Minimum legal standards laid down in international resolutions and agreements are not always adhered to by the Department of Justice in the initial determination of asylum applications, according to a new study.
This study is the first examination of the internal workings of the asylum process, and is based on 100 randomly selected assessments made by the asylum division of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It also includes interviews with more than 30 solicitors representing applicants. The study was carried out by the Irish Refugee Council, with the support of the Joseph Rountree Charitable Trust, and will be published later today.
The motivation for the project came in part from the divergence in numbers between those granted refugee status at first instance, as opposed to at appeal.
This divergence has grown sharply. In 1996, 27 per cent were granted refugee status at first instance and 29 per cent at appeal.
In 1997 only six per cent were successful initially, with 37 per cent receiving refugee status on appeal.
The 1998 figure was similar, with only six per cent successful initially, but 38 per cent succeeding on appeal. This divergence raised the question as to what was wrong with the initial procedure.
This study makes 52 recommendations, aimed at improving the assessment procedure and bringing it into line with the provisions of the various international instruments governing refugees, and with European standards to which Ireland has agreed.
These recommendations demonstrate the inadequate protections afforded asylum-seekers during the process, and include a number of telling omissions, like the right to an interpreter, the right to a full interview before a decision is made, and stressing the need for interviewers to be properly qualified and trained and have adequate information about the countries producing most asylum-seekers.
They also include a number of measures already in the 1996 Refugee Act, but still not implemented, like placing the right to legal representation during the asylum procedure on a statutory footing. This should be combined with adequate funding for legal representation.
The study also recommends that every unaccompanied minor applying for asylum should have a legal guardian appointed to represent him or her.
It found that there had been a marked rise in the number of cases rejected as "manifestly unfounded", decided quickly and without any interview, from 6 per cent of the total in 1998 to 23 per cent in 1999.
It concluded that the grounds for such decisions are too broad and recommended that they should only be applied in line with the relevant UNHCR resolution and the EU Council of Ministers' resolution on manifestly unfounded applications for asylum.
The authors were implicitly critical of the attitude and approach of the interviewers, reminding them that under the international instruments the benefit of the doubt principle should apply to applicants, that they should be informed of their rights at the outset of the interview, and be given every chance to clarify any discrepancies that might arise.
Referring to the information interviewers had on the country of origin of the applicant, the report stated: "In general, country information is insufficient in detail. It is also quite often inaccurately applied, thus resulting in assessments of asylum applications based on assumptions and generalities rather than well-sourced information. Furthermore, there is a lack of consistency in the analyses of the political and social conditions in different countries of origin."
In its chapter on the profile of the decision-makers, it acknowledged that there was a need for a rapid expansion of the asylum division of the Department, given the steep rise in applications. Referring to the fact that in the recruitment of additional staff retired members of the Garda Siochana were targeted it stated: "(This) begs the question whether the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform links the skills required in the interviewing of asylum applicants and making assessments with the skills required in police work."