Ireland must do more to protect refugees, keep families together

At an EU level, Ireland has been complicit in a failed system of migration management which prioritises border security over the needs of vulnerable people. While the numbers crossing the Mediterranean have dropped significantly since the peak in 2015, the situation for many refugees and migrants arriving in Europe has worsened. Reception centres in Greece and Italy are over capacity – asylum seekers are often pushed out of the official system into poor and unsafe conditions. We have seen first-hand the devastation caused by Europe’s flawed migration policies and want to present positive, alternative solutions. 

Cooperation with countries such as Turkey and Libya on migration issues must be based on respect for human rights and international law. Any dialogue must promote inclusive, accountable and transparent processes and work for the benefit of displaced people, migrants and communities in host and destination countries. This means identifying opportunities to support regional migration initiatives which foster cross-border trade and access to markets and not agreeing to migration policies with states with questionable human rights regimes.

 To address these issues, the next government must:

• Support shared responsibility for hosting refugees equally throughout the EU under a proposed new Dublin system.
• Support the implementation of an EU asylum system that is safe, fair and effective and that provides access to basic services to all asylum seekers. This includes healthy food, water, medical assistance, and legal information and assistance.
• Support EU and NGO search-and-rescue operations with the sole objective of saving lives. People saved in international waters should not be returned to Libya as migrants and refugees arriving there have been, according to a 2018 report by the UN, subjected to ‘unimaginable horrors’. 
• Only support partner countries’ security systems when it contributes to achieving peace and stability, inclusive and sustainable development, state-building and democracy, rule of law and protection of human rights.
• Address the specific needs of refugee and migrant women and girls within aid programmes and promote their role as leaders for positive and inclusive change.

The right to family life and the protection of the family are enshrined in international human rights law and are shared cross-cultural values. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prescribe that the family is a fundamental unit in society and one which is entitled to protection by society and the State. The Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, mentions the value of the family as ‘the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law’. Despite these clear and accepted international standards, Ireland has failed to take adequate steps to protect the right to family life for refugees.

Forced migration separates many families, wrenching children from their parents and grandparents, separating siblings, forcing partners to live apart, and destroying extended family networks. In 2018, Oxfam Ireland produced a report A Family Belongs Together which detailed the human consequences of the Irish Government’s policy on refugee family reunification, namely the impact on refugee families and on their ability to integrate into Irish society. 

The report shows that family separation has a destabilising effect on refugees living in Ireland and contributes to deteriorating mental health and wellbeing, including anxiety and depression. When families are reunited, the presence of relatives can accelerate integration for both new arrivals and family members already in Ireland. A family provides nurturing and coping strategies, helps to anchor a loved one in a new place, and contributes to building cohesion. It can also help improve the ability to engage with social institutions outside the family unit. The Irish Government’s current policy on refugee family reunification is too restrictive and only allows a very narrow group of family members to apply to be reunited – essentially spouses, children under the age of 18, and parents of children under 18.

Oxfam is calling on the next government to right this wrong. To do so, it must:

· Amend the International Protection Act (2015) to expand the definition of family to include young adults who are dependent on the family unit prior to flight; parents; siblings; in-laws, and any other dependent relative. At the very least, the Minister’s discretionary power to reunite dependents should be reinstated as per the 1996 Refugee Act.

 · Introduce legal aid for people seeking refugee family reunion through increased funding to the Legal Aid Board by the Department of Justice.

 · Waive the income requirements for those who have received international protection who apply for family reunification through non-EEA general administration mechanisms.