Without real commitment to refugees, we may create a new underclass, writes Peter O'Mahony.
Ireland has seen a notable increase in the numbers of people exercising their right to seek refuge on our shores, particularly in the last three years. World Refugee Day today offers us an opportunity to reflect on how well the country has handled this new reality.
Progress has been significant at a number of levels since one government minister described the asylum system in 1999 as a "shambles". Structures such as the Refugee Legal Service and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal have made a sizeable contribution to ensuring that people are allowed to pursue their right "to seek and enjoy asylum". Resources provided by the State, including large numbers of staff that work full-time in the asylum area, have made a real difference. Schools and other mainstream structures have in many cases responded remarkably well to the real challenges posed by the arrival of new communities.
However, the long-term impact of current asylum policy and practice remains worrying as long as the asylum area remains bedevilled by a lack of transparency, while an unwillingness to make any real commitment to the integration of those who have sought refuge in the country risks creating a new underclass.
The lack of transparency can be seen, for example, in:
- The failure to deliver on the commitment in the Refugee Act 1996 to set up the Refugee Advisory Board with meaningful representation from civil society. In fact, one of the first acts of the current Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was to stand down the sole board which had representatives of trade unions and other non-governmental groups in an advisory role to his Department on the reception and integration of refugees.
- The lack of monitoring by any independent or human rights organisation of the practice of turning away large numbers of immigrants as they arrive at our airports and ports. Though the majority of the estimated 3,000 immigrants duly refused entry into the State in the last year did not seek asylum here, at least some had attempted to claim asylum. Ireland had been the beneficiary three years ago of a grant from the European Commission that would have funded a human rights monitoring presence at Dublin Airport but this was returned unspent because of the unwillingness of the Irish authorities to give the project approval to operate.
- The non-publication of the decisions of the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. This compares badly with the practice in countries such as New Zealand, Canada and Australia.
- The passing of far-reaching legislation with minimal public debate. This week, for example, the Government has produced a 32-page document of "amendments" to the Immigration Bill 2002. Asylum may not be an immediate "voter concern", but surely legislation which can potentially affect the lives and dignity of people should be debated in an informed manner, rather than rushed through our parliament before summer holidays?
Without a real commitment to the integration of those who have sought refuge in Ireland, many of whom will be long-term residents of Ireland, there is a real risk that a new underclass will develop that is resented by others in the community and that is resentful of its exclusion from mainstream society. Over time this runs the real risk of festering and the short-sighted current policies that ultimately lead to social exclusion will have a long-term cost. The lack of routine contact between Irish people and asylum seekers and the superficiality of much of the media coverage allows the perception to develop that large numbers of asylum-seekers are spongers and serious wrongdoers; the reality is that, while some may be, most are not. Nothing militates against the integration of refugees and asylum-seekers in Ireland as much as the Government's policy that prevents all asylum-seekers taking up paid employment. This is despite the fact that groups such as the Congress of Trade Unions, IBEC and the national organisation of the unemployed have signed up to a call that asylum-seekers should be allowed to work if their applications remain unprocessed after a six-month period.
It is interesting to note that, while there has been a huge and welcome speeding up of the processing of asylum claims, most refugees now have to rely on the second stage or appeal process to have their status recognised. Thus most refugees continue to spend in excess of six months in the asylum system and some cases carried into this year are at least three years old.
The placing of the majority of asylum-seekers in accommodation away from mainstream Irish society exacerbates the risk of isolation. Limiting their guaranteed cash income to a mere €19.10 per week ensures that integration is a non-option for many. The fact that the asylum system is expensive and wasteful disguises the reality that it simultaneously impoverishes a large number of people whose potential contribution to Irish society is shamefully unexploited.
In 2001, the former US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, along with other famous refugees, appeared in a worldwide series of commercials marking the 50th anniversary of the UNHCR. With the theme "Respect", the campaign was meant to tackle the prejudice, persecution that refugees and asylum-seekers face each day. It was meant to try and remove the stigma now associated with being an asylum-seeker.
In Ireland, a couple of years on, some refugees and most asylum-seekers (especially if they happen to be dark-skinned) feel unwanted and unwelcome in their country of refuge.
For most asylum-seekers, it is a struggle to go through the application process, the institutionalisation and enforced poverty and still come out of it with their dignity intact.
While the numbers seeking refuge in Ireland will occasionally dip, all the indications are that Ireland will continue to receive substantial numbers seeking asylum. It is thus imperative that we have strong transparent systems, and meaningful integration needs to be pursued as a matter of urgency.
Peter O'Mahony is CEO of the Irish Refugee Council
ASYLUM: The facts
The number of asylum-seekers recognised as refugees during 2002 was 1,990, of which 1,097 were successful appellants at the Refugee Appeals Tribunal against "first instance" refusal by the initial Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner.
5,551 appeals were completed last year, an increase of 60 per cent on the previous year. Some 2,456 appeals were on hand as at the end of last year, of which 10 date back to 1999 and 240 to 2000 or 2001.
In the first 3 months of 2003, 72 per cent of those asylum-seekers whose refugee status was recognised were recognised at the appeal not the "first instance" stage.
Efforts to facilitate the integration remain grossly underdeveloped. Many have difficulties adapting from the asylum-seeking stage during which they are not allowed to work and during which they will normally have lived (in the "direct provision" system) segregated from mainstream Irish society.
Despite increases in welfare payments to most categories, the only guaranteed cash income for asylum-seekers remains frozen at 19.10 per week (half that figure for children).
Research in Irish prisons - on behalf of the Irish Penal Reform Trust and Amnesty International - on the issue of racism was hampered by the refusal of the State to allow the researchers into the prisons. Unsuccessful asylum-seekers may be detained in prison pending deportation as may migrants who, on arrival in the State, have been "refused leave to land". Over 3,000 people were "refused leave to land" in 2002.
Deportation of failed asylum-seekers was stepped up significantly during 2002 and has been running at about 50 per month. Countries to which individuals were returned in 2002 included Algeria.
The long-promised Refugee Advisory Board has failed to materialise and the only refugee-related structure to have had representation of civil society - the Interim Advisory Board of the Reception and Integration Agency - was disbanded by the Minister in October.