State breaching human rights of homeless asylum seekers

Thu, 01 Aug, 2024 - 14:14

By Cate McCurry, PA

The State’s failure to provide for the needs of homeless asylum seekers is a breach of their fundamental rights, the High Court has ruled.

The court made the ruling after the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) took a case against the State over its failure to provide adequate accommodation to people seeking asylum in Ireland.

Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell delivered the judgment on Thursday afternoon, saying the court found that the approach adopted by the State breached the human rights of the “relevant unaccommodated IP (International Protection) applicants”.

Irish Migration — Tents that were pitched by asylum seekers along Dublin’s Grand Canal before they were removed.

“By failing to meet their basic needs and leaving unaccommodated IP applicants without accommodation or the means to access accommodation, the State has breached the rights of those persons as provided for in Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” the judge said.

The IHREC asked the court to make declarations that the state has failed its obligations and is breaching applicants’ rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

On December 4th last year, the Government stated it could no longer offer accommodation to men seeking international protection.

However, the court did not grant the mandatory orders sought by the IHREC.

“While the court is satisfied that declarations to that effect are warranted, the court will not grant the mandatory orders sought by the Commission,” Justice O’Donnell added.

“Very briefly, the court is not satisfied that there is a basis for concluding that the State will ignore its obligations.

“The State has made clear, and the court accepts, that it is making strenuous efforts to redress the situation.

“Moreover, in response to the decisions of the High Court in 2023, the State in fact altered its approach by taking steps to improve the provision for unaccommodated IP applicants.

“While those steps were not sufficient to avoid a breach of the rights of those applicants, it demonstrated that the State did not intend to ignore the court orders.

“In the premises, it is not appropriate for the court to take the very serious additional step of making mandatory orders to support the declaratory relief sought by the Commission.”

The Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) welcomes the ruling of the High Court declaring that the Irish government’s failure to provide for the basic needs of asylum seekers amounts to a breach of Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

MASI supported this court action by IHREC and is pleased with the declaration which confirms our belief that the government is undermining the rights of people who have no way of meeting their basic needs.

It is disgraceful that we have a government that restricts the right to work for asylum seekers and fails to provide for their basic needs.

MASI calls on the Irish government to reflect on this ruling and its conduct and implement changes that improve the quality of life for asylum seekers.

None of the reforms that the government has introduced improved the standard of living for asylum seekers and we are concerned that homeless asylum seekers are being interviewed to assess their asylum claim while they are still homeless.