Dáil debates
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Adjournment Debate
Asylum Applications.
10:00 pm
Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this matter for the Adjournment. It is a request for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to expedite the asylum application of Mr. Adnan Mohammedi, an Iranian Kurd, who is a victim of torture and whose wife and child are in hiding in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The other Deputies associated with this issue are Deputies à Snodaigh, Joe Higgins, Finian McGrath, Healy and Cowley. If any of the aforementioned Members enter the Chamber while I am speaking, I will give way to them.
The Minister should review urgently the existing procedures for processing asylum applications in order that those who have been persecuted or tortured are not obliged to wait for years to have their applications determined. A period of two years is far too long. While the Minister would assert the period is six months, in practice one finds that most applications take years to process and this is a case in point.
Mr. Adnan Mohammedi is an Iranian Kurd who fled to Ireland a couple of years ago. He was a member of Komala, the Iranian socialist party, and he was engaged in underground political work for the party in Iran between 1990 and 2003. His activities brought him to the attention of Iranian agents who disclosed his whereabouts and activities and he was obliged to flee Iran to receive protection and asylum. Similarly, his wife and child were obliged to flee to the Kurdish part of Iraq for protection, where they are now in hiding.
Adnan is in a desperate state of mind. He is beside himself with worry and concern regarding his family's welfare and safety and, naturally, he wishes to look for them. The Minister of State may recall that he has gone on hunger strike a number of times and on the last occasion he had his lips sown together to prevent him from consuming water and food. Eventually, after 15 days, he was prevailed upon to end his hunger and thirst strike. He went on hunger strike in an effort to secure a visa to travel to Iraq to search for his wife and child there. As I said, he is beside himself with worry and concern.
There are two obvious ways in which to solve this problem. The first is to give him a visa, which would be difficult because he lacks the requisite documents to return to Ireland. The second solution is to expedite his application for asylum in order that he is not obliged to spend longer waiting to get recognition and to receive refugee status. The Minister of State should address the issue in an urgent fashion. This is a human case in which a person who is worried about his family is suffering intensely. Were his application to be processed and refugee status granted to him â as Members hope â he would be able to seek his wife and child and to begin his life again and to re-engage in proper family life. This issue rests with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I hope the Minister of State has some good news.
Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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It is important that I preface my remarks by pointing out that it has been the policy of successive Ministers for Justice, Equality and Law Reform not to comment on individual asylum applications.
However, it is a fundamental principle underlying the asylum process that when asylum seekers come here and seek our protection that their cases are fairly and independently examined. The definition of a refugee is set out in section 2 of the Refugee Act 1996. Subject to certain exceptions, including where persons may be excluded from refugee status on security related grounds, that definition is:
a person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it.
As the Deputy is aware, under the Refugee Act 1996, two independent statutory offices were established to consider applications or appeals in respect of refugee status and to make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on whether such status should be granted. These offices are the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
In addition, the UNHCR is given full access to the refugee determination process and can examine any case at any time to ensure that fair procedures and our obligations under the Geneva Convention are complied with. The task, therefore, for the independent refugee determination agencies, in the case of each individual asylum seeker, is to determine whether, following investigation, he or she is deemed to come within the terms of that definition on the basis of all of the information given by or obtained in respect of the applicant.
Every asylum application is considered on its own individual merits. Every asylum applicant is guaranteed an investigation and determination of his or her claim at first instance by the Refugee Applications Commissioner. Where it is necessary and possible, investigations are conducted with the assistance of an interpreter. Applicants are interviewed by an authorised officer on behalf of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and such authorised officers receive full and comprehensive training in the interviewing of persons seeking a declaration as a refugee.
Following each interview, an assessment is made of the core elements relating to the case. Consideration is given to the subjective and objective elements of the application. The subjective element of an asylum application concerns the applicant's individual circumstances as they are perceived and described by him or her. The objective element of the application concerns the relevant country of origin information, which comes from a wide variety of sources including, for example, information from organisations such as the UNHCR, Amnesty International, Canadian boards of immigration and other EU member states, as well as media and Internet sources. In addition to these periodically updated sources, the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal have access to up to date news reports regarding events and developments in the countries concerned.
The assessment carried out includes determining whether an applicant has a well founded fear of persecution, whether the persecution is related to a convention reason, whether the applicant is unable or unwilling to return to his or her own country, what internal protection alternative, if any, might be available within his or her own country, as well as credibility issues, which are always extremely important to consider.
Every asylum applicant is guaranteed a right of appeal to a statutorily independent and separate body, namely, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Every asylum applicant is also guaranteed access to legal assistance provided by the refugee legal service. I can inform the Deputy that a final decision on this application will be made on receipt of the decision of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.