The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has strongly criticised Ireland's record on racism and the treatment of asylum-seekers and refugees.
The former president accused the Republic of failing to provide a lead internationally on these issues and pointed out that the State's image abroad had been damaged by recent racist attacks and by attitudes towards refugees and asylum-seekers.
Mrs Robinson was speaking in Dublin on Saturday at a conference on reform of the UN, organised by UNICEF, the Irish UN Association and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance.
The High Commissioner was repeatedly questioned and then heckled by anti-abortion activists in the audience who claimed that she and the UN system were "denying the human rights of the unborn". Rejecting the charge, Mrs Robinson said she supported the right to life of all, including the unborn. However, she referred to her experiences in Sierra Leone, where she met 13- and 14-year-old girls who had been repeatedly raped during the conflict there. "Are you seriously saying they should be made have the child?" she asked.
She called on the Government to give asylum-seekers the right to work and pleaded for a more generous approach to immigration. Ireland should ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and there was a need for leadership to create a climate of understanding for a society with a significant non-Irish population.
While Ireland had a fine record in peacekeeping and development aid, its commitment to other areas could be summarised on a teacher's report card as "leaving room for improvement", she said. The existing positive view of Ireland was being damaged by incidents such as the recent racist attack on the Richardson family in Dublin.
Racist attacks were not isolated incidents, she reminded the audience. Recent surveys had shown that nine out of 10 African asylum-seekers had experienced racism and seven out of 10 had been refused a service for reasons of race.
Mrs Robinson said people should accept that the Republic's economic boom was bound to attract people. This was an inevitable consequence of economic success. The policy of the State towards refugees and asylum-seekers should be transparent. All those who came here should be treated fairly and with dignity.
"I think that the right to work for those waiting processing is essential - they should be regarded as part of the community, not as `spongers', and there is a need for a properly thought-out, strategic placement in communities that are able to accept refugees in a sustainable way."
The fight against racism and xenophobia was important because these forces were driving many of the world's conflicts and creating the daily abuses which rendered people's lives miserable. She hoped Ireland would play a full part in the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which is being organised by her office in South Africa next year.
