THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to review all deportations to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Democratic Republic of Congo is still high risk for people who were asylum seekers. There are kidnappings and rapes. Human rights are not respected,” said Edmund Lukusa, president of the Congolese Community of Ireland
About 50 people held a protest outside the Dáil last Friday urging the Government to suspend all deportations to the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying it is a lawless and high risk country.
The demonstrators, which included a large group of people originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, called the protest following the deportation of two men from Ireland last week.
Senghor Senga, his wife Coco and their son Jonathan, who all took part in the protest, are currently facing deportation to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I’ve been here nine years and six months and now I could be deported. My son was born here in 2008,” said Mr Senga, who is desperate to stay in the Republic.
“We want to ask the Government to reconsider deportations to Democratic Republic of Congo. it is not safe to deport people there.”
The UN refugee agency’s official guidance on returns to the Democratic Republic of Congo is that individuals with real or perceived political associations are likely to be at risk.
“The UNHCR is in a position to reassert its recommendation that states need to carefully ascertain the nationality of rejected asylum seekers, as well as their areas of origin, profile, and political or military affiliation, before they are considered for return to the DRC,” a spokeswoman for the agency said yesterday.