Refugee lobby groups have united to oppose a Government pact with Nigeria to speed up deportations of failed asylum-seekers to be concluded next week.
The readmission agreement will be signed on Wednesday in Nigeria by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr O'Donoghue.
He will stop off on his way to a world conference against racism in South Africa where he is the head of the Irish delegation.
Several Irish non-governmental groups who will attend the eight-day UN summit in Durban yesterday said the Nigerian agreement "raises concerns regarding the seriousness and commitment that the Irish Government will have when it attends the world conference".
The criticisms were made in a joint statement from Comhlamh, the association of returned development workers, the Pan African Organisation, the Association of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Ireland and A Part of Ireland Now.
The groups say they will lobby international non-governmental organisations in Durban to speak out against such bilateral readmission agreements. They are critical that the text of the agreement with Nigeria will not be issued by the Irish authorities until it is signed by both governments.
"By signing this agreement the Government is de-individualising the asylum process, which goes against every person's human right to seek asylum and to find safe refuge in another country, as outlined in international refugee protection law," the statement said.
Protesters yesterday held a demonstration against the agreement outside the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Nigerian embassy in Dublin. About 50 people from Residents Against Racism and the Union of Nigerian Citizens Resident in Ireland (UNCRI) gave protest letters to both authorities.
Mr Gabriel Okenla from the UNCRI said Nigerians in Ireland considered the agreement "a death pact which will lead to many returned Nigerians languishing in jail or dying". With a shortage of workers in Ireland, there was no justification for deporting Nigerians with valuable skills. Mr Okenla said a civil liberties organisation in Nigeria would attempt today to get an injunction to prevent the Nigerian government signing the pact.
The agreement would set procedures for deporting illegal immigrants to Nigeria, replacing current ad-hoc arrangements with the Nigerian authorities.
Nigerians make up the largest single nationality seeking asylum in Ireland, accounting for about a third of 4,769 applications up to the end of June. Fewer than 7 per cent of Nigerian applicants have gained refugee status, which allows them to live permanently in the State. Some 500 have been issued with deportation orders.
Ministers recently rejected "unfounded allegations" that the State will provide £8.8 million in aid to Nigeria in return for its co-operation on the agreement.
The Government has signed a similar agreement with the Romanian authorities, which led to a drop in applications.