IRELAND TRANSFERRED 10 asylum seekers to Greece since 2008 despite a call by the UN refugee agency to stop the practice due to concerns that refugees’ human rights may be abused.
Two Iraqis, six Afghans and two Albanians were transferred to Greece under EU rules specifying that asylum seekers should have their applications for international protection considered in the first EU member state they enter.
The transfers were made under the “Dublin II Regulation”, adopted in 2003, in spite of advice to all EU states in April 2008 by the UNHCR to “refrain from returning asylum seekers to Greece”. The agency warned that asylum seekers who were sent back to Greece “may find themselves excluded from the asylum process” and have no access to welfare payments or housing.
Several states, including Finland, Norway and the Netherlands, temporarily suspended transfers in 2008 following the UNHCR advice. Several other EU states such as Sweden and Britain suspended all transfers last year.
The Government moved to suspend transfers to Greece this month following a landmark judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in January, which found Belgium violated an Afghan man’s human rights by sending him back to Greece in 2009.
When the Afghan asylum seeker was returned to Greece, he was locked up in a small space with 20 detainees. Access to toilet facilities was restricted, detainees were not allowed outside, were given very little to eat, and had to sleep on dirty mattresses or on the bare floor. Three days later he was released with no means of subsistence and lived on the streets of Athens. He was rearrested trying to leave Greece and alleges he was beaten by police, said the ruling.
The court found the Belgian authorities knowingly exposed him to detention and living conditions that amounted to degrading treatment, giving rise to a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In a statement yesterday the Department of Justice said in light of the judgment, “in terms of the day-to-day operation of the Dublin regulation, there appears to be no reality to transfers to Greece for the time being”.
Unlike some other EU states, including Britain, Ireland has not committed to adjudicating on the applications of asylum seekers who arrive here after first entering the EU through Greece.
The department said it would deal with applications on hand or before the High Court on a “pragmatic basis” in consultation with the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
At least 37 Greek transfer cases are pending in the High Court, which has referred the issue to the European Court of Justice.
The Irish Refugee Council criticised the decision to send people back to Greece.“The use of the Dublin II Regulation by Ireland . . . is an indication that Ireland has placed refugees at risk against the intentions of the [Refugee] Convention,” Sue Conlan, council chief executive, said yesterday.
Amnesty International said conditions for refugees in Greece were deplorable.
Inside Greece’s Guantánamo – WeekendReview