of refugee applicants for not knowing or being involved in the gay rights movement or arguing that they could be ‘discrete’ if returned to their countries of origin. This is a wholly incorrect approach Read Full Post »

The Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) do not make their decisions publically available. In 2006, two barristers resigned resigned amid allegations of secrecy of the RAT and allegations of inconsistency in decision-making. The Supreme Court decided in 2006 that previous relevant decisions had to made available to legal representatives of those appearing before the RAT. Unlike similar refugee status determination bodies in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, decisions of the RAT are not available to the public at large. To ensure public confidence in the refugee status determination system, such decisions should be made publicly available, with identifying features of the refugee applicant redacted. As was stated by McDonagh in 2005, this would lead to more confidence in the refugee appeals system in Ireland. With the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill (see here) to come before the Irish Parliament in the near future, this is the ideal opportunity to have a general rule, subject to limited exceptions, that decisions of any reformed refugee appeals system are published. In the mean-time, RAT should make its decisions publicly available, which is the norm in most other developed countries.

Who is a refugee?

A refugee is somebody who is outside her country citizenship, or the country where she formerly lived, and is unable or unwilling to return to this country as she fears persecution on the basis of her race, nationality, religion, membership or a particular social group or political opinion. This is the definition set down in the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees. In Ireland, this definition is set down in Section 2 of the Refugee Act 1996. If an asylum seeker is recognised by Ireland as a refugee, she has a right to reside in Ireland, the right to work, the right to claim social assistance, the right to enter further education and the right to bring certain family members to Ireland.

Who is an asylum seeker?

“Let us remember that a bogus asylum-seeker is not equivalent to a criminal; and that an unsuccessful asylum application is not equivalent to a bogus one.”- Kofi Annan

An asylum seeker is a person who claims to be in need of refugee protection but whose claim for refugee status has yet to be determined. In Ireland, an asylum seeker’s claim for refugee status is determined by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). If ORAC does not recognise a person as a refugee, she can then appeal to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT). Legal advice and legal representation is provided to asylum seekers by the Refugee Legal Service, which is a specialised office in the Legal Aid Board.

While awaiting her claim to be processed and decided, an asylum seeker is prohibited from working. She is accommodated in the direct provision system, where she receives bed and board, along with a payment of €19.60 per week (and €9.60 per week per child). An asylum seeker is not entitled to any other form of social assistance payment while in Ireland. Asylum seekers are entitled to free health care, and child asylum seekers or child dependents of asylum seekers are entitled to the same right to education as Irish children. Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants and are entitled to remain in the state until such time as their refugee claim has been granted or rejected. The recognition rate of asylum seekers as refugees in Ireland is just under 2%, the lowest recognition rate in the European Union.

From October 10th to October 24th, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Do 1 Thing campaign will be running. UNHCR Ireland, along with all other UNHCR agencies, are urging people to Do 1 Thing to show support for refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland and abroad. UNHCR estimates that in 2010, there were 43.75 million people worldwide who were displaced due to conflict and persecution. The developing world hosts 80% of the world’s refugees and asylum seekers. Ireland received 1, 939 individual applications for recognition of refugee status from asylum seekers in 2010. UNHCR is asking people to show their support in a number of ways:

1. By learning a fact about refugees, meeting a refugee , watching a movie or read a book, get to know another culture, find out more about the history of refugees in Ireland and/or by donating to UNHCR.
2. By writing a blog post, tweeting, posting a comment on Facebook or Google +. On Twitter use the hashtag #do1thing and on Facebook tag UNHCR Ireland.
3. Letting friends know about UNHCR Ireland’s campaign and adding a twibbon on Twitter.
4. Keeping up to date with UNHCR Ireland’s work on Facebook and Twitter.

Over the next two weeks, Human Rights in Ireland will be posting regularly on refugee and asylum issues as part of the #do1thing campaign. These short posts will highlight some key issues in relation to the refugees and asylum seekers in Ireland and internationally. It should also be noted that while these posts seek to contribute to the Do 1 Thing campaign, the opinions contained therein, do not necessarily represent the views of UNHCR or UNHCR Ireland.

Tomorrow, Ireland will have its human rights record reviewed under the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) procedure. Last December, Danielle Kennan and I hosted a blog-symposium that considered some aspects of Ireland’s human rights record in areas such as the role of civil society in informing the UN Human Rights Council of potential human rights issues in Ireland, the rights of children and the rights of prisoners. Since this symposium, there has been engagement by government and non-governmental organisations with wider society on problematic areas of Irish law that may not meet international minimum human rights protection standards. The final Irish UPR Report can be accessed here, while the UN summary of civil society submissions can be viewed here.

Rights Now will be live streaming Ireland’s UPR examination by the UN Human Rights Council from 8.00 am on Thursday, 06 October 2011. For those in and around Dublin, Rights Now will be hosting a breakfast viewing of Ireland’s UPR Review from 8 am in Liberty Hall, Dublin.  In Cork, NASC, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, will be hosting a viewing (as well as their open day) over coffee from 8 am in Mary Street. In Limerick, Doras Luimní will be hosting a viewing of Ireland’s UPR examination from 8am.

I do stand by the comments I made last December: Read Full Post »

As I noted last week, an opinion by  Advocate General Trstenjak on the rights of asylum seekers under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUCFR) and EU asylum directives, held that asylum seekers should not be returned from other EU member states to Greece if the fundamental rights of asylum seekers are not upheld. In Ireland, all transfers of asylum seekers to Greece have been suspended since Clarke J. granted leave to appeal her decision in Mirza v Refugee Applications Commissioner to the Supreme Court in 2010. When Clarke J. referred questions in the case of M.E. and others v Refugee Applications Commissioner to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU),  there were 32 similar applications yet to come before the High Court in October 2010.

In M.E. and others v Refugee Applications Commissioner, the five applicants had entered Greece, were requested to leave the country due to illegal entry and made their way to Ireland to claim asylum. The Refugee Applications Commissioner, exercising his powers under the Dublin II Regulation, wanted to return the applicants to Greece so that their asylum claim could be determined there. M.E and the others argued that the procedures for determining asylum claims and reception conditions in Greece were so inadequate that Ireland was obliged to exercise its discretion under Article 3 (2) of the Dublin II Regulation to accept responsibility for examining these asylum claims. Clarke J. in the High Court made a preliminary reference Read Full Post »