Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to be here alongside my Civil Engagement Group colleagues and I am pleased to second this important and timely motion. Senator Ruane has already outlined many of the devastating facts about this crisis and the ways that the EU institutions are complicit in human rights abuses suffered by refugees. I want to speak about the lethal practice of pushing back refugee boats and my disappointment with the Government's amendment.

The drowning of hundreds of refugees after the sinking of the Adrianaoff the Greek coast a week and a half ago should have been more shocking than it is. It should have instigated a Europe-wide reckoning with the cruelty of our border regime and the rampant illegal behaviour of certain EU member states in their treatment of people fleeing war, deprivation and injustice. Unfortunately, it has not done so. Mass death on Europe's sea borders has become routine. I am concerned about an ecosystem of bureaucrats, politicians and media figures peddling alarmist disinformation about the migrant crisis with the goal of hardening people's hearts and securing resources and political consent to construct and maintain a militarised and racist border policy.

The Government's amendment speaks about a European policy of breaking the business model of people smugglers, and this is nonsense. The business of people smuggling has emerged because desperate people cannot travel to Europe and make asylum claims or reunify with families through conventional and legal means. Seeking asylum is a right under the Refugee Convention. EU member states have tried to curtail that right by putting physical and administrative barriers between refugees and the sites where they can claim asylum. As detailed in Sally Hayden's journalism, some of the guards in these EU-funded detention centres that Senator Ruane mentioned are involved in smuggling. Europe's repressive and exclusionary policies have created the massive market for people smuggling and the only way to end this practice is to create a humane and legal pathway for people seeking safety.

The Government's amendment strips away any mention of documented engagement by EU member states or Frontex in the pushback of migrant boats. These pushback operations, which have been documented by NGOs like the Greek Council for Refugees, and reported in reputable news sources such as the The New York Times, The New Yorkerand The Guardian, risk the lives of migrants and violate the principle of non-refoulement, which is a key provision in the international law governing refugees. The Greek Council for Refugees has taken legal action on 11 different pushback incidents. Greece has removed people from its coastal territory, despite interim court orders forbidding it from doing so. The Greek Council for Refugees has recorded instances of physical and sexual violence, as well as unlawful and informal detention employed during these pushback operations. The Greek coast guard and Frontex are leaving boatloads of people stranded in horrific and dangerous conditions. Not only are European institutions failing to provide adequate search and rescue services but they are actively making an already dangerous situation worse.

The Government's amendment promises that Ireland will be a voice for upholding refugee human rights and international law within EU institutions. How can it credibly claim this if it is afraid or unwilling to name the bad actors implicated in human rights abuses and illegality? In lieu of mentioning the actors implicated in these illegal pushbacks, the Government's amendment claims that it will "continue to support the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants". I want to outline the issue in the words of the United Nations special rapporteur. He said that in Greece, "pushbacks at land and sea borders have become de facto general policy". The Government's amendment does not appear supportive of the UN special rapporteur to me. The Government’s reticence to speak about the illegal actions of Frontex and the Greek and Italian coast guards, among other organisations, is made all the more bizarre when all 13 of Ireland's MEPs, including members of all the Government parties, have collectively signed a letter organised by Oxfam requesting the European Commission to take action to stop the illegal and immoral activity.

In March, the annual report of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture found that during pushbacks at European borders, guards use inhumane and degrading treatment, such as firing bullets close to people's bodies while lying on the ground; pushing them into rivers; removing their clothes and shoes, and forcing them to walk barefoot - even fully naked - across the border; using unmuzzled dogs to threaten or even chase foreign nationals; and depriving people of food and water for prolonged periods. These reports add to the significant body of evidence gathered by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe's Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons and several other NGOs, including Oxfam, Médecins sans Frontières, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The human rights abuses that our motion highlights are happening in plain view across the Mediterranean. Journalists, lawyers, activists and NGO workers are doing unbelievably heroic work to highlight this illegal behaviour and provide practical aid to people in acute need of support and compassion. The bare minimum the Government can do is acknowledge the reality of this situation and the amendment to the motion fails even that modest test. This is profoundly disappointing. Standing up for the principles of human rights and international law in an increasingly lawless, cruel and racist European political environment requires courage but it is the right thing to do. I ask the House to fully support and get behind our motion.