Doras Luimní Bulletin

Transcription

1 Doras Luimní Bulletin Issue 12: March 21 st 2012 Contents Events Update St. Patrick s Day Speak Out Against Racism Challenging Institutional Racism Universal Periodic Review of Ireland s Human Rights Record TORL Campaign s Growing Momentum Domestic Violence and Independent Immigration Status Call for Applications Appointments System at the Advice and Information Centre Upcoming Events Update Keep in touch Address: Doras Luimní, Mount St. Vincent, O'Connell Avenue, Limerick. Phone: info@dorasluimní.org Online: On Tuesday 27 th March Doras Luimní and Clare Immigrant Support Centre are providing a workshop style event in which specialist practitioners will give advice on applying for Irish citizenship. Practical Guide to Citizenship Procedure will take place at Pery s Hotel, Glentworth St., Limerick, from pm. The second Limerick Lifelong Learning Festival will run from Monday 26 th March to Sunday 1 st April. The aim of the festival is to promote Limerick as a City of Learning through a wide variety of enjoyable and informative events. An extensive programme of events is available online at All events are free and open to all members of the public. As part of the Fresh Film Festival 2012 which runs from Monday 26 th to Saturday 31 st March, a programme of international short films about the lives of young people in other countries will be screened in the Lime Tree Theatre at Mary Immaculate College, 11.30am-13.00pm on Tuesday 27 th March. For more information see info@freshfilmfestival.net or call The Limerick City and County Integration Working Group and An Garda Síochána have organized a Community Open Day at Henry Street Garda Station on Thursday 29 th March, 6-8pm. An open invitation is extended to all members of the migrant communities in Limerick to come and meet the community Garda Liaison Officers and establish links in a comfortable, informal setting. For more information contact Jonathan Molony at iwglimerick@gmail.com or Limerick City and County Integration Working Group (IWG) will launch its 2011 Progress Report on the implementation of Integrating Limerick: Limerick City and County Integration Plan at the Hunt Museum, 11am to 1pm, Friday 30 th March. Jan O Sullivan, Minister of State, Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with Special Responsibility for Housing and Planning, will officially launch the report. Irish Aid is collaboration with Doras Luimní and the Integration Working Group to hold a Consultation with Migrant Stakeholders as part of the Review of the White Paper on Irish Aid. The consultation, which takes place from 2pm to 4 pm, Friday 30 th March at the Hunt Museum, seeks to incorporate migrants experience in assessing progress achieved by Irish Aid programmes to date, and in shaping the future policy direction.

2 Ongoing Doras is currently hosting a Wellness Programme facilitated by SPIRASI. The programme is aimed at supporting people who are experienced trauma as part of their migration experience. A music therapy programme for parents and children is currently being delivered to residents in Knocklisheen direct provision centre. This eight week programme is supported by the European Refugee Fund and facilitated by The Blue Box Creative Learning Centre, a Limerick charity which works with children, young people and families in the city, helping them through emotional and psychological trauma through art and music therapy. The Spring course of Doras Beginners Computer Class is running over a 10-week period in the Limerick Resource Centre for the Unemployed. Due to the level of interest the Doras Book Club has expanded to two groups which meet monthly. For more information contact Helen O Grady on or h.ogrady@dorasluimni.org. The Doras Luimní / FAI Limerick District Futsal League takes place every Monday evening, 7-9pm at The Factory, Galvone Industrial Estate, Roxboro Road, Limerick. For further information contact FAI representatives Barbara ( ) or Gary ( ). The next Mid-West Interfaith Network meeting takes place on Thursday 22 nd March at 7.30pm in Doras Luimní. For more information see midwestinterfaithnetwork.wordpress.com or on twitter. St. Patricks Day Thanks to our friends in the Fillipino and Latvian communities and the Mid-West Interfaith Network who joined Doras Luimní in the 2012 Limerick St. Patrick s Day Parade. The theme of the parade was The World in Union which sent a positive and inclusive message about contemporary Irish identity, showing that there is room for all the communities and cultures that make up Limerick. The weekend s festivities were an opportunity to express our mutual solidarity and shared sense of belonging with the wider Limerick community. Limericks parade was the largest in the country with over 4000 participants. Congratulations and thanks to the organisers for this success and the effort they put in to making it happen. Speak Out Against Racism European Week Against Racism began on St. Patricks Day and runs till Saturday 25 th March. It centres on International Day Against Racism on Wednesday 21 st, which is marked in Limerick by the World Carnival taking place at the Irish World Academy in the University of Limerick. This colourful cultural event features 120 children of 17 nationalities from one Limerick school, celebrating diversity through music. It is organised by the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Irish World Academy Sanctuary initiative, supported by PAUL Partnership, Limerick City Arts Office and Doras Luimní. The European Week Against Racism is coordinated in Ireland by the Irish Network Against Racism (ENAR Ireland). This year the focus is on speaking out against racism. Racism, xenophobia and intolerance clearly exists in Ireland and is a very significant problem for people who are targeted for abuse and discrimination. We strongly encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed a racist incident to report it to the Gardaí. Another option is to report racism through the online system provided by the Irish Network Against Racism, which can be accessed through the Doras Luimní website. Challenging Institutional Racism

3 The NGO Alliance Against Racism (NAAR) held a conference entitled Institutional Racism: Is Ireland Responding? on Tuesday 20 th March. The panel of speakers included Piaras Mac Éinrí of the Irish Centre for Migration Studies, human rights consultant Edel Quinn, Senator Ivana Bacik, Salome Mbugua CEO of AkiDwA, and Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague. The keynote speaker was Imran Khan, one of the UKs best known human rights lawyers, who represented the family of Stephen Lawrence, victim of a racially motivated attack in 1993 which led to an inquiry which changed the face of race relations in the UK. In a speech that was highly critical of Ireland s response to racism, Mr Kahn referred to a survey by the Irish Human Rights Agency which placed Ireland in the top ten EU states with the highest level of discrimination in everyday life and the highest level of work-related discrimination experienced by sub-saharan Africans. Imran Khan proposed a 10 Point Plan to respond to racism, based on learning s from the UK experience over the last two decades. The first step of the plan is to recognise and acknowledge that racism exists in Ireland. Following that a more realistic approach must be adopted in dealing with racism. Kahn called for people to be treated according to their needs, which is not necessarily exactly equally, and he encouraged the introduction of affirmative action measures. He emphasised the importance of leadership in challenging racism, particularly political leadership. Central to the plan is the mainstreaming of anti-racism training to service providers and also to make the general public more informed in order that they can be empowered to exert their rights. Kahn advocated the adoption of a human rights agenda by institutions in their policies. He encouraged the acknowledgement of mistakes and dealt with immediately and adequately. Finally, he made the point that anti-racism measures should be integrated in a concrete manner, with measures and review processes. We believe this plan should be given genuine and thorough consideration. As part of Doras Luimní s upcoming work in this area we will collaborate with other relevant organisations to consider this as a framework for addressing racism in Ireland. Universal Periodic Review of Ireland s Human Rights Record On Thursday March 15 th, the United Nations Human Rights Council held the second hearing of Ireland s Universal Periodic Review. At that session the UNHCR formally adopted the Outcome Report of the UPR Working Group on Ireland which was presented by Ireland s ambassador to the UN, Mr Gerard Corr. The report outlines which of the recommendations from fellow UN Member States that Ireland has chosen to accept, providing a blueprint for the protection of human rights in Ireland over the next four years. Following the adoption of the outcome report, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued a document with their concluding observations on Irelands UPR outcome report which echoed many of the issues Doras has raised in its contributions to the UPR process to date. For instance the committee drew attention to the negative impact of the policy of direct provision on the wellbeing of asylum seeker, advising expedited processing of asylum applications, the improvement of living conditions, and a review of the direct provision system. Unfortunately, the Irish government has chosen not to accept or implement many of the recommendations relevant to the issues we raised. In their statement CERD expressed grave concern at the disproportionate budget cuts and closures to various human rights institutions mandated to promote and monitor human rights, including the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Equality Authority and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. CERD argued for enhanced measures to protect individuals form racial discrimination. We at Doras Luimní endorse the call on the government to pass legislation to prohibit racist organisations and we reiterate the need for racist motivation to be taken into account as an aggravating factor in sentencing for criminal offences. It is vitally important that appropriate mechanisms are put in place to encourage the reporting for racist incidents and crimes and to tackle the reasons why people are reluctant to report racism.

4 TORL Campaign s Growing Momentum As one of the core members of the Turn Off the Red Light campaign we are very pleased to see the momentum behind the campaign growing following extensive publicity. The campaign has benefited from significantly increased support as a result of the public debate on the issues of prostitution and trafficking arising from the airing of two documentaries on Irish television in recent months. On February 8 th, some members of the TORL campaign met the Group of Taoiseach-Nominated Senators for an emergency briefing with members of Dáil Éireann. Representatives from the campaign also attended the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis and briefed members of the Fine Gael Justice Committee in recent weeks in a drive to cultivate cross-party political support for the introduction of new legislation. The TORL campaign is calling for legislation criminalising the purchase of sex in order to tackle the demand for prostitution and consequently reducing sex trafficking into Ireland. This approach is modelled on provisions which have been in place in Sweden and Norway for over a decade and have seen success in challenging the organised criminal activity behind the sex trade. Minister for Justice and Equality Alan Shatter has committed to producing a position paper by the end of March, which will outline the government s proposals with regard to the development of a legal framework to police the sex trade in Ireland. We look forward to compiling a Doras submission in response to this paper. Domestic Violence and Independent Immigration Status The Coalition on Domestic Violence is campaigning for changes to the existing immigration practices in relation to migrant women who are experiencing domestic violence. At a Political Briefing for public representatives on Tuesday, March 6 th, the coalition informed TDs and Senators of the issues involved and request their support for reform. Migrant women face significant barriers to reporting abuse and accessing support services include language barriers, social isolation, lack of information, which are compounded by the barrier of dependent legal residence status in Ireland. Many women who are in abusive relationships and whose immigration status is dependent on their partner are not aware that they may apply for independent status. The coalition, of which Doras Luimní is a key member, is campaigning for reform of two key issues: Formal recognition of domestic violence in immigration law by making provisions which enable dependent family members to apply to remain in Ireland independently, and Pending determination of applications to remain in Ireland on the basis of domestic violence, victims should be given access to safe emergency housing and essential welfare supports to meet basic needs The coalition acknowledged that at present there are discretionary procedures in place, administered on a case-by-case, discretionary basis, whereby some migrant women are facilitated in acquiring independent status. However, this is essentially a hidden remedy because the information is not in any way made publically available by the INIS, Department of Justice and Equality and there are no clear and transparent guidelines as to how the remedy is administered. As members of this coalition, Doras Luimní call for structures to be put on a statutory footing and to be publicised so that women, and advice providers can become aware of the options available. Karen McHugh, CEO of Doras Luimní, emphasised the importance of information and legislation: At Doras we have worked with women living in situations of domestic violence and we are very much aware of how urgent and essential it is for guidelines to be put in place and for those guidelines and entitlements to be made public. This is something which can easily be done by the immigration authorities if the political will is there. Then the next step is to put

5 legislation in place. This political briefing gave us an insight into the administrative and legal structures which put in place in the UK, so we know it can be done and that it can work. Now it s time to make sure that all migrant women living in Ireland can avail of these protections if they need to. Call for Applications Doras has announced that we are now accepting applications three new positions in the organisation. Two of them will staff our new legal service which will provide in-depth, specialised support to migrants on referral from the Advice and Information Centre. The Legal Officer and Legal Intern will work with a small number of people who have complex cases which require the time, skills and support unavailable elsewhere. The Legal Officer will be responsible for developing this service and the Legal Intern will assist in the provision of legal advice and information. In addition we are recruiting an Integration Policy Officer who will support and further the implementation of the current integration policy in Limerick. This officer will guide and facilitate the development of new policies and strategies thereby ensuring the continuation and advancement of integration initiatives in the region. Additionally, the Integration Policy Officer will be responsible for managing the delivery of Doras Intercultural Awareness Training and the Doras anti-racism campaign. Those interested in these vacancies can find full job descriptions for each position on our website as well as an application form. Applications must be submitted by 5pm Friday 30 th March 2012 to Consolata Okonkwo, Operations Assistant, Doras Luimní, Mount St Vincent, O Connell Avenue, Limerick (phone: , recruitment@dorasluimni.org). Please note that interviews for these positions will be held on Tuesday 10 th and Wednesday 11 th April Appointments System at the Advice and Information Centre We have introduced a new appointments system to deal more efficiently with the demand for our services from existing and new clients. We continue to run a drop-in service but if a query requires any more than 10 minutes we will arrange an appointment for another meeting with an Advice and Information Centre Case Worker. Please note that the Doras Luimní Advice and Information Centre is now closed to the public all day every Wednesday, but remains open from 9.30am-12.30pm and 2pm-4.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, unless otherwise notified. If you do not wish to receive future e-bulletins from Doras Luimní please send an with the subject line unsubscribe to Siobhán Ní Chatháin, Doras Luimní Communications Officer at s.nichathain@dorasluimni.org. Doras Luimní has signed the code of conduct for images and messages. Please send your feedback to s.nichathain@dorasluimni.org.