UN official urges end to hunger strike by Afghans

The 41 Afghan asylum seekers who are this morning entering their fifth day on hunger strike in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, should stop their protest, the Dublin representative of the UN High Commission for Refugees has said.

Manuel Dao, who visited them last night, described their action as "unacceptable", adding that the asylum system here was "just and fair". He rejected claims that Afghanistan was wholly war-torn and unstable and that no-one could be deported to there.

His comments come as three hunger strikers were brought by ambulance to St James's Hospital yesterday suffering from dehydration. Two were discharged yesterday afternoon. Of the six taken to hospital on Tuesday all have been discharged, according to a hospital spokesman.

Mr Dao said not all Afghans could be described as refugees under the terms of the Geneva Convention. "That is just the fact. It is a very diverse society and it's a different story case by case. It is not acceptable to say 'I am Afghan therefore I am a refugee'."

He said anyone applying for asylum had a number of rights but also responsibilities. "The Irish State respects their rights and they must also respect the law. They have to be reminded of the other side of their rights."

Not all those on hunger strike had exhausted the asylum process, he added.

Commenting on concerns expressed by the hunger strikers that the asylum process was not properly taking into account the situations they were fleeing, Mr Dao said: "The procedure here is fairly just in comparative terms. Nothing is perfect but you compare favourably in Europe."

Nor did he agree with their concerns there were blanket refusals of Afghans' asylum applications. "I don't think you can say ORAC (Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner) or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal make block decisions. The system is fair enough to know each case is decided on its individual merits. That would be a very serious allegation to say that."

However, Samandar Khan, one of those on hunger strike, said yesterday they would not end the protest until they got a "positive response" from the Department of Justice. "We want hope that our rights will be met. We do not want to die. We do not want to commit suicide. We are not fed up with life, but we are fed up with the way we are leading our lives."

Public representatives are continuing to visit St Patrick's Cathedral, which has been closed to the public since Tuesday. The president of the Labour Party, Michael D Higgins, who spent almost three hours with the hunger strikers yesterday, said he had asked them to stop the fast and had offered to pursue each of their cases with the department.

Ciarán Cuffe TD (Green Party) said their action underlined how desperately concerned many asylum seekers were at how the process treated them. He said their concerns were legitimate and he urged the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, to "listen to them".

A spokeswoman for the Minister said his position had not changed since his statement on Tuesday that the asylum system "won't change under duress".

"Everybody gets courteously treated and fairly treated in the process and nobody gets any advantage by any gestures of the kind that we have seen in the last while," he said.