Edward Snowden, Asylum & Ireland

July 2, 2013 Liam Thorntonasylum, direct provision, Edward Snowden, ireland, refugee, subsidiary protectionLeave a comment

It has been reported in the media this morning that Edward Snowden has “applied for” asylum in Ireland, along with applications to 19 other countries (see here, here, here and here). However, as is clear from a reading of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended), Mr Snowden has not made any such application for asylum in Ireland. Leaving aside the issue of whether Snowden qualifies as a person in need of refugee or subsidiary protection, to apply for asylum in Ireland, Section 8(1) of the 1996 Act states:

A person who arrives at the frontiers of the State seeking asylum in the State or seeking the protection of the State against persecution or requesting not to be returned or removed to a particular country…. [emphasis added]

As Snowden has not arrived at the frontiers of the State, he is unable to make an application for asylum/protection in Ireland. Unlike Ecuador, an individual cannot make an asylum claim at an Irish embassy (be it in Russia or elsewhere). If Snowden was to (somehow!) make it to Ireland and made an application for refugee or subsidiary protection at the frontiers of the State, the United States has not been designated a safe country of origin, so Mr Snowden’s asylum and/or subsidiary protection claim would have to be dealt with under the legal framework of the 1996 Act and 2006 Regulations. Given the low rate of acceptance of refugee and subsidiary protection claims in Ireland, as well as the direct provision system in place, Mr Snowden might want to think twice about making any such journey to Ireland.

Update 16:35pm 20/07/2013: The Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) confirms that applications for asylum cannot be made outside of Ireland. However, the Taoiseach also stated that if Snowden did apply for asylum in Ireland, it would be dealt with under Irish law.

Internship Opportunity: UNHCR Ireland

May 15, 2013 Liam Thorntonasylum, Internship, refugee, statelessness, unhcrLeave a comment

UNHCR Ireland invites applications for a six month full-time Protection Internship. Closing date for applications is 29 May 2013.

Full particulars of this internship opportunity are available here.

The Direct Provision System: The Time for Change is Now

March 27, 2013 Liam Thorntonasylum, Children's Rights, direct provision, Immigration, reform, refugeeLeave a comment

Over recent weeks, the issue of direct provision has been raised on several occasions within and outside the Irish Parliament (see here, here and here). Breda O’Brien’s excellent article in Saturday’s Irish Times and a letter by a practicing Cork based GP in today’s Irish Times add further weight to the calls (since 2001) for a fundamental reform of this punitive and penal system. A system that indefinitely denies a right to work no matter how long it takes to take a decision on a refugee/subsidiary protection/leave to remain claim and forces some asylum seekers into communal living for years on end is not fit for purpose.

The Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter TD and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice (pp. 9-11, p. 13) have defended the system on the basis of a 2010 Value for Money Report. This report is deeply flawed for a number of reasons:

The only people responsible for drafting the report were officials from government departments. There were no representatives from those living in direct provision or of any civil society organisations who seek to represent the interests of asylum seekers;
It was presumed (totally unreasonably) Continue reading “The Direct Provision System: The Time for Change is Now” →

The removal of support for integration in the Netherlands: the case of the refugee

April 19, 2012 Anne NeylonForced migration, integration, Nationality, nationality law, Naturalization, refugee, refugees, Right of asylum, The NetherlandsLeave a comment

The Dutch government announced last week that from 2013, it will no longer finance integration and language classes for newly arrived immigrants in the state. Despite an amendment proposed by opposition parties, it appears that there will be no exception for refugees in the Netherlands. The new measure is introduced as part of bill amending the Integration Act, which is currently being debated in parliament. Though under the proposed amendment, training will no longer be freely available to refugees, their ability to access a long term residence permit or citizenship status will still be dependent on whether they pass the state integration and language tests. This announcement signifies yet another obstacle for those attempting to gain long term residence and ultimately citizenship status in the state. However, it also reveals the ambivalent attitude that the Dutch Government has towards refugees living in the state. Continue reading “The removal of support for integration in the Netherlands: the case of the refugee” →

UNHCR #do1thing: Sexuality and Refugee Status

October 14, 2011 Liam Thornton#do1thing, asylum seeker, Fiona de Londras, refugee, Section 1 Refugee Act 1996, Sexuality Membership of a particular social group, unhcr, United Kingdom Supreme CourtLeave a comment

The definition of refugee includes those who are members of a particular social group. Section 1 of the Refugee Act 1996 defines this ground as including (amongst others) those persecuted for reasons of their sexual orientation. In a recent United Kingdom Supreme Court decision, HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department the question that arose was whether a person had to be ‘discrete’ in relation to their sexuality so as to avoid persecution by the state. The High Court and Court of Appeal for England and Wales response to this question was ‘yes’. The UK Supreme Court, however, rejected this approach. Lord Roger (at para. 76) inverted the question posed in this case, questioning whether:

a straight man or woman could find it reasonably tolerable to conceal his or her sexual identity indefinitely to avoid suffering persecution.

Fiona de Londras noted in a previous post, how Irish decision makers were finding against the credibility of refugee applicants for not knowing or being involved in the gay rights movement or arguing that they could be ‘discrete’ if returned to their countries of origin. This is a wholly incorrect approach Continue reading “UNHCR #do1thing: Sexuality and Refugee Status” →

Minority Rights Summer School Highlights Plight of the Rohingyas

July 4, 2011 David KeaneAmal de Chickera, Bangladesh, Burma, Chris Lewa, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Equal Rights Trust, Forced migration, International Human Rights Law, Irish Centre for Human Rights, Joseph Powderly, Joshua Cooper, Minority group, Minority Rights Summer School, Myanmar, Nancie Prud’homme, refugee, Rohingya people, Thailand, William SchabasLeave a comment

I was the organiser for this year’s Minority Rights Summer School, held at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, from 13th-17th June. It was the eleventh year of the School, which always attracts an interesting group of academics, students, activists and lobbyists, as well as those with a general interest in minority and indigenous rights and the role of human rights law in promoting equality and diversity. The programme this year saw a range of speakers, including a full day of sessions dedicated to a forum on indigenous peoples’ rights with contributions from scholars and practitioners. Continue reading “Minority Rights Summer School Highlights Plight of the Rohingyas” →

Deprivation of Permission to Work: Asylum Seekers and Article 8 ECHR

March 24, 2011 GuestPostHigh Court in London, Immigration, Irish Government, London School of Economics, refugee, Republic of Ireland, Right of asylum, Right to Work for Asylum SeekersLeave a comment

Human Rights in Ireland is delighted to welcome this guest post from Gráinne Mellon. Gráinne is a pupil barrister at 36 Bedford Row Chambers in London. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the London School of Economics where she specialised in immigration and human rights law.

Ireland is only one of two member states of the European Union (the other being Denmark) that has failed to ratify the 2003 EU Directive on the Minimum Standards for the Reception of Asylum Seekers. The Reception Directive, as it is known, lays down the minimum conditions for asylum seekers and provides that they must be allowed to work after a year of waiting for a decision, or before. Asylum seekers in Ireland therefore are not permitted to work in any capacity pending the resolution of their claim; regardless of how long this takes. The UK, on the other-hand, ratified the Directive but excluded subsequent asylum seekers from accruing any right to work in doing so. In a landmark case last year of ZO (Somalia) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] 1 WLR 1948 the UK Supreme Court ruled this exclusion was unlawful. Although the ruling was based solely on the Reception Directive, litigation for damages both for State Liability under EU law and breach of Article 8 is ongoing.

It is clear therefore that despite not being subject to the requirements of the Directive, the Irish government remains bound by Article 8 of the ECHR in respect of immigration policy. Two recent decisions of the High Court in London have dealt Continue reading “Deprivation of Permission to Work: Asylum Seekers and Article 8 ECHR” →

Foreign Islamic Marriages at Irish Law

February 15, 2011 Máiréad EnrightConflict of laws, family reunification, Hamza, Hassan, High Court, islamic, Law, marriage, muslim, polygamy, proxy marriage, refugee, Republic of Ireland, United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesLeave a comment

In November, Mr. Justice Cooke considered two family reunification cases in the High Court which shed some light on the status under Irish law of Muslim marriages contracted abroad. The cases are Hamza & Another v. MJELR [2010] IEHC 427 and Hassan & Another v. MJELR [2010] IEHC 426. Dr. Hamza and Mr. Hassan had obtained refugee status in Ireland, and sought to have their wives join them and reside in Ireland, under s. 18 of the Refugee Act, 1996 (as amended). Both applications had been refused because of doubts concerning the validity of the applicants’ marriages. Dr. Hamza’s application was refused because his Sudanese marriage was considered to be a proxy marriage (because the bride was not present at the ceremony but was represented by a male relative). Mr. Hassan’s application was refused because it was considered that his Somali marriage, as a religious marriage contracted abroad, could not be recognised as valid at Irish law. The High Court has now confirmed that both marriages could in principle have been treated as valid for family reunification purposes – a question quite apart from that of the applicants’ marital status at private international law.

Continue reading “Foreign Islamic Marriages at Irish Law” →

Asylum Seekers Protest in Ireland and Australia

September 6, 2010 Máiréad EnrightAustralia, Forced migration, Hatch Hall, Immigration, Immigration detention, Irish Refugee Council, Ministerial Council on Integration, Northern Territory, refugee, Refugee Action Coalition, Right of asylum, Seaview, TampaLeave a comment

The Irish Times reported on Wednesday that asylum seekers have held demonstrations in towns across Ireland to protest delays in the asylum process and poor living conditions (on which see this article in the Irish Times, Liam’s posts on the ‘direct provision’ system here, here and here and a guest post from Saoirse Brady of FLAC here). Residents at the Mosney direct provision centre (see the trailer for the excellent Seaview documentary here) have also protested their living conditions and the government’s ‘value-for-money’ driven efforts to move some residents from Mosney to a hostel at Hatch Hall in Dublin. This is the second such protest – I blogged about the first here – and marks the new deadline for the removal of 70 asylum seekers to Dublin set at the time of the first protest. Concern has also been voiced about an audit visit by Department of Justice officials.

Continue reading “Asylum Seekers Protest in Ireland and Australia” →

SCS on Children's Rights: Children in the Direct Provision System

July 27, 2010 Liam Thorntonchild protection, Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, Committee on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, direct provision, Free Legal Advice Centre, government, Health Services Executive, human rights, ireland, Reception and Integration Agency, refugee, Republic of Ireland, right to education, social security, Society, United Kingdom, United Nations High Commission for RefugeesLeave a comment

Much has been written on the wholly inappropriate care arrangements for separated children in Ireland (see here, here, here, here and here). This research has found gross inadequacies in the separated child protection system; however the Irish government, in light of the Ryan Report, has committed itself to ensuring that separated children are treated on par with other children in the care system. This post seeks to examine the responses of the Irish state to those children who live with parent(s) or guardian(s) within the direct provision system, with a particular focus on rights of the child. As of May 2010, there were 2,034 children living in direct provision accommodation. From the May 2010 statistics provided by the Reception and Integration Agency, it is likely that many of these children have spent a considerable period of time within the direct provision system. With their parents prohibited from working, there is an enforced reliance on the direct provision system which I have previously argued signifies a move towards a more controlling and less rights based social security system. Children within direct provision will be accommodated with their parents in a single room. Where the child is part of a one-parent family, the accommodation may be shared with another one-parent family. Breakfasts, school lunches and dinners are provided to the children, the child may never have witnessed their parents preparing food. School friends may be denied access to the direct provision centre, so opportunities for play and social interaction is severely lessened. The location of the direct provision accommodation, usually away and apart from the host community, means that a child’s interaction with the local community is minimised. In terms of social welfare entitlement, the child’s parent will receive €9.60 per week in addition to the €19.60 which each parent will receive. Supplementary welfare allowance, a residual and discretionary welfare payment, will be paid by the Health Services Executive to cover the cost of school uniforms, books and in some instances school trips. In general, parents will not be able to claim child benefit for their children, and the recent Social Welfare and Pensions (No.2) Act 2010 now states that asylum seekers cannot be considered to be habitually resident, and therefore legislatively prohibited from receiving child benefit. So what then are the international laws and standards which apply to such children? Continue reading “SCS on Children's Rights: Children in the Direct Provision System” →

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