UNHCR to advise on Irish asylum case

The UN refugee body in Ireland is to make an unprecedented intervention in the Supreme Court tomorrow in the case of an appeal by a failed asylum-seeker.

UNHCR's representative, Ms Pia Prutz Phiri, has been invited to offer "impartial expert assistance" to the court regarding an important legal issue.

The case, involving an unsuccessful asylum-seeker from Nigeria, could have major implications for asylum applicants fleeing ethnic or religious strife confined to certain regions of their native countries. At issue is the question of "internal flight", or whether someone fearing persecution may have been reasonably able to find safety within the borders of his or her own country rather than leaving it.

To be recognised as refugees, asylum-seekers must demonstrate that, owing to a well-founded fear of prosecution, they have left their countries of origin and are unable or unwilling due to fear to return. Ethnic and religious clashes occur intermittently in parts of Nigeria. Nigerians account for one-third of all asylum applicants in Ireland. Last July, UNHCR made an amicus curiae (friend of the court) application to the court, which was accepted. It was represented by Mr Bill Shipsey SC, and Mr Paddy Dillon Malone, instructed by Mr Andrew O'Rorke of Hayes solicitors.

This is the first time the refugee body has exercised this right in Ireland, although it has intervened in the Supreme Courts of the US and Canada. UNHCR is the universal supervisory body for the protection of refugees under the 1951 Geneva refugee convention, an international law that forms the basis of Irish refugee law. Increasingly, it has established the right to intervene and make submissions about the interpretation of the convention.

Last year, a High Court judge, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan, referred "a point of law of exceptional public importance" on the issue to the Supreme Court. The question arose during a judicial review case taken against the Minister for Justice.

Ms Phiri will not mention this particular case, but will confine her testimony to UNHCR's guideline on the internal flight of refugees.