Two Council of Europe Bodies to visit in February
A delegation from the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the European Framework Convention on National Minorities will visit Ireland for three days beginning on 27 February. This will be the first joint visit to any country by the two organisations.
These are Council of Europe bodies which monitor racism and the treatment of minorities by periodically visiting every state in Europe and meeting representatives of Government, and of non-governmental organisations NGOs and civil society.
ECRI has been here before in 1997, 2002 and 2006 and representatives of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention were here in 2003 and 2007. Their reports and recommendations to the Irish Government are available on the Council of Europe website. The delegation will be particularly concerned to see whether the Government has carried out their recommendations and what changes have taken place since their last visits - which were before the collapse of the Celtic Tiger.
Some of the key areas the two bodies expressed concerns about on their last visit were the treatment of asylum seekers, the need to update asylum and immigration law, the need for legislation on racially motivated offences and a range of concerns about the position of Travellers. ECRI also called on the Government to ratify Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which contains a stronger prohibition on discrimination.
The Government has already submitted reports to the two bodies. Click here to find all the Government's reports to the ECRI, and click here to read its report to the European Framework Convention on National Minorities.
NGOs and others who want to raise issues with the two bodies can send information to these official contact points:
- for the ERCI - the Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration - please direct all queries to Anne O'Gorman (info@integration.ie); and
- for the European Framework Convention on National Minorities - the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The delegation will meet a number of NGOs and civil society organisations but will not be able to meet everyone due to the short time frame. They will be happy, however, to receive short submissions from interested bodies.
FLAC Senior Solicitor Michael Farrell is the new Irish member of ECRI and Anastasia Crickley of NUI Maynooth is the Irish member of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention. Under Council of Europe rules, the members from the states in question cannot take part in the monitoring of their own countries but they will both be happy to explain the way the two organisations work to interested groups.
Irish NGO warns of increase in racial abuse towards migrants; harassed employees awarded compensation
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has warned of increased incidents of racial abuse due to inaccurate perceptions that migrants are benefitting from Irish jobs and entitlements. Even during the years of the Celtic Tiger when workers came to Ireland and unemployment was not so high, racist attitudes were a pressing issue.
The Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland deals with 30,000 people and campaigns for the introduction of an earned regularisation scheme. The scheme operates whereby people register for the scheme, pay a fine and receive temporary residency status. A similar model may be implemented for Irish emigrants in the United States. However "migration will remain one the few certainties in life. We should learn to live with it and benefit from it."
Meanwhile, two eastern European quarry workers have been awarded €10,000 and €5,000 by their employer Manor Stone Quarries Limited for claims of harassment and victimisation.
One of the employees claimed that he had no contract of employment and that his wages were deducted for no reason. When he lodged a claim against the company for discrimination, he was dismissed. The other employee claimed he was often referred to by the manager in a derogatory and verbally aggressive manner.
The company argued that due to the economic recession, they had been forced to implement pay cuts. However, the equality officer found "the company liable by not taking reasonable and practicable steps to prevent the discrimination on race grounds."
Click here to see a piece by the Irish Times on migrants.
Click here to see a piece by the Irish Times on the discrimination case.