The deportation of migrants whose asylum claims have been rejected after going through a “comprehensive and effective process” should be actively encouraged to maintain the integrity of a country’s asylum system, a senior official from UNCHR, the UN Refugee Agency, has said.
Governments have “every right” to return people to their home countries once they have exhausted all options within the asylum process, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection told a press briefing of European journalists on Wednesday.
Asked whether the Irish Government’s increased deportation enforcement was an effective means of reducing migrant arrival numbers, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela said return programmes were “a critical element for any asylum process to work”.
“There’s not much point having an asylum process to determine who is in need of international protection and allowing those people who are rejected to just remain in the country,” Ms Menikdiwela told The Irish Times.
READ MORE
“People who have been through an effective asylum process, and have been rejected as a result of that process, the governments concerned have every right to return these people. That is certainly not something we are opposed to. In fact, that is something we actively encourage in order to maintain the integrity of the asylum process.”
The commissioner acknowledged that the international asylum system was “under threat”, particularly in the countries of the Global North who are “actually capable of bearing this responsibility”.
“The problem is, we don’t have a choice. Even if countries don’t live up to their responsibilities, refugees and asylum seekers and migrants are going to keep on moving, are going to keep on dying, are going to keep on arriving at the shores of destination countries.”
A more holistic approach, which works with asylum seekers from their country of origin, through transit countries and into the Global North, is the only effective way to address economic migrants “abusing asylum systems”, she said.
[ Asylum system overhaul: What is changing beyond all the talk of reform?Opens in new window ]
Responsibility and burden-sharing among wealthy countries is also a key element, she said, adding labour migration, education and family reunification pathways must be invested in.
“We are not talking about utopian scenarios. We’re literally talking about realistic solutions and options that can and should be made available to refugees wherever they are.”
Aid funding also remains critical, she added. UNHCR has reduced its global staff from about 20,000 to 15,000 in the wake of international aid sector cuts over recent months, led by US president Donald Trump’s slashing of his country’s aid programmes.
The UNHCR estimates 11 million refugees who previously received assistance through the agency are no longer supported, said Ms Menikdiwela.
Asked whether the 1951 Refugee Convention, which was drawn up in the aftermath of the second World War to support hundreds of thousands of refugees rather than the hundreds of millions in the world today, was fit for purpose, the commissioner said the document remained “common sense”.
“It’s literally the most basic principles on the planet. These are basic human rights. This is a universal document. There’s literally nothing in this convention that screams it is outdated. In fact, it’s even more relevant today than it was 74 years ago.”
Any attempt to revise or rewrite the document in the current political climate would be a dangerous move for human rights, she said. “We would probably see a regression rather than progress in terms of the rights accorded to these people.”
The commissioner warned of the continued rise of “horrendous language” to describe the movement of refugees and asylum seekers.
“This has a direct repercussion on the safety and wellbeing, not just of refugees and asylum seekers, but also of the people trying to assist them.
“Falsehoods are easily propagated and easily believed but have serious consequences on some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. Words have consequences.”
