The Government has been urged by the Irish Refugee Council to give reassurances that the human rights of failed Nigerian asylum-seekers are being respected when they are deported.
The council raised its concerns as Nigerian woman Ms Nimota Kate Banidele was due to report to the Garda National Immigration Bureau today for deportation. She claims that if returned to Nigeria, she will be stoned to death under strict Sharia laws because she had three children outside marriage. "Ireland has committed itself under the agreement to safeguarding the human rights and dignity of those being returned, during the deportation process and when the repatriation has taken place," said the council's chief executive, Mr Peter O'Mahony. "This includes the prohibition of undue force, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during the deportation process," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said all deportations were carried out under the principle of non-refoulement. "So before any treaty was ever signed or any deportation order is ever signed the whole process operates under the principle that a person's human rights and dignity will at all times be respected."
