Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 14 Dec 1995

Vol. 459 No. 8

Written Answers. - Refugee Status.

Ray Burke

Question:

25 Mr. R. Burke asked the Minister for Justice, in view of the recent decision by EU Home Affairs Ministers confining refugee status to those who have been persecuted by Government or governmental organisations, the steps, if any, she will take within the EU to assist in ensuring that this restrictive new definition will not be used by EU members, all of whom have signed the 1951 Geneva Convention, to forcibly repatriate Bosnian refugees who have been ill-treated by the Bosnian Serbs. [18314/95]

Minister for Justice (Mrs. Owen)

I take it that the decision referred to by the Deputy is, in fact, a reference to a joint position adopted by the Council of the European Union on 23 November last. That decision is concerned solely with the application of criteria for recognition and admission as a refugee in accordance with the provisions of the 1951 Geneva Convention and it is not applicable, therefore, to persons granted temporary protection status.

In most member states of the European Union, including Ireland, special arrangements were put in place to meet the special circumstances of those displaced by the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Those arrangements included an undertaking by the member states to offer protection on a temporary basis and a commitment not to return such nationals of the former Yugoslavia who arrive at their frontiers to areas in which they would be at risk.

In line with the view of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, states did not necessarily need to provide simultaneous access to individualised asylum procedures in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention where such temporary protection had been provided. As regards Ireland, for example, persons were admitted at the request of the UN High Commissioner under the terms of specific Government decisions and granted temporary protection status with the full rights of refugees. There is no question, therefore, of persons admitted in such circumstances being forcibly repatriated.

I should emphasise also, for the information of the Deputy, that the joint position in question consists of non-binding guidelines in line with the objective set by the European Council in 1989 of harmonising member states' asylum policies with the intention of defining criteria for fairness and efficiency which would set a general framework while leaving it to each member state to fill in the exact nature of the asylum procedure. The guidelines are to be notified to the bodies responsible for recognition of refugee status which are requested to take them as a basis without prejudice to the caselaw of the member states on asylum matters and their relevant constitutional positions. The joint position in no way affects the conditions under which a member state may, according to its national law, permit a person to remain in its territory if his or her safety or physical integrity would be endangered by return to the country of origin because of circumstances which are not covered by the Geneva Convention but which constitute a reason for not returning that person.