The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) supports the recent call by the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, for the extension of her remit to include oversight of the asylum, immigration and naturalisation processes. The Ombudsman made her call last week when launching a report by the Women’s Health Council into gender-based violence against minority ethnic women in Ireland.
The IHRC has been convinced of the need for such independent oversight following an enquiry it recently published into the treatment of a Pakistani businessman who had obtained a valid visa to visit Ireland from the Irish consulate in Pakistan. When he arrived at Dublin airport, he was refused leave to land in the State, detained in prison overnight and removed from the State the following morning, which caused him difficulties when he returned to Pakistan. He had followed all necessary procedures in seeking and obtaining a visa.
Dr Maurice Manning, President of the IHRC said "The current immigration system does not provide any mechanism for appealing or complaining about such immigration decisions or checking to ensure that there have been no administrative mistakes. The position is the same for naturalisation decisions. Asylum decisions can be appealed but there is no independent mechanism to check whether there are systems failures that need to be remedied."
Mr Éamonn Mac Aodha, Chief Executive of the IHRC stated "the IHRC believes that decisions in an area which has such important implications for the human rights of the people concerned require oversight by a statutorily independent body."
Dr Manning concluded "the IHRC echoes the call from the Ombudsman to be allowed to oversee decisions in the asylum/immigration/naturalisation area and have the authority to investigate complaints or to undertake own-motion investigations into all immigration-related practices. We hope that such a proposal will be included in the Ombudsman Amendment Bill, 2008, which is due for discussion in the Oireachtas shortly. It would assist in avoiding procedural unfairness and give greater confidence in the integrity of the immigration system."
The IHRC also recommends that consideration be similarly given to extending the remit of the Ombudsman for Children regarding asylum, immigration and naturalisation processes where the rights of the child are involved.
These recommendations reflect similar observations made by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, in his Report on Ireland published in April 2008.
ENDS/
For further information please contact
Fidelma Joyce
IHRC
Tel: 01 8589601/087 783 4939
Notes to Editor:
1. The IHRC published its 2nd Enquiry Report into a visitor refused leave to land in the State, in January 2009, see www.ihrc.ie
2. Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that persons have the right to an effective remedy before a national authority to deal with the substance of an arguable right under the Convention. The remedy should concern both the determination of the claim and any redress. The domestic ‘authority’ does not have to be a judicial authority; an administrative authority may suffice provided its powers and the guarantees which it affords are effective.
3. Similarly Article 2(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that individuals have accessible and effective remedies to vindicate rights under the Covenant.
4. A domestic remedy may deal not only with the case in question, but also with preventing the recurrence of a more general problem, as well as providing compensation or a halt to measures that violate human rights.