A proposal to consider temporary visas for human rights defenders under threat will be considered favourably by the Government, according to the Minister for Justice.
Mr McDowell was speaking at the opening yesterday of a conference of human rights defenders organised by Front Line, the Dublin-based organisation which fights to protect and defend those engaged in the struggle for human rights. They include lawyers, members of NGOs and campaigners living under some of the most repressive regimes in the world. Over 70 countries are represented at the three-day conference taking place in Dublin Castle.
The proposal to institute a system of temporary visas, for periods of up to a year, came from Ms Mary Lawlor, the Director of Front Line, in her opening address to the conference.
"Most human rights defenders don't want asylum," she told The Irish Times. "The want to stay in their countries and build a just society.
"We want a quick, flexible system for people in grave danger to come for a short time. They could spend it improving their skills, learning a language, studying law, or learning how to network internationally, all skills human rights defenders need. Such people can come in and out of danger as well.
"They could just come for a break. Sometimes people need a break, they can't live under that level of stress and strain on a permanent basis, with the pain of what is going on around them.
"We want the Irish government to show its support for the work of human rights defenders by introducing such a system, and by providing social welfare to the recipients while they are here. The Spanish government already allows people from Colombia to come to Spain on such short-term visas."
She said that Front Line was also seeking support from the Government for the emergency re-settlement of those in permanent danger. She pointed out that the Government had already, through the Minister of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, pledged to make the defence of human rights defenders a priority of its forthcoming presidency of the EU.
Responding to Ms Lawlor, Mr McDowell said that he would support a fast-track approach for people sponsored by organisations such as Front Line, which had status with the Irish government, and by other reputable sponsors. He was awaiting detailed proposals from Front Line and would act on them, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the delegates to the conference, Mr Raji Sourani of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, left it early yesterday to return to Gaza in the light of the deteriorating situation there.
He told the conference before he left that international human rights law should be practised objectively, and not selectively. Accusing some governments of being selective in their support of human rights, he appealed to the EU to end its policy of silence on the war crimes committed in the Occupied Territories.
"This is the longest belligerent occupation in human history," he said. He said the people there had the right to live as civilians and be protected.
The conference heard a tribute to Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who was killed with over 100 colleagues when the UN headquarters in Baghdad was attacked and blown up last month.