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Asylum Seekers and Housing Rights in IrelandPiaras Mac Éinrà 1 Who is a refugee?According to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who
While this is not the only definition of a refugee it is the key one. Ireland, in common with most countries, has signed the Convention (and a later 1967 amendment) and has embraced its core principle of non-refoulement. This simply means that someone will not be sent back to her/his country of origin if s/he would not be safe there, or to an intermediary country if the effect of such a move would be likely to be that person’s onward expulsion towards the country of origin. This definition begs a number of questions. Who should decide whether a person's fear of persecution is well founded? Is it necessary to prove that the state authorities of the home country are directly responsible for the persecution or simply that membership, say, of a given ethnic group is likely to entail persecution by another? What about categories of discrimination and/or persecution that were not recognised at the time the Convention was drafted, such as female genital mutilation or sexual orientation? In all of the above, what kind of legal protection should be available to the would-be refugee, what are the procedures and how long should they take? What categories of social assistance and other support (including accommodation) should asylum seekers be entitled to while their cases are being heard? How should states seek to reconcile their own desire to control immigration across their borders and the need for a humane, rights-based approach to asylum rights? At an even more basic level, what do we do about the south/north global inequalities and exploitation, for much of which the "West" is directly responsible, which are generating these flows of forced migrants in the first place? There are no uniform answers to these questions, but certain underlying realities have pushed forced migration to the top of the political agenda in recent years. 2 Forced migration is here to stayThere has been an inexorable upward rise in the number of refugees in the world, from an estimated 2 million in the early 1970s to a peak of 18 million in 1994 (source: UNHCR) – and this is by no means an exhaustive figure. We should bear in mind, of course, that the overwhelming majority of these people never reach the "developed" world at all and that far greater numbers are received elsewhere every year, by countries far poorer than Celtic Tiger Ireland. The original 1951 Convention was conceived of as a temporary measure designed to respond to the peculiar circumstances of post-World War II Europe, with millions of displaced and stateless persons to be catered for. Refugees then were seen as 'exceptional' rather than the norm. It is only in recent years that it has become obvious that large-scale movements of forced migrants, for one reason or another (famine, war, ecological and/or environmental disasters), are here to stay. This has opened up a dilemma for state policy planners. On the one hand, they have signed up to a set of humanitarian and rights-based international obligations. On the other, they have increasingly tried to reduce the rising inflow of asylum seekers. This is often done through the implementation of complex regulatory systems whose effects are certainly not in accord with the spirit of the 1951 Convention. These debates have been played out in a rising climate of xenophobic and racist sentiment, as can be seen, for instance, with the rise of Jorge Haidar in Austria, the Front National in France and the Vlaams Blok in Belgium 3 What is the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker?There are basically two kinds of refugee status. A person whose individual application for asylum has been accepted may be described as a Convention Refugee (after the 1951 Convention). In other cases of manifest crisis the Government may decide to admit an entire group of persons on an organised basis; these are called Programme Refugees. The most recent example was that of the Kosovar Albanians who came to Ireland last year. One should also mention the cases of persons who do not obtain full asylum status but who, for a variety of humanitarian reasons, are allowed to remain. Once a person has refugee status, s/he becomes part of the ‘normal’ social welfare system (including housing) in Ireland and is also entitled to access to various additional (although limited) special services. Refugee status is in reality broadly similar to that of any other legal immigrant. Asylum seekers whose status has not yet been determined are in a very different position. For instance, they are not allowed to work until they have been here a year, they cannot apply for local authority housing and adults have no access to education and training. Until recently they were entitled to basic social welfare and related services including the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, rent allowance and medical services, but the introduction of 'direct provision' (more below) is changing elements of this policy. Until a decision is handed down, an asylum seeker is thus in a state of limbo. However, during that period, he/she is entitled to be regarded as a bona fide applicant. The fact that some cases do turn out to be 'spurious' or at least (in the jargon) 'manifestly unfounded' in no way affects this basic right. It cannot be right at this stage of the procedure to seek to create a climate which is at the very least as repressive (or more repressive) as the UK, in the interest of discouraging further ‘frivolous’ applications, nor is it right to confuse the terms ‘illegal immigrant’ and asylum-seekers. In sum, asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants at least until a decision has been made in their case. They have the right to come to Ireland, and to any other signatory country of the 1951 UN Convention and to ask for refugee status i.e. permission to remain in the host country. When their status is decided, they become refugees, with full entitlement to remain in the country with the same rights as EU citizens, or they are refused and the State is entitled to deport them. 4 Asylum seekers arriving in IrelandThe number of asylum seekers was negligible until the mid-1990s (see chart). Since then there has been a steady increase to the present figure of about 1000 per month. This is in line with an increasing trend elsewhere, although the Irish case is more dramatic because of the very low base from which we started.
5 Asylum seekers and housingThe policy difficulty facing the authorities lies in how to treat asylum seekers whose status has not yet been determined. Such persons may be here for a considerable time – years, not months - awaiting a decision. How should they be accommodated and what social services and other forms of support are they entitled to during this period? For the State, two conflicting interests arise. On the one hand, it is inhumane and unjust to ghettoize asylum seekers by segregating them, as a matter of principle or practice, from the population in general. On the other, the authorities fear that if people do become integrated into local Irish communities it will then become very difficult to deport them if a decision is taken that their cases are ill-founded. In a more general sense, there is clearly an underlying fear that if Ireland is to become more ‘attractive’ to would-be asylum seekers, merely because it is seen as somewhat less punitive than some other EU countries, this perception in itself could fuel a new flow. The trouble with this argument is that it justifies the ongoing and increasing marginalisation of asylum seekers and the erosion of their liberties, as almost any ‘humane’ measures could be shown to generate an upward trend. This drives us inexorably toward the logic of the poorhouse in 19th century Ireland – make the place so profoundly awful that no one will want to go there unless and until it is literally the last resort. This cannot be right. 6 The 1999 accommodation crisisAccommodation difficulties for asylum-seekers only became a serious issue within the past year or so. Prior to 1999, there were relatively few asylum seekers in Ireland, with the vast majority concentrated in Dublin (Ennis has also received asylum seekers since the 1980s). Social welfare and accommodation allowances for Dublin asylum seekers were administered through the Eastern Health Board. As housing grew scarcer and more expensive in Dublin, and as the number of asylum seekers arriving every month began to increase, it became increasingly necessary to accommodate asylum seekers in hotel, bed and breakfast and hostel type accommodation. Towards the end of 1999, with arrivals running at about 1,000 per month, the Dublin area reached capacity. Moreover, within the city there were clear patterns of concentration, especially within the north inner city area. This sometimes led to conflict between asylum seekers, a socially and economically marginalised community, and other communities who were themselves disadvantaged within an increasingly polarized city. The situation was not helped by wild statements by a few politicians, most notably Ivor Callelly, TD, who is (incredibly) the chairperson of the Eastern Regional Health Authority. His statements that ‘rogue’ asylum-seekers should be ‘kicked out’ and that some asylum-seekers were ‘carrying on a culture that is not akin to Irish culture’ such as ‘the bleeding of lambs in the back garden’ were followed by other remarks about the “block of people coming to Ireland to cash in on the benefits asylum-seekers are able to claim”. Liz O’Donnell was alone among Government politicians in speaking out strongly in defence of asylum-seekers, whereas the Taoiseach, speaking of Mr Callelly’s remarks ‘didn’t see any great difficulty with them’. 7 “Dispersal”By the end of 1999 the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was faced with a serious difficulty in securing more accommodation for asylum-seekers in the Dublin region. Their solution was to implement a policy of ‘dispersal’ of asylum seekers outside the capital, by advertising in the national media for emergency accommodation and moving people out as it became available. Such a policy is not necessarily a bad idea – on the contrary. There is a considerable degree of goodwill towards asylum-seekers throughout the country and a sensitive policy, respectful of the wishes and needs of asylum seekers themselves and focused on adequate service provision and support as well as dialogue building with host communities, would have every chance of success. However, this can only work if the support systems, advice and services are put in place. Local communities cannot be expected to carry the burden themselves. Cases have arisen where buses have arrived in the middle of the night bearing asylum seekers. They did not know where they were and had themselves been selected more or less at random. Sometimes the first the local people knew of their arrival was the sound of the buses' engines. 8 From tent cities to floating detention centers?The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform does not pretend that the present situation is satisfactory. Indeed it describes it as both 'emergency' and 'unplanned' and accepts that things are not happening as they should. The danger is, that with asylum seeker arrivals continuing to run at a high rate, the "emergency", like the one that the State famously declared in 1939, may become semi-permanent. For now, the shortage of accommodation is the dominant issue. There has even been consideration of 'floating hostels' and tent cities, although the Department denies that such measures are likely anytime soon. Meanwhile the Department has already introduced 'direct provision', obliging asylum seekers to stay in officially-provided accommodation. Instead of social welfare payments their meals are provided and they receive pocket money of IR£15 per week. This system, apart from being unjust, demeaning and inefficient, means that the ability to accommodate further numbers will continue to be dependent on the Department's continuing ability to locate suitable additional accommodation around the country. Moreover, if asylum-seekers subsequently find alternative accommodation themselves, they will not be allowed access to the usual social welfare system, including rent subsidies, even though this would free spaces in the officially-provided accommodation. This is likely (a) to guarantee a shortage of accommodation as numbers increase (b) to increase the numbers of persons tempted to drift back to Dublin without any means of support or housing options. 9 The way forwardDublin has certainly reached capacity and we need to find acceptable and humane ways of housing asylum seekers outside the capital, in consultation with the asylum seekers themselves. However, a policy of 'regionalisation' of asylum seekers must be accompanied by a policy of regionalisation of support services. The imminent opening of a 'drop-in' centre in Cork and the development of many community-based voluntary support operations around the country are examples of such systems but they will need official funding on a partnership basis. Asylum seekers do not and will not have access to the regular local authority housing system. While this is understandable it also underlines the basic inadequacy of State social and emergency housing provisions, whether for asylum seekers, travellers, others forced out of the private market through economic circumstances and other categories of homeless people. New and imaginative solutions are needed. For instance, it seems odd to see a cash-rich State disposing of high-value properties around the country when such sites could be used for emergency housing. One might also explore a cooperative approach with religious orders, many of whom are losing numbers and have property they no longer need. I know from our own experience in Cork that some of these orders are very supportive of action in this field and would willingly contribute to a collective official/voluntary effort. Fifty ago Noel Browne made giant strides in the elimination of TB although he had to put State assets virtually in hock to do it. Perhaps the time is now right for a similarly radical campaign. The issue should not be seen as one of Irish disadvantaged versus asylum seekers. What is needed is a concerted campaign to combat social exclusion through a more far-sighted policy designed to achieve a successfully integrated, inter-cultural society. We have the wealth to do this; one hopes we also have the vision. > |
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