OPINION:The immigration Bill and the refugee appeals system need changing, writes Robin Hanan.
AFTER A Dublin Corporation walk exploring the history of the city's Jewish community recently, the tired walkers had a chance to see a new short film called Blind Eyeproduced by Mary Rose Doorly, which is set against the background of one of the most shameful moments in Ireland's modern history. The film tells the true story of a young Jewish woman whom the Irish government tried to deport to Nazi Germany in 1939. Unlike most of her peers, her life was saved by a humane garda who allowed her to escape from the ferry in Dún Laoghaire.
After the film, Alan Shatter TD talked about the Jewish refugees who were condemned to death by the government's closed border policy and the culture of suspicion of refugees. He appealed to us not to make the same mistake in relation to people seeking protection from persecution today.
This discussion could not have come at a better time. The Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill, currently before the Dáil, includes the first systematic review of Ireland's laws on protection since the Refugee Act, 1996.
The experience of refugees in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s led to the Geneva Convention, 1951, which enshrines in international law the right to claim protection and to have a fair hearing for that claim.
In the Irish Refugee Council we are constantly reminded of why this is still so important. Every week, we meet people who have fled to Ireland to escape persecution in countries like Zimbabwe, Sudan, Nigeria and Congo and who still face the climate of suspicion described in the film. Many have horrendous experiences of false imprisonment, torture and rape. For them, the right to a full and fair hearing of their asylum claim can literally be a matter of life or death.
The Bill gives the new Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, a historic opportunity to get the system right. Ireland now has a decade of experience of processing claims for asylum.
The Bill is intended to simplify the process of claiming protection in Ireland. At present, someone seeking protection generally applies first for refugee status, which requires a high level of proof of personal danger. If this fails, many will apply for other forms of protection, or for leave to remain in the country. The Bill will replace this with a "single procedure", meaning that one application will be filled out for all forms of protection.
This is welcome in principle. It could lead to an end to the present situation where people have to live in "direct provision" centres, not allowed to work, cook or study, and having to survive on €19.10 a week for up to seven years while the State decides their future. However, if there is to be only one chance to make their case, it is even more vital that the hearing is fair. The Bill needs significant changes to achieve this.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recommended 76 substantial amendments, and similar calls have come from bodies ranging from the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Law Society to religious organisations, representatives of new communities and human rights organisations like Amnesty and ICCL. Unicef, the UN childrens' fund, the Ombudsman for Children, Barnardos, the Children's Rights Alliance and the ISPCC have looked for changes to the provisions relating to children.
The Minister's predecessor, Brian Lenihan, expressed his willingness to consider necessary amendments, and we look forward to a similar approach from Ahern.
The Irish Refugee Council has put forward a large number of proposals for amendments. As one example, we are concerned that Irish law does not provide adequate protection for children who arrive in Ireland separated from their parents or primary caregivers. The Bill needs to specify that decisions on their future welfare will be decided in accordance with the best interests of the child, that they will be entitled to special care and protection and that they will be considered to be lawfully present in the State while their best interests are being determined.
The blanket exemption of the asylum process from the Freedom of Information Act has been questioned by the Freedom of Information Commissioner. Several Government deputies have called for the new appeals body, the Protection Review Tribunal, to be required to publish its decisions and guidelines.
It is in everyone's interests that justice is seen to be done. To date, it is mainly through court cases that we know, for example, about the (then) most active member of the tribunal who refused all applicants.
The Bill also needs to be amended to ensure that it cannot be used to imprison people who have not committed any crime, but are simply seeking protection. Lenihan has said that the new powers to detain people on arrival in the country were only meant to be used "for a few hours". As several Government deputies said in the Dáil, this needs to be made explicit, with a time limit in the Bill.
Legal changes will not, in themselves, deliver a fair asylum process. In setting up the new system, the Minister has an opportunity to bring the processes for hearing claims up to international best practice. It is not acceptable in the 21st century that a claim is heard by one individual, who has the extraordinary responsibility of acting almost as prosecutor, judge and recorder.
The often traumatised asylum seekers are still often met by a "culture of disbelief", which gives more emphasis to their personal credibility than to the reasons why they need protection and gives them little advice and support when they are filling out the questionnaire which may determine their futures.
Recently, in giving leave to take a judicial review case, a High Court judge questioned the practice of not sharing with an applicant information on which a judgment was based before a decision was made. Just last week, the High Court agreed to hear a case against the tribunal for refusing to take account of medical evidence of torture of an Ethiopian asylum seeker.
We look forward to working with the new Minister and his officials to develop a system which is fair as well as efficient. It is time to put the shameful past portrayed in the film Blind Eye behind us. There is no better measure of who we are as a country than the way we treat people desperate for - and deserving of - protection.
Robin Hanan is chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council