A recent Irish Times poll found that a clear majority of Irish people, 66 per cent, disagree with the Government’s policy of preferential treatment for Ukrainian refugees. And yet, last week the Irish Government announced it would temporarily suspend visa-free travel from 20 European countries for recognised refugees, apart from Ukrainians.
This raises legal and ethical issues and cements a two-tier refugee response to indivisible suffering. We cannot allow a system where some are welcomed with open arms, while others face a wide range of barriers in securing their rights.
Announcing the decision, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said, “Ireland’s commitment to protecting and assisting those in need, especially those fleeing the unjust and illegal war being waged by Russia against Ukraine, remains steadfast.”
Freedom to move from one EU country to another makes sense. It allows people to be reunited with family or friends, and to follow job opportunities so they can thrive
Ireland’s support of people forced to flee Ukraine is a wonderful demonstration of solidarity. But why “especially” make this commitment to one group of refugees over another? Everyone has the right to seek international protection, regardless of where they come from.
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Discrimination against refugees fleeing from countries other than Ukraine is evident in EU policy and in the practices of too many EU member states, including Ireland. The journey to safety for a Ukrainian refugee, though traumatic, is less arduous than those fleeing other conflicts and persecution. Under the Temporary Protection Directive — activated unanimously and for this first time in its history in support of Ukrainian refugees — someone forced to flee Ukraine crosses the border to Hungary or Poland. They can then decide which EU member state to travel to via train or plane.
Freedom to move from one EU country to another makes sense. It allows people to be reunited with family or friends, and to follow job opportunities so they can thrive, have better mental health and integration and contribute to community and economy. It also means that the border countries are not forced to take responsibility for everybody fleeing.
Syrian ordeal
Compare this with any person fleeing any other war in the world, for example Syria. A person forced to flee Syria makes their way across the border into Turkey. They cannot get on one of the ferries to the Greek island of Samos (that takes 1½ hours) because they don’t have the necessary travel documents. Instead, they may pay a smuggler to cross in an unsafe boat. As they see the lights of Samos, a Greek coast guard boat approaches and pushes them back into Turkish waters. They try again and, if they survive, they arrive in Samos, where they are put into a closed camp surrounded by barbed wire. I have visited these camps and they feel more like a prison than a refuge — no rational person would do anything other than try to move on when they are being treated like a criminal. But it’s not a crime to cross a border without travel documents if you are doing so to claim international protection.
The visa restrictions imposed by Ireland will affect people who are fleeing unimaginable horrors. They have already gone through a rigorous process and proven that they are at grave risk of persecution, torture or danger and in need of international protection. They deserve more than survival — they deserve to thrive.
The Irish Times poll also found that a large majority (82 per cent) of people living in Ireland agree that “it is important that Ireland lives up to its international obligations to protect people who are at risk”, signalling a clear recognition of the importance of safeguarding the integrity of the international protection system.
Asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria told us that border guards forcibly pushed them back to Serbia using brutal tactics, including beatings with batons, setting attack dogs on them and forcing them to remove their clothes in freezing temperatures
Since 2015 Oxfam has been documenting risks to this system and clear violations by EU member states, including violent pushbacks at EU borders, refugees being denied the right to seek asylum for unfounded reasons and being left to languish in inhumane conditions in camps.
Asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria told us that border guards forcibly pushed them back to Serbia using brutal tactics, including beatings with batons, setting attack dogs on them and forcing them to remove their clothes in freezing temperatures. Such actions are illegal, but they happen so often in the EU that the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants, Felipe González Morales found that “in Greece, pushbacks at land and sea borders have become de facto general policy. UNHCR has recorded almost 540 separate incidents during the period 2020—2021″.
This blatant disregard for EU and international humanitarian law is the real threat to the system of international protection, not a few hundred applications from refugees who already have status in a safe European country.
The Irish Government should support Oxfam’s call for investigations into all incidents of illegal pushbacks and enforce infringement procedures for any EU member state found to have conducted them. They must also support a border-monitoring mechanism to make sure that international and EU law is upheld at all EU borders.
Hopefully, the Government will match the welcoming spirit of the Irish public and ensure an equal right to refuge for all.
Dr Aideen Elliott is Oxfam Ireland’s refugee and migration policy co-ordinator