Migrant rights are not a luxury

AS a country we have fought hard to have civil rights respected. Unfortunately, the new Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2110 has many aspects which we fear will lead to breaches of civil and fundamental rights of migrants and their family members who are Irish citizens.

A grave concern with the bill is the provision for the summary removal of migrants and those in need of protection, without notice, fair procedures or access to an independent appeals process. This denies minimum safeguards and could endanger those most in need of protection, including victims of human trafficking.

We believe summary removal is contrary to the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and ignores recommendations from the UN Human Rights Committee. Costly court challenges will inevitably follow.

Human rights are not a luxury and draconian measures such as the introduction of summary removals are not in line with the democratic principles of fairness and access to justice that we all believe in. We call on the Government to remove these provisions and introduce an independent appeals process.

Joe O’Brien, Crosscare Migrant Project

Karen McHugh, Doras Luimní

Denise Charlton, Immigrant Council of Ireland

Sue Conlan, Irish Refugee Council

Siobhán O’Donoghue, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland

Josephine Ahern, The Integration Centre

Fiona Finn, NASC: The Irish Immigrant Support Centre