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MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES A Migrant is a person who is living and/or working in a State of which s/he is not a national. A Refugee is a person who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country" (The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees). Annual UNHCR figures show continuing climb in number of uprooted In June 2008 UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres expressed concern about the growing number of refugees worldwide after an annual survey said there were 11.4 million refugees and 26 million others displaced internally by conflict or persecution at the end of 2007. "After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we have now seen two years of increases, and that's a concern," Read More Ireland and Migrants: At present roughly 10% of Irelands population is made up of migrants, most of whom are not included in the UNHCR figures referred to above. Most migrants in Ireland are EU citizens. A quarter of these are people from the UK (about 100,000) who have settled here. The next largest national groups, in order are, Polish, Lithuanian and Nigerian. There are also many non EU nationals from countries such as Brazil, the Phillipines, USA, India and other countries who have work permits in Ireland. The UN figures given above concern refugees and asylum seekers, people who for one reason or another have been forced to leave their homelands. The number of asylum seekers entering Ireland has been decreasing since 2002 when 11,634 applications were made. By 2007 the number of people who entered the asylum process dropped to 3,985. In all 587 Asylum Seekers were granted refugee status by the Irish Government in 2007. An additional 852 people were granted "leave to remain." Those who enter into the aylum process are legally present in Ireland. The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) deals with new applications for asylum in Ireland. The Commission is required to investigate each asylum application lodged within the state and to make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Commission is also responsible for investigating applications by refugees for family reunification i.e.permission to allow family members to enter and reside in the State and for providing a report to the Minister on such applications. In the Republic, anyone recognised as a refugee is entitled to apply to the Department of Justice to have direct family members join them here. This includes the spouse, unmarried children under 18 and, if the refugee is a minor, his or her parents. The Minister may, at his discretion, permit reunion of refugees with "dependent" family members - possibly a grandparent, parent, sibling, child or grandchild.
ORAC provides statistics on its web site giving information on the number and nationality of asylum seekers since 2001. It also give information about i.e. those granted refugee status by the Irish Government as a result of their intial application. Note: Statisitcs provide on the ORAC website do not include those granted refugee status following appeals. Click here for ORAC Statistics Over 80% of asylum applications are refused as they are judged as not meeting the citeria for granting refugee status (see definition at the beginning of this scetion) . Applicants can appeal this decision by applying to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal . If the appeal fails the asylum seekers can apply to the Minister for Justice for Leave to remain or for Subsidiary Protection. In the past year the number of people being granted Leave to Remain has increased. Very few people have been granted Subsidiary Protection. If both of these are refused then the asylum seeker is issued with a deportation order. Many of the deportation orders issued by the Minister for Justice have not been put into effect, i.e. the people concerned have not actually been sent out of Ireland. At present asylum seekers are legally present in Ireland until such time as they are actually deported. The Asylum Process in Ireland: For further information on the current process that asylum seekers An article called "Migration" in issue 55 of Working Notes published by the jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice also gives a very good overview of migration in Ireland. Click here Other Souces of Information: For a Refugee and Migrant Education kit from the Austrailian Council of Churches providing information on Darfur, Sudan, Burma and Palestine. Click Here
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For I was a stranger
and you made me welcome.
Matt 25
have to follow to apply for refugee status and on their rights and entitlements in Ireland