Burton rejects criticism by Amnesty refugee laws

THE Minister of State for Justice, Ms Joan Burton, has rejected criticism by Amnesty International of delays in bringing new legislation on refugees into force.

Amnesty yesterday said it was "inexplicable" that the Refugee Act 1996, which was passed by the Oireachtas last June, had still not come into force.

Speaking at the announcement of the organisation's worldwide refugee campaign, Ms Noeline Blackwell of Amnesty's Irish section said the Act had been "consigned to a legislative backyard" for over nine months. "While it, remains there, the system for dealing with refugees coming to Ireland will remain as ad hoc and as casual as it ever was," she said.

However, Ms Burton said last, night that significant progress had been made to put in place new systems provided for in the Act. Advertisements seeking applications for an independent commissioner for refugee had appeared, and an appointment would be made soon.

The Department of Justice was working to clear the backlog of asylum applications resulting from a massive increase in refugees coming here over the past year, she said. Extra staff had been appointed, and additional resources provided to the UN High Commission on Refugees to help with this work.

Ms Burton conceded, however, that the heavy involvement of Department officials in Ireland's EU Presidency had slowed down preparations for introducing the new Act.

Amnesty's director, Ms Mary Lawlor, warned that Ireland, with over 2,000 applications on its books, was increasingly likely to, be affected by the "fortress Europe" mentality sweeping through the EU.

Ms Lawlor said governments throughout the world were increasingly showing a callous disregard for the effect of their policies on desperate asylum seekers.

The secretary general of Amnesty, Mr Pierre Sane, said the future for refugees was clouded with more danger than ever. Torture was systematic in more than 80 countries. Almost half the UN's members continued to impose the death penalty.

Yet at the same time, governments were doing everything, to turn away asylum seekers fleeing persecution, torture and deaths threats. "Keep them at bay is the order of the day, it seems," he said.

In its campaign, Amnesty is calling on governments to ratify and implement international treaties; stop forcibly returning refugees to countries where they are at risk of serious human rights violations; and to provide refugees with a fair asylum procedure.